Business Operations and Materiality Assessment

Our Business Operations and Materiality Assessments help organizations explore, identify and rank key priorities in the area of CSR and sustainability. Companies and organizations can use the materiality assessment as a practical approach to program planning and design, as an internal opinion research tool and as the first step in establishing corporate social responsibility and sustainability priorities.

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Our assessment includes:

Compiling and categorizing a list of sustainability priorities;
Ranking these priorities from low to high in relation to stakeholder importance and business success;
Identifying the sustainability priority zone.

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What’s in a name?

Ask 10 people to define “sustainability” or “corporate social responsibility” – or better yet, distinguish between the two – and you’re likely to get 10 different answers. Here’s how we see it, borrowing from some well-accepted definitions:

“Sustainability” is…

“Meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” – Brundtland Commission, 1987.

“Corporate social responsibility” is…

“CSR is the deliberate inclusion of public interest into corporate decision-making.” – Wikipedia

“CSR is not a marketing or branding strategy – it’s a business and operational strategy, and an important way to manage business.” – Paul Argenti, chief advisor to Fleishman-Hillard affiliate CCW (Communications Consulting Worldwide)

Both sustainability and CSR can be measured by the “triple bottom line”…

An accounting and reporting framework that measures an organization’s progress along three lines: “economic prosperity, environmental quality and social justice.” – John Elkington, founder of SustainAbility and author of “Cannibals With Forks”