Increasingly, business is engaging in international development issues individually and in partnership with others. Engagement is taking place through core business activities, traditional philanthropy, and new multi-stakeholder alliances.
Multi-stakeholder alliances have emerged because of a realization that many of today's social, economic and environmental challenges are too complex for one sector to tackle alone. They require new models of dialogue, consultation, and cooperation among nation-states; local, state and national governments within countries; civil society organizations; and private sector enterprises. To date, relatively few multi-stakeholder alliances have been subject to rigorous empirical analysis and evaluation. The CSR Initiative researches global alliances and company-led partnerships that aim to build public capacity and support the achievement of national development objectives through systemic interventions. We seek to collect and share lessons of what has and has not worked to date.
The CSR Initiative's research in the area of business and international development currently focuses on three areas:
Developing Human Capital
Expanding Economic Opportunity
Strengthening Public Health Systems
Corporate Responsibility in the Middle East
: Some of the most basic, accessible and crucial resources needed to achieve and sustainable competitive advantage and social development in the 21st Century will be human assets. As the global economy evolves, the sophistication and skill level of consumers, workers and business partners is increasingly shaping the innovation and productivity that feed competitiveness, and ultimately, a nation’s standard of living. CSRI's work on developing human capital includes research on: (1) business partnerships for developing human capital that focuses on the importance of ICT deployment for human capital development, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education, entrepreneurship education, youth development and empowering women and girls in achieving development goals; and (2) business partnerships for building NGO capacity, particularly where governance institutions may lack the resources and ability to strengthen NGO capacity.
: The CSR Initiative’s Economic Opportunity Program is a program of research and outreach on mechanisms for collaborative action among companies and other actors to expand economic opportunity in developing countries. The program aims to understand how these mechanisms work and how effective they are at catalyzing large-scale, systemic impact on local economic development—at creating the conditions for the poor to manage their assets transformatively, rather than defensively, in ways that generate incomes, options, and future opportunities.
Our research focuses on models that leverage the positive economic impacts of large corporations, such as creating jobs, cultivating inter-firm linkages, supporting local enterprise development, enabling technology transfer, improving productivity, building human capital and physical infrastructure, and making a variety of products and services, such as ICTs, available to consumers and other businesses. Each of these impacts, in turn, triggers multiplier effects in society more broadly. Many large firms also play key leadership roles in shaping enabling environments conducive to economic growth – by sowing the seeds of entrepreneurship and innovation, for instance, or by engaging in progressive public policy dialogue.
We are focusing particularly on initiatives that have achieved systemic impact and scale or the potential for scale in the above areas. Over the next two years, the research will be carried out in three stages.
Stage One of the research will map leading collaborative initiatives to expand economic opportunity around seven key industry sectors: information and communications technology, including telecommunications; financial services; extractives; food and beverage; hospitality; healthcare; and utilities (water, energy, and waste management).
Stage Two will focus in greater depth on individual collaborative initiatives which appear to have achieved impact on international, national or sector-wide scales. These initiative studies will aim to uncover and understand the factors that have enabled scale to be achieved, with recommendations for business and government.
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: Together with the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority
(SAGIA), and in partnership with the World Bank Institute, International Business Leaders Forum, the
United Nations Fund for International Parternships, and AccountAbility, the Initiative hosted a November 2008
Leadership Dialogue on Corporate Social Responsibility and Competitiveness. The dialogue
aimed at sharing good practices and exploring new types of partnership between Middle Eastern and
Western companies, with a focus on issues relating to human capital development, education,
entrepreneurship and women's economic empowerment. These dialogues formed part of a broader Saudi Arabian Responsible
Competitiveness Initiative (SARCI), designed to advance responsible business practices through
dialogue and the development and application of robust performance metrics.
In April 2008, Jane Nelson and Simon Zadek visited Jordan to meet with advisers of Queen Rania
to explore educational and corporate leadership opportunities aimed at supporting the goals of
sustainable development and competitiveness in Jordan and the Middle East. Zadek is now leading
on behalf of AccountAbility, an Arab Responsible Competitiveness Index of countries across the
region, and a multi-sector analysis of responsible competitiveness opportunities in, and for Jordan.
In 2009, the Initiative traveled to the West Bank to study business partnerships facilitating development. A report of the visit is forthcoming.
:
Research identifies and examines cases in which public- and private-sector institutions are working collaboratively to build capacity to address HIV/AIDS, micronutrient deficiency, and road safety. HIV/AIDS, in addition to posing an unprecedented public health challenge, threatens to reverse improving standards of living, employment rates, and market expansion in developing countries. Micronutrient deficiency – the lack of proper vitamins and minerals in diet – is a hidden epidemic with disastrous effects on human capital. Road deaths will likely become the world's third leading cause of death by 2020, outpacing AIDS, malaria, and war, if current trends continue. Our research documents promising new approaches to addressing these critical problems.
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: The CSR Initiative is studying different practical and policy-related ways that companies can support disaster recovery efforts in cities such as New Orleans. This effort is part of the joint commitment that the CSR Initiative and its founder companies have made, with Shell, Walter Shorenstein, Doug Ahlers, and others, to the Clinton Global Initiative. Together with these partners, we are focusing efforts in Broadmoor, a neighborhood severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina. We are also working with the Conference Board and others to inform selected companies about opportunities to participate in public-private partnerships to support rebuilding efforts. We will facilitate a workshop session for a proposed Leadership Training Conference in Broadmoor on the role of the private sector in disaster response and recovery.
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CSRI Publications related to Business & International Development Research:
Jane Nelson and Shannon Murphy | Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative | 2009 | CSRI Report No. 33
Beth Jenkins | International Finance Corporation and Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative | 2008 | CSRI Report No. 30
Jane Nelson and Beth Jenkins | Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative | 2008 | CSRI Report No. 29
Christopher N. Sutton | Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative | 2007 | CSRI Report No. 24
Caroline Ashley, Peter De Brine, Amy Lehr, and Hannah Wilde | Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative | 2007 | CSRI Report No. 23
William J. Kramer, Beth Jenkins, and Robert S. Katz | Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative | 2007 | CSRI Report No. 22
Adeeb Mahmud and Marcie Parkhurst | Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative | 2007 | CSRI Report No. 21
Marc Pfitzer and Ramya Krishnaswamy | Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative | 2007 | CSRI Report No. 20
Christopher N. Sutton and Beth Jenkins | Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative | 2007 | CSRI Report No. 19
Holly Wise and Sokol Shtylla | Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative | 2007 | CSRI Report No. 18
Beth Jenkins | Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative | 2007 | CSRI Report No. 17
Beth Jenkins et al. | Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative | 2007 | CSRI Report No. 16
Jane Nelson | Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative, The Conference Board and International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) | 2006 | CSRI Report No. 14
Jane Nelson | Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative, The Conference Board and International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) | 2006 | CSRI Report No. 13
Tamara Bekefi | Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) | 2006 | CSRI Report No. 10
Tamara Bekefi | Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) | 2006 | CSRI Report No. 9
Jane Nelson | Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) | 2006 | Executive Summary | CSRI Report No. 8-EXEC
Jane Nelson | Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) | 2006 | CSRI Report No. 8
Tamara Bekefi | 2006 | CSRI Report No. 7
Tamara Bekefi | 2006 | CSRI Report No. 6
Roseann Casey | November 2006 | CSRI Working Paper No. 29
Jane Nelson | August 2006 | CSRI Working Paper No. 25
Richard Locke and Monica Romis | August 2006 | CSRI Working Paper No. 26
Richard Locke, Fei Quin, and Alberto Brause | July 2006 | CSRI Working Paper No. 24
Simon Zadek and Sasha Radovich | April 2006 | CSRI Working Paper No. 23
Jane Nelson | April 2006 | CSRI Working Paper No. 22
Jane Nelson and Beth Jenkins | March 2006 | CSRI Working Paper No. 20
Malcolm F. McPherson | April 2005 | CSRI Working Paper No. 12
Jane Nelson | January 2005 | CSRI Working Paper No. 8
Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative, International Business Leaders Forum, and Edelman | 2005 | CSRI Report No. 5
The Center for Business and Government, Social Enterprise Initiative, World Economic Forum and UNAIDS | 2004 | CSRI Report No. 2
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