Friday, April 29, 2011

Mandatory Sustainability Reporting Improves Corporate Behavior

Requiring that companies report on their environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives leads to broad improvement in socially responsible management practices, according to new academic research.

A working paper based on the research - The Consequences of Mandatory Corporate Sustainability Reporting by Ioannis Ioannou of the London Business School and George Serafeim of the Harvard Business School – concludes “that sustainability reporting not only increases transparency but can also change corporate behavior.”

According to the researchers, “mandatory disclosure of sustainability information leads to a) an increase in the social responsibility of business leaders, b) a prioritization of sustainable development, c) a prioritization of employee training, d) more efficient supervision of managers by boards of directors, e) an increase in the implementation of ethical practices by firms, e) a decrease in bribery and corruption, and f) an improvement of managerial credibility within society.

Read more at Business Ethics.com

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