Using CSR Reporting To Identify New Business Opportunities

Posted on 27. Mar, 2009 by Ross in Corporate Policy

CSR reports can be much more than a way of mitigating risks of litigation and bolstering shareholder confidence. A comprehensively prepared CSR report represents a wealth of strategic information which can be mined for ways to cut costs and create new product lines.

Azko Nobel present a great example of how companies can benefit from direct innovation and financial growth from their CSR reports. The Dutch chemical company, responsible for a swathe of brands including Dulux and Elotex, explored a CSR process which identified three key long-term challenges facing the corporation: population growth, resource scarcity and the economic fall-out from climate change. It then responded to this analysis by morphing it’s operations to take them into account, including the inception of a new portfolio of ‘eco-premium’ products. These new products currently account for 18% of the company’s global turnover, with 30% now their target by 2015.

Some CSR initiatives have a direct financial imperative as well. Energy efficiency is the key business goal for 2009 because it truly kills two birds with one stone: reducing both costs and carbon footprint. The importance of saving energy to a company’s bottom line has been a key CSR recommendation which has now found widespread acknowledgement and represents the fastest, easiest gains which many companies can make to their environmental impact whilst defending profits during the global recession.

Rittal, world-leading manufacturers of server racking, recently embarked on an energy-saving program in their UK facility in Plymouth by retro-fitting their manufacturing facility with new lighting. The old metal halide lighting was replaced by intelligent energy-saving Eluma lighting, boasting high-reflectance sheaths which enable it to simultaneously improve light intensity whilst reducing energy costs. The facility consequently saw a 68% saving in their energy bills, equating to an annual saving of around

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