Evidence from leading companies in Australia and New Zealand

• Gianni Zappalà, Sarah Adams
• Centre for Social Impact

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17 May 2010This paper explores patterns of corporate responsibility integration among a group of leading companies in Australia and New Zealand.

This research reports several findings: First, the results of this study show that corporate responsibility is on the whole well integrated into the way that leading companies in Australia and New Zealand are doing business. This is evidenced by the companies’ approach to leadership and governance and a range of management practices in risk management, strategic decision making, stakeholder engagement, training and development, performance management and reporting. Nevertheless, several areas where companies could improve their performance with respect to CR integration are identified and include: ensuring that CR training and CR criteria are part of the incentive structures at Board level, improving the extent and quality of stakeholder engagement, extending CR reporting to incorporate a comprehensive measurement framework and undertaking higher levels of external assurance of CR activities, systems and reports.

Research limitations/implications

While this paper gives a good insight into the extent and type of CR integration, the small sample size did not enable the use of sophisticated statistical techniques, so the analysis is restricted to simple descriptive statistics. The sample is not representative of the broader population of firms in Australia and NZ, rather an atypical sample comprised of companies that have chosen to participate in the CRI. By implication, these are usually companies that have accepted the merits and necessity of CR and have a strong commitment to its successful implementation within their organisation. This paper therefore enables insights into the practice of CR integration among a group of leading firms in terms of Corporate Responsibility.