Standards, Standards, Standards-a Special report from Article 13

In this month's expert view, Article13, the leading corporate social responsibility experts, analyse the complex world of 'standards. Available for download from the www.article13.com website, the company's Special Report-Standards, Standards, Standards will be of interest to all businesses considering these issues.

Recent high profile cases have focused attention on corporate social responsibility and society is demanding accountability. In this Special Report, Article 13 build on original research on global corporate social responsibility 'standards to provide guidance on how they can be used by business to manage its interface with society. They assess how approaching these standards from a mainstream business angle can help a company to use them as a tool to succeed with their business critical objectives. This delivers competitive edge whilst fulfilling wider societal expectations.

What are the 'standards?
A standard can be describes as a benchmark of behaviour for organisations, who can then use it to improve their performance in a recognisable way. The term covers indices (FTSE4Good, Dow Jones Sustainability Index), standards (ISO family), guidelines (ABI Disclosure Guidelines), process standards (AA1000) and commitments (UN Global Compact). The standards are many and varied, and business strategists have problems deciding which one to use and/or report against.

Society and the investment community
Society today often expects that companies go beyond compliance. Unforeseen situations can place organisations at financial and reputational risk...but how do boards of directors understand the emerging trends and so identify the issues that represent risk, and opportunity, to their business objectives?

What does it feel like?
You are thinking about reporting against a standard(s), but what will it involve and what will it feel like to implement a standardised form of reporting? Article 13 interviewed some key standard holders about the implications of taking this step: the results showed there are certainly benefits, with ease of communication being mentioned by all interviewees.

What next?
Increasingly, standard holders are finding that companies are engaging with them: "companies are really making an effort to ask us what the FTSE4Good criteria require of them and what is planned for the future", states Mr Oulton. This matches Article 13s premise that a forward-looking innovative business should be considering the issues that can help/stop them deliver their business objectives now, and ten years in the future.

This is only a very brief outline of the contents of the full synopsis. To read the Special Report-Standards, Standards, Standards synopsis, visit www.article13.com . The full Report, which costs 10 in the UK, or EUR15 in the EU, can also be downloaded from the website.

Ends

Article 13 work in the area of corporate responsibility and corporate governance for global businesses right across industry, UK and EU Government and the voluntary sector to deliver a new way of doing business. Areas of expertise include scenarios, business planning, supply chain management, culture change, performance measurement and management, web consultancy services, dialogue and communication. Article 13 approaches business responsibility from the mainstream business angle and works through dialogue to unlock the opportunities of business responsibility to deliver innovation and competitive edge.

Article 13's co-directors, Neela Bettridge and Jane Fiona Cumming, have extensive experience in a number of critical fields: commerce and communications, social and environmental arenas, legal and business strategy. Article 13 also draws on the wisdom of distinguished advisors: Dr Paul Toyne, Professor Chris Baines, Chris Hoare, Professor Colin Gilligan, Susan Clayton, Neill Irwin, Professor Dave Owen and Andrew Acland. This panel, in turn, is complemented by a network of specialists drawn from the social, environmental, economic, ethical and business worlds.

For further information please contact Lucy Shea
Article 13, Bradley House, 26 St Albans Lane, London, NW11 7QE
Tel: 0208 731 7700
Fax: 020 8731 8800
lucys@article13.com
www.article13.com