Do you know who your stakeholders are? do you understand their concerns? Do you know why this is important for your business? Are you struggling with how to effectively engage? The benefits of stakeholder engagement are significant and include the ability to identify more accurately the issues that are seen as priorities for the company to address. Any process linked to developing corporate social responsibility is therefore fundamentally linked to a process of speaking to your stakeholders. This workshop will provide insight into an effective model that has been used to perform structured stakeholder dialogue successfully.

Climate change has been identified as one of the single most important issues for business. What impact is your company having on climate change? How can you manage the risks associated with climate change in Asia? In order to manage impacts companies will have to implement measurement processes and this workshop will provide an insight into methodologies for doing just that.

After Mattel’s recall of 9 million toys their share price fell 10 per cent. Shareholders are increasingly worried about the protection of their assets. If brands and reputations come under attack, share prices fall and investors start asking difficult questions. Shareholder resolutions on everything from the environment to human rights are now increasingly commonplace, but what is the situation like in Asia? How do companies manage this new trend? This workshop will explore the issues of shareholder activism globally and in Asia.

When we think of corporate social responsibility we tend to think about where products are made and how they are made, but we don’t usually think about the logistics of how those products were transported from A to B. Labour concerns for logistics companies, road safety and environmental criteria are issues that should be considered in a company’s overall CSR strategy to ensure that logistics are not hidden from the CSR debate. This workshop will hear from companies that are leading on the sustainable logistics arena.

The Internet provides many opportunities for the socially responsible corporation to be more transparent and have a more honest dialogue with the public about its business. The Internet also makes it more difficult for businesses to get away with socially irresponsible behavior and any good company should embrace this new reality. This workshop will provide insight into how the Internet poses an opportunity for companies to have a more honest dialogue.

Are your products being copied? Are they being passed on as the genuine thing damaging your brand? Are they causing harm to the people who buy them? What strategies can you follow to manage piracy and other fraudulent activities? This workshop will provide an insight into the steps for doing just that.

There is growing recognition in Asia and around the world of the risk and implications of climate change. Leading companies recognize the urgent need to look at solutions that could help to reducing and ultimately mitigating global warming. Renewable energy is an important topic and businesses can engage through focusing their attention on the sourcing of energy as well as, where practicable, generating their own energy based on renewable resources. This workshop will explore the challenges of renewables in Asia and how companies are taking it forward.

While the West has long relied on cheap Asian imports to keep prices low for consumers the issue of supply chain conditions is back on the front page. The lure of cheap labour is starting to show its downside and whilst numerous free riders abound some companies are working very hard on the issues. What role do companies play in ensuring healthy working environments for factory employees? What are the requisite elements needed to ensure ethical sourcing? Stakeholders in the supply chain will provide insight and answers to these questions.

How secure is your supply chain? Are you or your suppliers sourcing from organisations linked to trafficking and forced labour? How do you know? This workshop will showcase companies that have taken a leadership stance in minimizing the direct and indirect risks of being linked to trafficked people in Asia.

CSR reporting consists of voluntary disclosures of financial and non-financial information that communicates the ability of an enterprise to generate business value through the management of its social and environmental risks and opportunities. But how should companies be reporting in and on Asia? This workshop will provide insight into reporting mechanisms suited to the Asian context.

Investors understand risk and socially responsible investment manages that risk by selecting and engaging companies that have clear systems and strategies for CSR issues. SRI investors are beginning to drill down into the environmental, social and governance fundamentals of Asian companies. In many instances, this will be hard work, requiring analysts and investors to re-calibrate their information needs and re-assess performance norms. The first thing SRI investors require is better disclosure from Asian companies and global companies with Asian operations. What should Asian companies expect from the SRI community? What selection criteria should be used and how are we going to promote ongoing engagement between investors and companies? Melissa Brown from ASrIA will provide a fresh discussion on CSR as a competitive advantage and the growth of SRI in Asia.

96% of foreign multinational corporations in China discriminate against people with hepatitis B (HBV). Furthermore many corporations have human resource policies in place that actively prevent the hiring of job seekers with HBV. As the issue of HBV discrimination slowly bubbles to the surface in China companies should acquaint themselves with the issues and the rising tide of public and governmental concern about organizations that discriminate. This workshop will introduce you to the HBV issues and the consequences for companies that choose to discriminate.

Accusations of water abuse are leading to product boycotts in some countries. What is your impact on local water resources? How should you be handling water risks and what systems should you have in place to ensure optimum use of this valuable resource? This workshop will explore water risks facing companies in Asia and what they should be doing about them.

Are you getting the top talent? Do you have policies and systems to manage diversity and promote inclusion? How can your company leverage diversity into a competitive advantage? This workshop will provide an insight into discrimination and diversity issues faced in Asia and how companies can gain competitive advantage by encouraging diversity through employment policies.

Conservation and biodiversity is the next big environmental challenge for businesses. This workshop will explore the importance of recognizing and managing the impact of your business on biodiversity.

We all use hotels but are you aware of the social and environmental impacts that they have? Service sector risks ranging from child prostitution to environmental protection all need to be addressed in this rapidly growing sector. How are hotels taking into account these changing dynamics and developing their CSR strategies accordingly? This workshop will showcase examples and opportunities for hotels to be regarded as responsible service suppliers.

Product responsibility is clearly on the agenda. From contaminated cough syrups, to melamine-tainted pet food and harmful toothpaste, substandard products produced in Asia have found their way on to the international market. How do companies increase the controllable factors during the production line from purchasing to processing a product in order to reduce product responsibility risks? This workshop will explore these issues and provide examples of where companies are getting it right.

Most voluntary standards require companies to obey the law as a minimum. But should we toughen laws or trust the private sector to do the right thing? This workshop will explore this question through a debate setting and hear from companies and stakeholders who are at the forefront of taking up voluntary standards.

Corruption is not only wrong but it impacts most severely on the people who are most vulnerable in societies: the poor. Managing corruption is therefore not only something that well governed companies should do but it should also link with national development policies that promote good governance and transparency in dealings. This workshop will explore corruption issues in Asia and the role companies should be taking to tackle them.

Large companies have been making significant community investments in the region for years without attempting to measure the socio-economic returns of those investments, to the communities, to their businesses and to society at large. It is only recently that measuring the returns of community investments has been systematised and practiced in Europe and in the US but in Asia Pacific, this kind of measurement is virtually unknown in the corporate sector. This lunchtime presentation will explore the methodologies that can be used to monitor and evaluate the impact of community investment programmes by showcasing how Hewlett Packard took on the challenge in the region.