CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSABILITY
IN ITALY
state of the art and funding perspectives for
the
third sector
Meeting SOPOT 24 – 25TH MAY 2012
Csr origins and
convergence in Europe
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CAUSE RELATED MARKETING
profit and no profit enterprises
make a partnership to obtain
common or mutual benefits
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CSR background
The general framework for corporate
social responsibility (CSR) behavior and
strategies consists of the Green Paper
presented by the European
Commission in July 2001.
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CSR background
The level of CSR increases depending
on the impacts on the environment in
which the firm operates (on labour,
market, pollution, social issues).
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In 2000 the 44% of Italian
enterprises has realised social
oriented initiatives (Experian,
2001) in 2001 this percentage
increased to 93% (Avanzi, 2002).
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Italian entrepreneurial structure
influences strongly CSR initiatives
Italian system has an average of 3.9 employees per company compared to an
average of 6 overall for the 15 EU member states. In industrial spheres,
enterprises with over 250 employees account for 19.7% of the total in Italy
whereas 34% of the total for the EU. Another important feature is that the
Italian industrial system which is characterized geographically in that its
activity is concentrated in industrial districts in Northern and Central Italy,
along the Adriatic coast and in a few areas of the South (Becattini, 1987;
Goodman, Bamford & Saynor, 1989). In some traditional and engineering
industries, these districts have a leadership position in the global market and
overall account for over two-thirds of total national exports.
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CSR modes in Italian enterprises
According to Experian research, in 2000, the most
common mode of intervention was direct economic
contribution to support projects (73%). Besides this
there is a trend in realizing “social” projects by building
branded products (12%) and giving creative contributions
in realising projects (10%). In 2002 on the total number of
involved firms, the 65,5% made donations, 42%
contributed by firm volunteering, 53,6% promoted social
marketing initiatives (sponsorships in cultural events and
social advertising), and 22% made solidal buys (Censis,
2003).
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Italian formulation of CSR
development. CSR–relevant initiatives
According to a study by Bocconi University with Confindustria
for the Italian Ministry of Labour, on a sample of about 400
companies, the more widespread initiatives include:
-Training activities (89%)
-Safeguarding employees’ health (82%)
-Benefits for the local communities (72%)
-Support of cultural activities (70%)
-Control of product safety and environmental impact (62%)
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Italian formulation of CSR
development. CSR–relevant initiatives
The same companies were not engaged on the following
activities:
-On site child care facilities (2%)
-Participation in fair trade (13%)
-Programs for protected categories (15%)
-Programs for disadvantaged people (27%)
-Control of ethical and social implication of manufacturing and
distributing their products (17%)
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Social balance
• Is the most used CSR tool
• it leads new behaviors in CSR in
the firms
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CSR in banks
Sector in which CSR is having
a strong increase
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SMEs commitment
The predominance of SMEs poses important challenges
for the diffusion and implementation of CSR. SMEs are
generally independent, multitasking, cash-limited and
based on personal relationships and informality, as well
as actively managed by the owners, highly
personalized, largely local in their area of operation and
largely dependent on internal sources to finance
growth
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SMEs commitment
The success of local networks is based
on informal and tacit relationships
and in general more on the
accumulation of social capital.
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SMEs commitment
lack of researches and studies
(as opposed to the big firms)
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THE MAIN WEAKNESS IS ON
COMMUNICATION OF THE EXISITNG
EXPERIENCES
Italian SMEs are an integral part of the local community and
their success is often related to their capability to acquire
legitimacy and consensus from local stakeholders such as
employees, public authorities, financial organizations,
banks, suppliers and citizens.
These local networks are based on informal and tacit
relationships, whose results are often not communicated
or simply not measured.
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THIRD SECTOR
and CSR in Italy
In Italy CSR is still a critical issue for the Third Sector:
only the well known organizations, the bigger ones
and those with a wider structure and
communication/marketing capacity have the power
to get the firms support.
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THIRD SECTOR
and CSR in Italy
Only the biggest and well known enterprises have the
need (or, in most cases, the cultural resources) to
include CSR in their commitment. Social Marketing is
still commonly seen as a business opportunity rather
than an ethical issue related to citizenship and
sustainable development
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Actors operating in CSR are
characterized by:
• Recent proliferation
• Lack of awareness and clearness in
entrepreneurial sector
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PERSPECTIVES
Government could play a very relevant role to
help companies in recognizing the benefits and
limitations of the relationship within their
stakeholder network
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PERSPECTIVES
The third sector needs to find a way to connect
social issues to Cause Related Marketing in the
profit sector, in order to involve SMEs in
cooperating towards reaching mutual benefits.
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PERSPECTIVES
The way could be: starting from sharing
experiences and communicating the results of
CSR based campaigns in big firms, in order to
make clear to SMEs the scope of benefits
coming from CSR and impacting on the whole
context
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Examples of Italian
Corporate Social
Responsibility
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EXAMPLES OF:
1 - Best Western Italy
consapevoli.bestwestern.it
2 – BARILLA group
http://barillagroup.com/corporate/en/home/responsa
bilita/bilancio-multimediale.html
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BEST WESTERN ITALY
Respect,
transparency towards her clients,
employees professional growing, hotelier's awareness of his own role inside
the cooperative
Are
concrete commitments shared and endorsed by each person working in the
company
That
have an important impact on the work environment
contribute to create a positive climate
maintain a high degree of professionalism
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BEST WESTERN ITALY
AREAS OF COMMITMENT:
SOCIAL
Active cooperation with non-profit organizations:
- World vision (fundraising inviting Fidelity Club members (Best Western
Rewards) to redeem their points in money to be donated to Haiti people,
- CEFA (European Committee for Education and Agriculture) (sustained
projects of distance adoptions supported by their own employees.),
- Soleterre, Telefono Azzurro and AIMS,
- Ai.Bi (the holders of “Children’s Friends Membership” are granted 10%
discount on Best Western Italy hotels’ best rates).
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AREAS OF COMMITMENT:
PEOPLE:
- Best Western Italy reached position 22° in the Great Place to Work
ranking, gaining ground with respect at the 2010 classification.
- First hotel and tourist business company in Italy, in the 35 top
companies ranking.
- It is a research and management consulting company that every year
releases the best environment work places ranking.
- The company climate work has been central during 2010, by creating
a commission called “BeWe”, in charge of taking care of organizing
initiatives for all the employees monitoring the company’s climate.
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AREAS OF COMMITMENT:
GREEN:
-The attention to the environmental impact is essential for Best
Western Italy.
-Opening of a new course in cooperation with Lifegate.
-The first green friendly Best Western Italy members convention was
organized in May 2010: emissions produced during three days of
convention were compensated with the creation of new green areas in
Italy and worldwide.
-July 2010: participation in announcement promoted by Unioncamere
Lombardia to collect the best practices in topics of Market, Workplace,
Community and Environment.
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AREAS OF COMMITMENT:
-September 2010: exhibition "Salone dal Dire al Fare"(From Saying to
Doing) – 2010: during the seminary "Corporate Social Responsibility:
company good practices in Lombardia", Best Western Italy received a
certification for the commitment towards the Corporate Social
Responsibility carried out in 2010.
(All the best practices, including the Best Western ones, will be
collected and published on the institutional website of Chamber of
Commerce of Milan.)
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BARILLA group
PATH TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY: 2009
COMMITMENT focuses on seven AREAS:
Nutrition
Supply Chain
Environment
Human Resources
People
Community
Stakeholders
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BARILLA group
2009 PATH TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY: NUTRITION
• Dramatic changes in lifestyles have led to new nutritional requirements around the
world;
• Barilla offer Mediterranean Diet products that meet new consumer expectations of
taste, nutrition, safety and convenience: a balanced diet of cereals (bakery and pasta),
fruit and vegetables, and offering ready-made sauces and drinks prepared following
traditional Italian recipes.
BARILLA HAS AN ACTIVE COMMITMENT IN GOOD HEALTH PROGRAMMES:
• supporting numerous initiatives advocating increased awareness of correct eating habits
and nutrition;
• providing complete product information in packages of products to contribute to
people’s daily well-being (products’ characteristics, ingredients and nutritional
information: portion sizes, recipes, when and how they should be eaten, in order to
support healthy eating habits;
• supporting educational initiatives aimed at school children regarding the balance
between healthy eating and physical exercise.
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2009 PATH TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY: SUPPLY CHAIN
• BARILLA integrated supply chain differs from the classic linear structure
(members linked to each other in a straight chain), based on a closed loop
circular approach, model designed to involve all the players along the entire
production chain of Italian key raw materials, such as durum wheat, in a
common project by creating supplier partnerships.
•
Examples of projects about supply chain are: the SIGRAD (Società
Interprofessionale Grano Duro) project and the High Quality Durum Wheat
project in Emilia Romagna, with the purpose of investigating the food safety
issues, improving the sustainability of the supply chain and reducing the
environmental impact of raw materials transport.
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2009 PATH TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY: ENVIRONMENT
•In order to reduce our Ecological Footprint, BARILLA has decided to measure
the impacts of all processes in the supply chain by adopting the Life Cycle
Assessment (LCA) method to calculate three indicators – the Carbon Footprint,
Ecological Footprint and Water Footprint – and the EPD-Environmental Product
Declaration, in order to certify and communicate the environmental impact of
Barilla’s products.
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2009 PATH TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY: HUMAN RESOURCES
• BARILLA employed more than 9,100 people in 2009
•
TALENT SCOUTING COMMITMENT, to identify and attract people with leadership
qualities and who are willing to lead the change towards the future strategic
objectives of the organization. Relationships with the best national and international
universities and business schools are established;
•
TRAINING COMMITMENT: LAB (Barilla Laboratory for Food Culture) design project
focused on transforming Barilla into a knowledge based company and into an
organization aimed to continuous learning with a shared perfective at Group level.
Expenditure on training activities amounted to Euro 2.1 million in Italy and US$ 434,244
in America, equal to 0.07% and 1% of revenue respectively.
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2009 PATH TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY: PEOPLE
• Committed to managing every potential risk linked to the raw material and
•
•
•
•
packaging procurement process, and product manufacturing and distribution.
Food Safety Supply Chain project has enabled improvements in the safety
level of supplies (raw materials and packaging materials).
FINISHED PRODUCT CONTROLS, consisting on a series of organoleptic
(including tasting), microbiological and chemical-physical controls in order to
check quality before being distributed for consumption.
TRACEABILITY AND RETRACEABILITY System, which allows identification of
the customer to whom each finished product batch was delivered.
CONSUMER AND CLIENT CONTACT continued in 2009 through the consumer
service units.
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2009 PATH TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY: COMMUNITY
• BARILLA Group’s activities do not only have a direct impact on people’s diet
but also on the areas in which his production plants, mills and distribution
activities are located.
• Product donations to support organizations and initiatives is one of the
most effective methods of helping local communities (Banco Alimentare in
Italy and Feeding America in the United States).
• 2009 Barilla offered assistance to the earthquake hit communities of the
Abruzzo region, by signing an agreement with the council of San Demetrio
ne’ Vestini: areas of intervention were identified together with local
institutions and the heads of Civil Protection, by recognizing the need to act
immediately in order to construct a school complex to allow the children of
L’Aquila to return to school as quickly as possible.
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2009 PATH TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY: STAKEHOLDERS
• Sustainability Model applied by BARILLA, aimed to involve its employees to a
greater degree in the path towards sustainability.
• Information was spread to managers within the organization using internal
communication tools across the various locations.
• To provide professional support to group managers, Sustainability Operating
Group organized 15 training sessions with the managers of all business areas,
the first one 2009 29th May, attended by university lecturers, managers from
large industrial enterprises, environmental and social voluntary associations who
shared their experience in the field of sustainability.
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2009 PATH TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY: STAKEHOLDERS
•INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUE to present this model, with many initiatives both in
Italy and abroad:
World Pasta Day conference in New York,
“Euro-American meetings on citizenship” in the City University of New York and
the Boston College,
Consumer Forum in Rome,
Indagine Forum Solidarietà (Solidarity Investigation Forum) on strategies for
profit - nonprofit collaborations.
• 2009 main event in Italy involving stakeholders was the first edition of the
“Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition International Forum” (BCFN) in Rome, where
representatives of Italian and international institutions, NGO’s, leading experts in
the fields of health, economy, society and the environment, discussed and listened
to current and emerging needs relating to pressing issues affecting the world of
food and nutrition.
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THANK YOU
FOR YOUR ATTENTION
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