The California Global Corporate Accountability Project and the Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Policy Program at Stanford Law School are pleased to present the Roundtable, "Hard Issues, New Approaches: Strategies For Improving the NGO-Industry Dialogue on Corporate Accountability," November 9, 1999, at the Littlefield Management Center, Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
The Roundtable brought together a number of experts from industry, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), government, and academic institutions who are working to improve corporate accountability from environmental, human rights, labor, and community development perspectives. Roundtable participants discussed the key challenges corporations and communities face in defining the scope of corporate social responsibility, both in the U.S. and abroad, and in developing credible social accountability mechanisms. The Roundtable explored innovative approaches to promote social accountability, including changes in corporate governance, improvements in measuring, disclosing and verifying performance, local and state-level regulatory initiatives, and better community engagement strategies.
The aim of this Roundtable was to address an increasingly urgent need to provide arenas for constructive engagement between NGOs and business leaders. NGOs and community groups have targeted a wide range of social, human rights and environmental concerns, in both the domestic and international operations of U.S. business, which they are pressing business to address. Some companies have been the target of highly publicized domestic and international media or shareholder campaigns. Many companies have begun to embrace the concept of social accountability. Few, however, have developed robust governance, measurement, disclosure, or management strategies to implement it, raising concerns about credibility. In many cases, companies with a broad global reach are confused about which issues to embrace or are concerned that social accountability will reduce their competitiveness.
This Roundtable facilitated a constructive dialogue between NGOs and industry aimed at better clarifying both "what NGOs expect" of industry and what initiatives business "can and should" take. In keeping with the goals of the California Global Corporate Accountability Project, the meeting highlighted issues in the high tech and oil sectors, presenting lessons learned from those and other sectors such as the apparel industry. The findings of the Roundtable will be incorporated into a Public Policy Report for consideration by local and national policy makers, corporate leaders, and NGOs. The Report contains recommended policy and institutional reforms that can facilitate the development of positive corporate and NGO initiatives.
The Public Policy Report will be produced by the California Global Corporate Responsibility Project, a collaboration between the Natural Heritage Institute, Human Rights Advocates, and the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainable Development. Project funders include the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, the Ford Foundation, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
The Roundtable co-sponsor, the Environment and Natural Resources Law and Policy Program at Stanford Law School, seeks to foster a collaborative, as distinguished from adversarial, approach to real world problems. Since 1994, the Program has encouraged the formation and use of multi-stakeholder groups to confront environmental and natural resource problems with a collaborative and multi-disciplinary approach. Through this work, the Program has both facilitated and provided substantive research for action oriented dialogues among industry, government, and environmental organizations. For more information, please contact Sandy Buffett at the Nautilus Institute.
