Directores ejecutivos sobre estrategia y cuestiones sociales

CEOs on strategy and social issues
Business leaders are now more inclined to incorporate society’s expectations into their core strategies but face many challenges when they do.
Chief executives around the world increasingly believe that they have a strategic rationale for taking on environmental, social, and governance1 issues. However, they also understand the challenges that must beovercome when they do—challenges that include the difficulty of managing supply chains across countries with different regulations and norms for corporate social responsibility.2
According to our survey3 of CEOs at companies participating in the United Nations Global Compact,4 more than 90 percent of them are doing more than they did five years ago to incorporate environmental, social, and governanceissues into their core strategies. Our research5 shows that while pressure from employees, consumers, and other stakeholders plays an important part in this trend, some CEOs see the new demands as opportunities to gain a competitive advantage and to address global problems at the same time.
Great expectations
According to 95 percent of the CEOs in our survey, society has greater expectations thanit did five years ago that companies will assume public responsibilities. More than half predicted that these expectations would increase significantly during the next five years as well. Low levels of trust among consumers underscore the pressure to act. In a 2006 McKinsey global survey, for example, only 33 percent of European and 40 percent of US consumers said they believed that large globalcompanies acted in the best interest of society at least some of the time.
A new class of stakeholder
Many of the CEOs we interviewed observed that satisfying the shareholders is no longer good enough: consumers will punish companies that don’t fulfill their public responsibilities, causing their market shares to decline. Socially irresponsible business practices could also make it harder forcompanies to attract and retain talented people. “It is important,” said the CEO of a retailer, “for our employees to know and see that they are working for a company where these things are held to be important.” CEOs ranked employees as the stakeholder group that has the greatest impact on the way companies manage their societal expectations, with consumers a close second. Both groups are joiningnongovernmental organizations and activists in making increased demands on companies. Over the next five years, respondents expect consumers to become the most influential stakeholder group, with employees dropping to second place.
Globalization ups the ante
The terms of the contract between business and society have undoubtedly become more extensive and complex: difficult environmental, social,and governance challenges have accompanied the rise of emerging economies, which are both drivers of global demand and providers of goods, services, and talent. CEOs in our survey identified increasing environmental concerns as the most important trend influencing public expectations of business, followed by the limited supply of natural resources and the emergence of China and India as powers inthe global marketplace.
Clearly, companies operating in these countries will be affected by local interpretations of environmental, social, and governance norms. They will have to find ways of demonstrating their local loyalties and, at the same time, build globally integrated systems of values.
Critical for success
The approach a global company takes in dealing with cross-border environmental,social, and governance issues, many of which demand both systemic change and sustained engagement by business, may affect not only its reputation but also its competitive position. A company that offers better working conditions and health care benefits than local norms stipulate, for example, may have an easier time finding skilled employees in areas with limited educational systems. Likewise,...