When it comes to engaging with host communities, even the best intentions can go awry without a robust process. Anglo American's award winning Socio-Economic Assessment Toolbox (SEAT) provides a structured way to work with their neighbours to improve their well-being. The attached pdf document (which can be downloaded by clicking on the 'download' link) contains all the tools (forms) used at different stages of the process. This is clearly a good example of one way of how to be a force for good company.  You can also read an overview/summary of their overall approach here.

As a company committed to sustainable development, Anglo American believes that while its operations may deplete a natural resource in a particular location, it should deliver a combination of improvements in the social and human capacities of the communities around them. A growing number of key stakeholders share this expectation. The attached two-page pdf document (which can be downloaded by clicking on the 'download' link) describes a case study of how Anglo American used the tool at a colliery in South Africa. It briefly summarises the challenge the company faced, and its response.  You can also read an overview/summary of the overall SEAT approach here.

Date: May 2004There has been a general consensus that socially responsible investing (SRI) leads to inferior, rather than superior, performance. Using Innovest’s corporate ecoefficiency scores, the authors of this report provided evidence to the contrary. They composed two equity portfolios of different "eco-efficiency" ratings and found that over the period 1995-2003 the high-ranked portfolio gave substantially higher average returns than the low-ranked one. They showed that this difference could not be explained by differences in market sensitivity, investment style, or several other factors, and so concluded that the incremental benefits of SRI can be "substantial".

Higher levels of trust in business are known to reduce costs and improve business performance. This paper proposes a framework to help organizations monitor the efficiency of their business practices for indicating trustworthiness to stakeholder groups.  In Part I various trust indicators for customers are examined. Part II, contained in a separate document, examines trust indicators for investors.  New trust concepts are introduced and a novel framework is proposed for classifying conditions that indicate trust (such as the presence of name-brand products, organizational transparency, and warranties).  Examples are used to demonstrate various ways in which the framework can be applied to measure trust indicators for customers.

The paper proposes a framework to help organizations monitor levels of trust for different stakeholder groups.  Part I, contained in a separate document, examined various trust indicators to measure the relative presence or absence of trust, and the nature of that trust, in typical commercial relationships.  It also introduced new trust concepts and proposed a novel framework for classifying conditions that indicate trust.  Part II builds on these foundations and examines trust indicators for investors.  Examples are used to demonstrate various ways the framework can be applied to measure trust indicators for investors with distinct needs.