Publication: Redefining Value : The Future of Corporate Sustainability Ratings
Date
2012
ISSN
Published
2012
Author(s)
White, Allen L
Abstract
Corporate sustainability ratings are a
potentially powerful but still underused tool for building a
competitive, socially purposeful, and financially sound
enterprise. In a globalizing world replete with business
opportunities and risk, corporate boards continually need to
reappraise what constitutes good governance. Traditional
board duties pertaining to strategic oversight, executive
compensation, and financial auditing will remain integral
for the foreseeable future. But these alone will not suffice
in a time when the prosperity of companies is inextricably
linked to issues such as reputation, brands, supply chain
management, quality and quantity of human and intellectual
capital, protection of human and labor rights, and climate
change. Such emergent issues are part of a historical moment
in which the role of companies in fostering societal and
ecological well-being at the global, national, and local
levels is under increasing scrutiny. These are conditions
that fuel intensifying public discourse concerning corporate
social responsibility, sustainable capitalism, shared value
creation, and other linked concepts that challenge the
conventional wisdom that positions shareholder value as the
paramount measure of company success. Indeed, sustainability
is not new to the two common definitions of corporate
governance: (i) the actual behavioral patterns of
corporations in terms of efficiency, growth, financial
structure, and other attributes; and (ii) the normative
framework within which firms operate in terms of legal
systems, financial markets, and labor markets.
Citation
“White, Allen L. 2012. Redefining Value : The Future of Corporate Sustainability Ratings. Private Sector Opinion;no. 29. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/17040 License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO.”