The European Cartography

on CSR Innovations, Gaps

and Future Trends
Based on 545 business solutions and 140 networking activities

A first Contribution to the European Alliance on CSR

Are you puzzled with some of the following questions:
To whom does CSR matter?
On what issues are companies
innovating the most?
Is there a distinctive CSR
throughout Europe?
Does CSR have an impact?
And does CSR networking
pay off?
What constraints do businesses
face when implementing
innovative CSR solutions?
Are there matters which dont
matter? Or what gaps might
need particular attention?
Is your company well prepared
for tomorrow?
Then please enjoy the mapping!
1
The wealth of current practice and
innovation on CSR, in particular the
change in internal management, and the
co-solutions by business with
stakeholders, are powerful elements
which should generate more trust and
faith in the future.
There arent many other options if we
want to enhance the competitiveness and
sustainability of enterprises both in
Europe and abroad.
Viscount Etienne Davignon
Ministre dEtat, Suez-Tractebel,
CSR Europe
Because of our differences in views,
competences and roles, it is our joint
responsibility to develop the solutions
that can empower employees to better
plan for their future, enhance quality of
consumers lives and treat the
environment with more respect.
Frank Welvaert
Johnson & Johnson, Europe & Middeleast
May the European Alliance on CSR be a
tool for companies and stakeholders,
both at national and European level, to
address the constraints and gaps
identified in the Cartography and
increase the credibility and visibility of
current business innovations, both to
business and to society at large.
Maria Alexiou
Titan
Make Europe a Pole of Excellence
on Corporate Social Responsibility
1. A Renewed European Strategy on CSR
In order to encourage investment and provide an
attractive setting for business and work, the European
Union must complete its internal market and make its
regulatory environment more business-friendly, while
business must in turn develop its sense of social
responsibility. Against this statement by European
Heads of State & Governments in March 2005, and on
the basis of the work accomplished on CSR at European
level -in particular through the European Multistake-
holder Forum-the European Commission adopted a
renewed strategy on CSR on 22 March 2006.
Through a strengthened partnership with governments,
business and stakeholders, it wants to give a new
impulse to make Europe a pole of excellence on CSR;
thereby better harness the innovation of enterprises
and stakeholders in support of sustainable develop-
ment and the European strategy for growth & jobs.
In its new Communication on CSR, the Commission
offers a clear definition of CSR: a concept whereby com-
panies integrate social & environmental concerns in their
business operations and in heir interaction with their
stakeholders on a voluntary basis. The Commission also
presents clear actions to promote further take-up of
CSR. For instance, the Commission commits to:
A European
Roadmap
for Businesses
Towards
a Sustainable
and Competitive
Enterprise
2
Raise awareness and promote the exchange of
best practice, with an emphasis on SMEs and
acceding and candidate countries
Back up a European Alliance on CSR as the vehicle
to develop a close partnership with business
Support CSR initiatives by stakeholders. The
Commission will also organise regular review
meetings of the European Multistakeholder
Forum on CSR to take stock of progress made in
relation to the recommendations of the Forum
Cooperate with Member States, in particular
through the High-Level National Representatives
on CSR
Examine further voluntary action to achieve the
objectives of transparency and information for
consumers
Explore the possibilities to support further
research into CSR as part of the forthcoming
7th Framework Programme
Invite business schools, universities and other
education institutions to incorporate CSR as a
cross-cutting issue into the curricula of future
managers and graduate students
Promote CSR globally through enhancement
of international instruments (UN, OECD, ILO,
Regional Agreements, etc), trade incentives
and its integration into EU initiatives such as
the New European Strategy for Africa.
2. From The European Business Roadmap
to the European Alliance on CSR
A key driver of the Alliance is the European Business
Roadmap for a Competitive & Sustainable Enterprise,
adopted by CSR Europes members in March 2005. Both
the Alliance and the Roadmap are setting a clear vision
and priorities for business innovation on CSR.
Practically, the partners in the European Alliance on CSR
aim to:
Make CSR practice and tool more relevant to business
practitioners, consumers, investors and the wider
 public. Here also a strong emphasis is put on multi-
disciplinary research and the integration of CSR and
sustainable development in traditional education
Ensure an enabling environment for CSR, through
the promotion of voluntary and innovative efforts of
companies on CSR, a strengthened partnership with
all stakeholders and by being consistent across the
European policy areas and integrating the
promotion of CSR where appropriate. In this
respect, the partners of the Alliance also agree to
take stock through high-level meetings and to
communicate the Alliance results in the context of
the European strategy for growth and jobs.
Develop open coalitions of cooperation between
business, experts and stakeholders. With the
backing of the Commission, Laboratory meetings
will be set up in the following Roadmap and
Alliance priority areas:
Five Goals
1. Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Sustainable products & services
(EU & Developing countries)
Support entrepreneurship
2. Skills & Competence Building
Skills, life-long learning, employability
Balance between flexibility & security;
Work & private life
Transferring competence to new
entrepreneurs & underserved communities
Responsible restructuring
3. Equal Opportunities & Diversity
Recruiting & training regardless of age,
gender, disability, or cultural origin
Innovative products & services responding
diverse market expectations
4. Health & safety: Continuous improvement &
assessment of Health & Safety in operations /
supply chain / communities
5. Environmental Protection: Eco design / Eco
efficiency / renewable & alternative sources
of energy
3
3. The European Cartography on CSR
It is in this context that CSR Europe, together with its
National Partner Organisations is developing a
European Cartography on CSR, based on a survey of
over 500 business solutions and 140 business
networking activities. Our ambition is to offer new
insights to all those willing to engage in or up-scale
innovative strategies, pro-active dialogues and colla-
borative actions on CSR. This Cartography is by no
means exhaustive, neither academically founded.
Nevertheless, it provides already valuable indications
on how and where in Europe change happens within
business, as much as on where constraints and gaps
remain in the area of CSR. It might also serve in
prioritising the activities of the European Alliance on
CSR. All your comments and suggestions are therefore
most useful.
Five Strategies
6. Mainstreaming CSR
Align CR policy & strategy with corporate
objectives & values
Integrate CR across the business functions
Translate CR into collective & individual
objectives/assessment/recognition/
compensation
Embedding CR requires training
7. Pro-active Stakeholder Engagement
8. Leadership & Governance adjusted to
implement CSR-friendly business strategies
9. Communication & Transparency: Develop
appropriate accounting & reporting
processes and, in particular to identify the
pertinent items & performance criteria;
Monitor data; Use various channels of
communication; Continuously learn &
evaluate overall impact of transparency &
communication practice
10. B2B Co-operation & Alliances to ensure
convergence and maximise social and
economic impacts
Objectives and Methodolodgy
With support of the European Commission, CSR Europe
is undertaking a European Cartography on CSR which
will be available in the fall 2006. The present document
already provides some tentative results which will be
further analysed and consolidated.
To develop this Cartography, businesses were invited to
select innovative CSR approaches and practices which
they are willing to share with other companies on CSR
Europes Marketplace Online.The stock of CSR solutions
provides only illustrative exemplary cases. It is by no
means exhaustive, neither does it aim to be a complete
inventory of business activities on CSR as it does not
cover each and every activity that businesses are
undertaking for addressing CSR problems.
The solutions are categorised into 10 themes inspired
by the goals and strategies of the European Roadmap
for Businesses towards a Sustainable & Competitive
Enterprise, launched in March 2005.They are also similar
to those set in the European Alliance on CSR launched
by the European Commission and business leaders on
22 March 2006.
As a direct contribution to this cartography, the 22
National Partner Organisations (NPOs) of CSR Europe
produced, on behalf of their respective memberships, a
detailed overview of their activities and services to
support business initiatives for networking and sharing
with others. As national references on CSR, they were
also invited to express their views on current and future
trends in the general CSR context in their country.
In this survey, conducted in March April 2006, NPOs
were asked to :
Provide information about the key networking
activities conducted over the period 2004-2005
Identify, among the 10 Roadmap issues, those
which they believe will be the most significant to
companies in the coming 5 years in Europe
Indicate the main external factors that currently
affect (both positively and negatively), the
4
implementation of CSR strategies by companies
(e.g. policies and legislation, societal /
environmental / economic factors etc)
Indicate their expectations from the European
Commission
The European Cartography of innovative business
solutions for CSR challenges is thus based on the
analysis of the above two sets of data, i.e. 545 CSR
solutions featured by companies and 141 business
initiatives through sharing and networking with
others (via NPOs). The collection of solutions features
innovations across a range of sectors, including among
others IT&Electronics (14%), Telecommunication services
(10%), Finance (10%), Retail (8%), Pharmaceutical (6%),
Food & Beverage (6%), Oil Gas and Mining (5%), Utilities
(5%), Energy (4%), and Consumer goods (4%).
With this Cartography, our ambition is to support
enterprises and networks to:
Benchmark their CSR strategy and practice
against those of other business and networks
from throughout Europe, representing a wide
range of sectors.
Consider future trends and priorities in light of
their short, medium and long term strategies
Explore with other companies, organisations and
the European Commission how to bring the
European Alliance on CSR to life
The Cartography is also there for the European
Commission and other stakeholders to:
Get a better understanding on how and where
change happens within business
Understand some of the expectations of CSR
business networks regarding their roles in
creating a more favourable environment for CSR
Take some of the Cartography results into
account when the European Multistakeholder
Forum on CSR will gather again
 Cartography Results

1. To whom does CSR

matter? Type of innovation
On what issues are
Innovative management 5,2 23,7 24,7 53,4
companies networking Innovative engagement 15,25 15,3 6,1 9,8 46,45
to share their 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
innovations and to (% solutions in each type of innovation)

learn from others?

CSR matters to business decision
makers responsible for internal
management change
Over 53% of innovative business solutions
indicate that companies are bringing about
change in their internal management
systems, including:
Reviewing existing systems and
procedures or adopting new
management tools and frameworks
for integrating CSR in business
operations (25%);
Innovating technology, products and
processes (also sourcing, supplies and
procurement practices) (23%).
CSR matters to stakeholders
46% of the solutions show how business
are innovating their engagement and
partnerships with stakeholders, as well as,
the joint programmes of companies with
other businesses to address social and
environmental problems that could not
perhaps be addressed alone.
Main CSR innovations and learnings by
companies show how they are:
Continually adapting to enhance
business performance and peoples
skills and employability (29% of
solutions)
Investing in R&D, business intelligence
and entrepreneurship to meet new or
unmet needs (26% of solutions)
Developing environmentally friendly
technologies and practices that are
becoming a source of business value in
the long-term, while caring for the
society and the environment (23% of
solutions)
Innovative management
Innovative engagement
Reservoir of CSR Practices:
A Wealth of Useful Information
Environmental Protection
Stakeholder Engagement
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Skills & Competence Building
Mainstreaming CSR
Equal Opportunities & Diversity
Health & Safety
Business partnerships (Alliances)
Communication & Transparency
Leadership & Governance
0 20
Integration
Integration into management systems, management processes;
Embedding CSR/issue into business management;
Adoption of formal systems for managing
Transformation
Innovation of process/ product/ technology
Innovations in sourcing-supply chain management
Adoption
Innovation involved adoption of new management tools,
frameworks/ review of existing management processes
Adoption of innovative projects; pilot programmes
Innovation involved responsible restructuring/ closure
Consultation & Reporting
Innovation involved stakeholder dialogue/ meetings/ discussions
Innovation involved communication, reporting
Partnership models
Innovation involved partnerships, joint projects
Capacity building
Innovation involved skills training, awareness building
Wider engagement
Innovative contributions to the local community, economy
for social development or area regeneration & development
127 23
119 58
112 43
107 68
85 83
67 30
54 18
36 31
31 63
15 40
40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Number of collected business solutions
Number of collected business networking activities

Sources: 545 CSR Business Solutions & 140 Business Networking Initiatives

5
2. Does CSR impact the
bottom line of business? Social and Economic Impact of CSR
Does it have intangible
Direct bottom line benefits to business
impacts? Intangible benefits to business
45,1
62
Target CSR issue directly addressed 71,9
45% of business innovations yielded
direct bottom line benefits to business. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
These include improved profits, cost (% of cases by impact of CSR)
savings, operational efficiencies and
gaining new business opportunities
In over 62% of cases, business gained
intangible benefits, such as improved
credibility, goodwill, enhanced
reputation and relations
Furthermore, in 72% of cases, companies
were able to start addressing the target
problem, while nearly 40% resulted
in wider impacts on society
(e.g. through increased awareness about
the issue, by up-scaling the project or
spin-offs into other impactful activities).

3. What constraints do
businesses face when
implementing innovative
CSR solutions?
In 1 out of 3 cases, the constraints
faced by these companies were largely
internal and/or managerial
Resources or operating costs (17%)
Operational difficulties in implemen-
ting CSR in the business context (11%)
Internal management systems and
procedures or the integration of inno-
vation in the existing systems (11%).
Regarding the external side, only 5% of
the constraints relate to regulatory,
institutional or governmental action,
while 8% are partnership related.
Type of constraints
(multiple responses across categories)
Internal managerial constraints 32,4
External constraints 9,9
Intrinsic complexities 47,5
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
(% solutions by constraint)
Internal managerial constraints internal management systems & procedures (integration within
the business, across departments, operating sites, subsidiaries)
internal communication
need for training, skills enhancement/improvement
resources, time; operating costs
operational difficulties in implementation
External constraints lack of external awareness (supply chain, partners);
trust (stakeholders, public)
institutional, regulatory, governmental support
external communication/media
resources needed for upscale, integration; external funding, donors

Over 52% company responses reiterate Intrinsic complexities newness of the innovation; initial difficulties; problems in
that CSR challenges are intrinsically measuring tracking output/outcome; weakness of the solution
difficulty of the issue; issue slow or hard to change in the short
complex to deal with term; contextual difficulties (demographic, social, economic)
Issues are difficult or slow to change complexity of the innovation; difficult to upscale/transfer;
or it is hard to alter the socio-demo- need for improvement for the long term
graphic context and conditions (12%) partnership/ stakeholders
Innovations are complex to
implement, upscale or sustain in the
long term (20%)
There are initial start up problems
when innovating and implementing
change (18%)
Sources: 545 CSR Business Solutions & 140 Business Networking Initiatives

6
4. Are there matters which dont matter?
Or what gaps in the current initiatives need
particular attention?

In reporting the innovative solutions that
they have implemented, companies appear
to have provided fewer examples in the
following two areas:
Equal opportunities & Diversity
(50% less solutions on this issue
than on Environmental protection)
Health & Safety (50% less solutions
on this issue than on Skills &
Competence building)
It is also concerning that there are few
initiatives of the national business
networks in these two areas.
The limited examples of solutions on Health &
Safety may be due to the fact that Health and
Safety issues are already being addressed,
mainly through formal legislative obligations.
While this might provide a part of the
explanation, we believe that more innovation
on Health & Safety is needed, for instance
within the supply chain, for consumer health
and safety, or with regard to specific critical
issues such as mental health and stress at work.
Some other questions arise: Is the low
representation of innovations on Equal
Opportunities & Diversity due to the
intrinsic complexity of such issues?
Or is it that the companies have not yet
successfully implemented solutions or
adopted changes in their management
systems and processes in this area as
compared to the other issues?

5. Is your company
well prepared for CSR issues:
tomorrow? current focus and future priorities
As privileged and informed observers on 23
Mainstreaming CSR 11,18
CSR developments, the National Partner 18,6
Organisations of CSR Europe were asked to 21
Innovation & Entrepreneurship 14,74
select the issues they believed should be 9,4
11
addressed on priority by companies in the Equal opportunity & Diversity 8,82
6,5
next 5 years.
11
Communication & Transparency 4,08
13,7
They ranked Mainstreaming CSR and 9
Innovation & Entrepreneurship as by far Stakeholder engagement 14,8
14,88
the 2 most important issues for the next 9
5 years. Skills & competence building 15,6
12,6
7
A comparison of the reported future key Environmental protection 16,7
5
issues and the present focus of business
solutions and networking activities, shows 0 5 10 15 20 25
the areas where more focus, preparation
% of NPOs indicating issues as future priority area
and innovations are needed to help better
address the future concerns and seize % of collected Business Solutions
opportunities. % of collected Business Networking Activities

It is probably not appropriate to draw too

many conclusions from this preliminary
information. We would nevertheless like
to share the following considerations for
further debate and analysis:

Sources: 545 CSR Business Solutions & 140 Business Networking Initiatives

7
 Managing internal change and
building trust Are companies getting the balance right
Both Mainstreaming CSR and
Communication & Transparency are issues to address tomorrows CSR challenges?
which currently get much less attention
that what would be justified by their Mainstreaming
Equal Innovation & Communication
perceived importance for the future. This Skills & Opportunities Entrepreneurship & Trans
parency CSR
Environmental Stakeholder Competence
positively signals the need for continued Protection Engagement Building
& Diversity

efforts of companies to review and further

adapt their internal management in order
Areas where companies are dedicating Areas where more preparation and investment are
to better integrate economic, social and significant efforts and resources today needed to meet future challenges and opportunities
environmental factors. However, the
comparison of the current focus of
business solutions and networking
initiatives shows that much remains to be
done to improve the systems and other
conditions for embedding CSR across the
different levels, functions and day-to-day
operations. This is even more relevant for
Transparency, also when considering the
challenges set both in the European
Communication and in the European
Alliance on CSR:Provide consumers with
clear information on the social and
environmental performance of goods and
services, including information on the
supply chain.

Calling on all the skills and

competences available regardless
of age, gender, disability,
or cultural origin
Equal opportunities & Diversity are ranked
third on the list of priority issues by CSR
Europes National Partners. Although this
might look reassuring, the comparison of
data emphasises the earlier remarks made
when we looked at the gaps in current
initiatives. With the rapid demographic
changes underway and increasing unrest
in different parts of Europe linked to
diversity and discrimination, are
companies sufficiently equipped and is
there enough expertise available to:

adapt their workforce to better reflect

the diversity of our societies?
design innovative products and
services able to respond to the greater
spectrum and diversity of consumers,
suppliers and other stakeholders?

Sources: 545 CSR Business Solutions & 140 Business Networking Initiatives

8
6. Is there a distinctive CSR
throughout Europe? Geographic Outreach of CSR solutions
6 in 10 solutions have a specific Europe 10
national or local focus Global 27
Only 1 in 10 solutions are explicitly reported National 64
to be implemented at the regional European 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
level, and 1 in 4 is implemented in other non- (% of business solutions by geographical scope)
European countries or globally. Although
nearly 60% of participating companies
operate globally, their local focus shows how
enterprises tailor their CSR initiatives, taking
into account issues in the various local and
national contexts of their consumers, Type(s) of initiatives of business
customers and communities.
sharing / networking with others
At the same time, some initiatives do
show that there are specific European Awareness raising 46,2
contributions to the development of CSR Capacity building 36,9
Meetings with key stakeholders 16,79
The majority of solutions provided by
business to illustrate their innovation on CSR 0 10 20 30 40 50
are about environment. This in line with (% of initiatives of each type)
Europes common engagement in the Kyoto
Agenda, contributes to build a low carbon Conferences, seminars, website, awards, newsletters,
Awareness raising
economy, which is in the benefit on both media partnerships, featuring in the media;
citizens quality of life and the Participation on panels, jury in major projects
competitiveness of its enterprises. (research, awards)

Capacity building Workshops

Another example are international framework Benchmarking activities
agreements (IFAs) on CSR, underlining the Other services (e.g. help desk, desk research, advisory)
privileged role and participation of employees Meetings with key stakeholders Dialogue, consultations, forum, site visits
and trade unions in the field. A study by the
Observatoire de la Resonsabilit Socitale des
Entreprises (ORSE) on all existing IFAs shows
that 43 out of 48 of these agreements have been
initiated by European parentage companies. Achievements of business initiatives
through sharing and networking with
7. Do CSR networking others on CSR issues
initiatives pay off? Direct benefits
for CSR issue and for business 49,6
Benefits to the business network 18,5
Networking activities and services Unclear 31,7
yielded positive results
0 10 20 30 40 50
Nearly 50% directly contributed to
(% activities providing each type of benefit)
improving business performance
Nearly 19% contributed to further
improving networking opportunities Direct benefits for CSR issue Improved awareness; recognition of the issue &
However, in over 30% of cases the and for business Improved business skills/business performance
results of these initiatives are unclear or
Benefits to the business network Network growth
unspecified. Although it is understood Increased networking opportunities
how hard it can be to assess the impact Generated more demand from business and resulted
of such networking activities, there is in follow up work
nevertheless a strong case for Unclear Too early to asses the results; unspecified
companies to support CSR networks in
developing evaluation systems to
better measure progress and benefits.
Sources: 545 CSR Business Solutions & 140 Business Networking Initiatives

9
8. Initial sketch of where
to tap into CSR knowledge
and expertise across
Europe

Since the Appeals by President Delors in

1995 and of the European Heads of
States and Governments in 2000 on CSR, A first observation is that in almost all
countries companies can get involved in
Europe has embarked upon a journey
various awareness raising activities
towards a more competitive and
covering a broad spectrum of CSR issues.
sustainable enterprise. Today, we can Within more specific areas, the five maps
sketch where clusters of knowledge and provide an initial overview as to where
dynamism on CSR exist, to support companies in these areas can:
companies in their search and
innovation around CSR. The five maps Learn, improve and also engage in
cover the issues considered by CSR constructive dialogue with stakeholders
Europes National Partner Organisations Not only learn, but also seek ways
as priorities for the next five years. This is to improve their strategy and practice
an initial sketch, based on a pilot survey, Learn and build knowledge
covering only 19 countries where CSR
Europe works with National Partner
12345
Organisations. (EU countries not covered
are: Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary,
Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta and
Slovenia)

Sources: 545 CSR Business Solutions & 140 Business Networking Initiatives

10
1. Mainstreaming CSR, Transparency SWE FI
NO
and Communication
SCOT

IRE
UK

NL
POL
BE
DE
CZ
SLO
FR AT
CH

PRT ES IT

GR

Sources: 545 CSR Business Solutions & 140 Business Networking Initiatives

11
2. Stakeholder Engagement NO
SWE FI

SCOT

IRE
UK

NL
BE
DE

SLO
FR AT
CH

PRT ES IT

GR

Sources: 545 CSR Business Solutions & 140 Business Networking Initiatives

12
3. Equal Opportunities SWE FI
NO
& Diversity
SCOT

IRE
UK

NL
BE
DE
CZ

FR
CH

PRT ES IT

GR

Sources: 545 CSR Business Solutions & 140 Business Networking Initiatives

13
4. Innovation & SWE FI
NO
Entrepreneurship
SCOT

UK

NL
POL
DE

AT

IT

Sources: 545 CSR Business Solutions & 140 Business Networking Initiatives

14
5. Skills & SWE FI
NO
Competence building
SCOT

IRE
UK

NL
POL
BE
DE
CZ
SLO
FR AT
CH

PRT ES IT

GR

Sources: 545 CSR Business Solutions & 140 Business Networking Initiatives

15
CSR Europe Members

Connecting Connecting
for the CSR Innovation

for CSR Innovation

16

www.csreurope.org
CSR Europe National Partners Organisations

SCOTTISH BUSINESS IN THE COMMUNITY

The European Driving change

The European
Network on CSR Network on CSR

17

www.csreurope.org
CSR Europe would like to thank the European Commission DG Employment, Social Affairs
and Equal Opportunities for its support for the development of this Cartography

CSR Europe would also like to thank the following Roadmap partners which are supporting
CSR Europe in capitalising on the European Business Roadmap for a Competitive and
Sustainable Enterprise 2010.

Although this brochure is presenting only some initial results, we already would like to express
our gratitude to those who have been engaged in the process and in particular:
Dr Anupama Mohan, Belgacom fellow on CSR at Solvay Business School, Damien Dallemagne
from Arthur D. Little, Pierre Echard and Jan Noterdaeme from CSR Europe.

Thank you also to all the companies and NPOs who we have kindly harassed to provide data in
time as well as to Carien Duisterwinkel for her excellent support. Critical guidance was also
provided by Bernard Giraud from Danone, Elena Bonfiglioli from Microsoft, Stefan Crets from
Toyota, Toms Sercovich from BITC Ireland and Ruggero Bodo and Gianfranco Romano from
Sodalitas. We hope that many other companies as from now on will further assist us in the
successful completion and dissemination of this pilot project.

For more information on the Cartography, please contact: Jan Noterdaeme jn@csreurope.org
and Pierre Echard pe@csreurope.org

18

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