The Global Leadership Network, an IBM-led consortium of 10 world-class companies pursuing excellence in corporate citizenship, has launched a new web site at www.globalleadershipnetwork.org. The site provides companies with information about planning and taking control of corporate citizenship. It is also a bridge for companies to learn more about becoming a member of this prestigious global network.

In opening the network to all eligible companies, IBM Vice President Stanley S. Litow said, “CSR is no different than other parts of the company – it has to be based on performance, excellence and accountability.”

Appearing at the public kickoff in New York of the Global Leadership Network (GLN), Litow urged other executives to jump into the driver’s seat and take control of their company’s corporate citizenship strategy. “Stop being reactive,” he said. “It’s time to take control of your CSR efforts and add value to the performance of the company.” A launch event was also held in London and more will be held worldwide throughout the year.

For Mark Murphy, manager for corporate citizenship for Cargill, the value of GLN is the “ability to compare, contrast and be part of a global network. Citizenship equals the total impact a company has on society and the environment. The complexity of CSR requires something like the GLN.”

The GLN is a global network of companies committed to achieving world-class performance in corporate citizenship through the use of a four-part framework, an on-line planning and benchmarking tool, and a world-wide learning community of peers. What differentiates GLN is its focus on strategic planning and the need for companies to identify how corporate citizenship aligns with critical business challenges and how to manage the trade-offs between key stakeholders.

GLN was created in 2003 by a group of 10 companies interested in determining how to build corporate citizenship into the core business strategy and demonstrate its value. The founding companies – IBM, General Electric, FedEx, Cargill, Diageo, Omron, Manpower, CEMEX, 3M and General Motors – in collaboration with research teams from the U.S.-based Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College and U.K.-based AccountAbility, have:

• created a framework for corporate citizenship performance excellence
• defined the essential characteristics for performance excellence in corporate citizenship
• identified best practices and created a proprietary web-based database
• developed a simple, comparative scorecard to assess progress
• produced a web-based self assessment and planning tool

“You choose: Do you want the demand to be for compliance or for excellence? The GLN will help you balance the pressures from stakeholders in a way that aligns with your core business strategy,” said Steve Rochlin, director of research and policy development for The Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College.

Martin Sandelin, Nokia’s vice president for corporate social responsibility, endorsed the GLN in New York and told other corporate executives, “You cannot have a great brand unless you figure out your CSR.” He said the consumers are driving Nokia commitment to corporate citizenship.

“It’s time for companies to connect their CSR with excellence,” said Simon Zadek, CEO of AccountAbility. “If CSR is not aligned then what you are doing has to be really big or it’s probably irrelevant.” Joining GLN will allow a company to compare its strategy to others and determine which drivers are most important to the overall company strategy, he said. “This is about pursuing excellence. The GLN offers a tool to compare with others, not compete.”

Zadek also said the GLN planning tool allows companies to identify the most important drivers and allow the focus to remain on the few that really influence CSR effectiveness. “Only a few will really make a difference,” he said. “You must target them and then do your planning. The trick is to find what will affect the long term and balance it against the short term pressures.”

Another member of the GLN steering committee, Shizuo “Ricky” Fukada, representing the Japanese sensing technology company Omron, spoke at the New York event. “The world is flat,” he said. “While every multinational company must find its own solutions to the CSR challenge, a company can gain from the GLN a solid concept of how to align its concept of CSR to global CSR practices.”

“Through the engaged learning of being in the Global Leadership Network, Omron will be expanding its position in society,” Fukada said.

The value of GLN will expand with its membership, said IBM’s Litow. “At IBM we’re getting better at this, but we’re not where we want to be. We will only continue to get better as more companies we can learn from are at the table. To get really, really good you have to be prepared to learn from everyone – inside your company, outside your company, industry, and region.”

The research involving the 10 companies that comprise the GLN steering committee reveals four critical performance elements that determine corporate citizenship excellence:

• Integration of corporate citizenship into business strategy. Excellent performers identify the significant relationship between core strategic goals, core values, key performance metrics and drivers, and societal expectations for corporate citizenship.
  
  
• Commitment to engage and learn from stakeholders. Most companies pursue stakeholder engagement from a defensive, risk management posture. Excellent companies view stakeholders as a critical constituency that defines the citizenship agenda, drives learning, and provides feedback that can lead to innovation around business processes and products.
  
  
• Commitment to lead. Excellent corporate citizenship performers seek to be the best in the areas of strategic alignment they define as most important. Core to this aim is the effort to engage and influence others to enhance their performance as citizens.
  
  
• Formation of supportive corporate citizenship systems and processes that constitute operational excellence. Leaders reinforce strategic alignment by designing appropriate measures, incentives, training, and operating systems that encourage excellent and aligned sustainability performance.

For more information about the Global Leadership Network or to join, contact gln@bc.edu.