Business economic impacts: The new frontier for corporate accountability

Abstract

Economic issues associated with poverty are complex and require holistic responses in order to realise the goals of sustainable development. While business alone may have significant economic impacts, the link between business-level behaviour and macro-level development aspirations is unclear. By developing a sound grasp of how companies understand and manage these impacts, we are better placed to understand how corporate responsibility clusters, or partnerships with other companies, civil society organisations, and governments, can harness corporate impacts to bring about more sustainable development at the macro level.

Notes

1. The ‘triple bottom line’, a term coined by John Elkington, co-founder of the business consultancy SustainAbility, refers to expanding the traditional company reporting framework to take into account not just financial outcomes but also environmental and social performance.

2. AccountAbility is an international, non-profit, professional institute dedicated to the promotion of social, ethical, and overall organisational accountability, a precondition for achieving sustainable development. It seeks to do this by: creating a credible assurance standard and underlying accountability framework; providing quality professional development and certification; advocating an enabling public policy environment for organisational accountability; and developing innovative ‘ideas-for-action’ through research and practice. Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) is a global organisation that helps member companies achieve success in ways that respect ethical values, people, communities, and the environment. BSR provides information, tools, training, and advisory services to make CSR an integral part of business operations and strategies. A non-profit organisation, BSR promotes cross-sector collaboration and contributes to global efforts to advance the field of CSR.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Helen Campbell

Helen Campbell joined AccountAbility in July 2003 and manages the Business and Economic Development project. Her perspectives in development are informed by work on trade and economic development policy issues at the bilateral, regional, and multilateral levels for the Australian government. She served in Australia's embassies in Mexico City and Hanoi in the 1990s.