The report analyzed board committee charters at S&P 100
firms and found that only 65 companies in the S&P 100 have
board committees with some level of responsibility for oversight of
corporate responsibility concerns. One of the most notable
statistics from the study was the finding that less than 50% of
those 65 boards monitor and provide recommendations on CSR trends
and developments.
Ultimately, this lack of focus on trends is troubling. Looking
at developments in the CSR field over the previous decades, it is
not hard to see that stakeholder expectations in the areas of
environmental and social standards have often lead to the
developments of new regulations, legislation, and lending
guidelines. As I noted in the article,
Understanding key trends is an
integral component of effective long-term strategy development and
can help ensure that companies have the capacity to respond to
concerns when they arise. Companies regularly seek to identify
trends in consumer preferences and in regulatory environments.
Companies should exercise the same diligence in identifying future
stakeholder expectations with regard to social and environmental
performance. Stakeholder expectations in the area of CSR frequently
ask companies to go "beyond compliance" with existing
legal and regulatory standards. At the same time, these
expectations are often predictive of the future content of legal
and regulatory requirements.
A full copy of the article is available here (.pdf).
The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.
Specific Questions relating to this article should be addressed directly to the author.
Last month, the National Association of Corporate Directors took a stab at identifying ground rules in its "Directors’ Guide" to corporate board and committee minutes.
The SEC has recently announced that it entered into a Non-Prosecution Agreement with Ralph Lauren Corp. in connection with alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
The Chief Counsel of the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets recently addressed the ABA’s membership at its annual meeting, and commented on the need to consider closely whether certain private funds, finders and other intermediaries should register as broker-dealers.
The time has come to take out and refresh those business associate agreements, HIPAA privacy and security compliance manuals, and HIPAA privacy notices.
A discussion on determining whether a bidder is "serious" in its pursuit of the target is a key factor in analyzing a target director’s liability for "bad faith" in the context of a merger and acquisition sales process under Delaware law.
On March 4, 2013, Nasdaq issued a proposed new rule that, if approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, will require listed companies to establish and maintain an internal audit function.
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