BSR study shows supply chain’s sustainable practices are key

Despite continuing uncertainty about the world’s economy, results from the BSR/GlobalScan State of Sustainable Business Poll 2010” released late last week show more than eight in 10 respondents (84 percent) are somewhat or very optimistic that global businesses will embrace CSR/sustainability as part of their core strategies and operations in the next five years.

Nearly all (94 percent) of the 377 respondents, drawn from a majority of BSR’s global network of more than 250 member companies also said that their companies plan to maintain or increase their budgets for CSR/sustainability programs in the year ahead, and nearly three-quarters expect to increase the amount of internal and external CSR/sustainability communications as well.

“When the recession hit with full force two years ago, we urged our members to stick with sustainability as a key to achieving long-term business success,” said BSR President and CEO Aron Cramer. “It’s very encouraging to see that, even in a world still marked by instability and change, they’re staying the course.”

In an interview with SCMR, Cramer added that some of the “intensity” was lost after the failure of last year’s Copenhagen climate summit to win public acceptance.

“To some extent, we raised expectations to a high and unsustainable level, he said. “Now we are building a case for business, rather than policy. “We are making it part of a soft regulatory framework business leaders understand.”

“BSR member companies continue to demonstrate a strong commitment to sustainable business,” said Chris Coulter, senior vice president at GlobeScan, which conducted the survey on behalf of BSR. “These findings will reinforce the direction that many leadership companies are headed, and prompt others to join them.”

The survey was released at the start of last week’s BSR Conference 2010 where more than 1,000 senior business executives, entrepreneurs, and leaders from the public sector and civil society are gathered to focus on integrating CSR and sustainability practices into strategy and core business.

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