The Inaugural Conference on Social Responsibility in Asia http://www.presdafoundation.org/sustainable-business-conference/

1. The Inaugural Conference on Sustainable Tourism and Hospitality in Asia
“Sustainable Tourism: Shaping the Future”
The Inaugural Conference on Social Responsibility in Asia
“Balancing the Triple Bottom Line”
William P. Kittredge, Ph.D.

2. Sustainability Defined
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3. What is Sustainable Development?
 Sustainable development is a form of economic growth
that recognises the importance of environmental and
social objectives in long-term company financial
performance and survival
 Contrast neoclassical economic theory
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4. How Can Sustainably Be Learned?
 Sustainability issues should be incorporated throughout
all modules, at all levels, with linkages between modules.
 Sustainability needs to be strategically located at the
university, school, or department level in order to ensure
that the principles of sustainability are really embedded
in teaching and learning
 This holistic approach means that Education for
Sustainable Development ESD is not only a matter to be
implemented in the curricula or educational programs but
also in institutions and organizations which facilitate
these learning processes.
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5. How Can Sustainably Be Learned?
 It is more important to shift the pedagogical approaches
than to embed core sustainable development content in
the curriculum.
 Modelling good practice: Learning is also taking place
implicitly through the hidden curriculum. How many
educators seek to reduce paper use and turn off lights
out at the end of sessions? These are means of teaching
students the importance of action-taking. It is important
to introduce means to motivate educators to adopt a
sustainable behaviour, because they act as role models.
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6. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
 Involves diverse partners
 Requires stakeholder identification & engagement, and
may require technical support
 Private sector generates responsible profits
 Society reaps the benefits of sustainable development.
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7. Evolution of CSR
 Compliance
 Establishment of standards
 Cerfitications
 Triple Bottom Line (TBL)
 “making a business case” for CSR
 Social, environmental, & financial impacts
 Responsible Competitiveness
 Market forces engaged
 Companies rewarded and punished using CSR
standards
source: Responsible Business Guide: A Toolkit for Winning Companies
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8. Sustainability & CSR
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Arts &
Culture
Employee
Voluntarism
Health Education
Disaster
Relief
Environment
Community
/Livelihood
Development
CSR
Initiatives by
Group Companies
CSR

9. Corporate Responsibility &
Sustainability (CR&S)
 Implementation in line with organizational goals, mission
and vision – strategic plan implementation
 CR&S - a comprehensive framework developed and
adopted by the organization
 No generic framework fits all situations
 Role of public authorities and regulatory bodies
 Transparency and credibility of CR&S
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10. CR & S: Who Pays; Who Benefits?
 Old assumption – companies with CR&S underperform
 Research suggests – organizations adopting CR&S
enjoy higher rate of returns (e.g. Imran Zawwar Cranfield
University)
 CR&S provides more robust governance structure &
accounts include environmental and social impacts
 Enhanced measurement protocols and reporting system
 Together, generate social trust
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11. Ensuring Real Sustainability
 Build a business case for CR&S as opposed to the
normative case for sustainability
 Identify and distinguish sustainability and greenwashing
 Commitment to transparency and TBL disclosures
 Develop, implement and integrate operations in
consonance with TBL philosophy
 Commitment to multi-dimensional measurement &
reporting
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12. Transparency Initiative
 Adopting transparency in operational and reporting
processes
 Social expectation shifts from ‘why do you report?’ to ‘why
don’t you report meaningfully and understandably?’
 Research indicates correlation between economic, social
and environmental indicators
 Externality impact of environmental degradation becomes
company economic liability – BP's Gulf spill
 Poor social performance e.g. high work place injuries also
incur economic impacts – loss of skilled employees
reduces productivity & morale
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13. 13
CR&S Framework

14. 14
CR&S Lifecycle

15. How to Respond?
 Adopt sustainable practices to improve processes and
productivity at the same time reducing negative
environment impact (Weyerhauser example)
 Develop, implement and integrate operations in line with
sustainability policy and reporting framework
 Adopt, implement, and ENFORCE an appropriate code
of ethics.
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16. How to Respond?
 Identify and eliminate unethical or exploitative practices
(e.g. Friends International ‘kids aren’t a tourist attraction’
campaign in Cambodia)
 Sustainability reporting, disclosure and assurance
 Realize that these are goals for improving current
practice, they will evolve over time and should be set
high not ‘something we can look good on’
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17. How to Respond?
 Do something, make a start
 Set and realise realistic CR&S goals
 Company resources
 Business lines
 Acknowledge that this is an iterative process, not an end
point.
 Companies and those who own and manage them have
more power than the average citizen
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18. How to Respond?
 Identify and eliminate unethical or exploitative practices
(e.g. Friends International ‘kids aren’t a tourist attraction’
campaign in Cambodia)
 Sustainability reporting, disclosure and assurance
 Realize that these are goals for improving current
practice, they will evolve over time and should be set
high not ‘something we can look good on’
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19. How to Respond?
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20. From Sustainability to Sustainability…
William P. Kittredge, Ph.D.
President
Cervelet | Management & Strategy
Consulting
wkittredge@cerveletconsulting.com
(084) 717 7900
Seattle | Bangkok | Karachi | Islamabad
www.cerveletconsulting.com