Our past and present clients include large public companies, government businesses, professional associations and not-for-profit organisations. In the past year we have provided advisory services to organisations including Alcoa of Australia, Australian Red Cross Blood Service, Monash-Citylink-Westgate Southern Link Upgrade Project, Optus Singtel, RACV, Toyota Australia and Transurban.

Browse case studies of our development of Toyota Australia’s 2008 Sustainability Report, our stakeholder perception survey for Alcoa of Australia, our stakeholder research for Transurban Ltd and our review of Westpac Banking Corporation’s Stakeholder Impact Report.

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Case Study 1: Developing Toyota Australia’s 2008 Sustainability Report Toyota Australia engaged the Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility in April 2008 to help develop its annual Sustainability Report. This report was the company’s second Sustainability Report, and follows the publication of six yearly Environment and Community Reports. The aims of the project were to define the scope of the report, collect data, co-ordinate an internal project team from relevant divisions within Toyota Australia, write the report and co-ordinate verification, design, publication and printing.

Additionally, Toyota Australia wished to report more fully against the Global Reporting Initiative’s G3 Indicators. The GRI is the world’s leading framework for integrated sustainability reporting. The GRI guidelines have been developed over the past ten years through a global multi-stakeholder process. The GRI guidelines today encapsulate the best available international agreement on sustainability performance indicators in the economic, social and environmental arenas, and are used by over 1,000 companies.

We worked in-house at Toyota Australia for three months, which enabled us to liaise with Toyota personnel to collect data and helped us to gain a full understanding of the material issues for the company.

The result was the publication of a printed summary report and a full online version which applies the GRI framework to an A+ level. The report can now be used to drive internal performance improvements, raise awareness and influence behaviours both internally and externally.

Read Toyota Australia’s 2008 Sustainability Report here

To read a review of the Sustainability Report from Ethical Investor magazine click here (207 KB PDF)

“ACCSR helped develop a high-quality report on time which displays our commitment to sustainability very well. We are very pleased with the outcome.” Roger Petrucci Corporate Manager, Strategy and Environment Toyota Australia

Case Study 2: Alcoa Stakeholder Perception Survey

In October 2007 Alcoa of Australia commissioned the Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility to investigate the expectations and perceptions of key local stakeholders had of its business across its operations in WA, Victoria and NSW. The research aimed to capture baseline data on the perceptions Alcoa’s stakeholders had of the company’s social, environmental and financial performance and awareness of the companies community relations and partnerships programs. The purpose was to provide evidence-based identification of opportunities and risks in the development and refinement of Alcoa’s community relations strategies. A key deliverable was the development of key performance indicators and a survey tool that Alcoa can apply independently in future years to track the effectiveness of the company’s community relations strategies. The research was implemented over a six-month period from late November 2007 to early May 2008.

We designed a two-part research process that enabled us to engage all Alcoa’s 1,500 plus stakeholders in a cost-effective manner. In Stage 1 we used the internationally-validated Stakeholder 360® tool to provide empirical evidence of stakeholder perceptions and expectations, and to identify socio-political opportunities and risks relevant to Alcoa. Customised questions measured stakeholder awareness and attitudes regarding Alcoa’s reputation and performance, and specific economic, social and environmental programs. We completed in-depth interviews with 158 key stakeholders at ten Alcoa sites in Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. Stage 2 comprised a self-complete survey delivered by either post or email to the other stakeholders. Surveys were returned by 418 stakeholders, for a response rate of 31%. In all, 36 per cent of Alcoa’s Australian stakeholders participated.

The results enabled us to pinpoint opportunities and risks at both corporate and site level. We were able to clearly identify and measure business outcomes such as perceptions of social, environmental and economic performance, and reputation. We also quantified the extent to which high quality stakeholder relationships contribute to these outcomes, developed key performance indicators and provided tactical advice on community engagement and communications for each site. We designed and tested a do-it-yourself survey that Alcoa can use independently in future years to track progress of stakeholder and community relations activities.

Finally, we hosted a one day workshop for Alcoa’s corporate and community relations staff who used the research results to develop innovative and relevant community relations site plans.

"Alcoa of Australia benefited greatly from working with the Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility. We engaged ACCSR to undertake a Stakeholder Perception Survey and the results and recommendations delivered enormous value to our business in terms of helping us to better understand our stakeholders’ issues and their perceptions of our company performance. One of the great strengths of ACCSR was their ability to provide us with robust data which we could use as baseline information but also present to line managers to build on our local, regional and national community and stakeholder engagement programs and improve our performance. ACCSR have a rigorous academic approach but deliver practical recommendations. Working with ACCSR was not the usual consulting experience - we all came away feeling that we had learnt a lot more about effective stakeholder engagement!" Paula Benson, General Manager, Corporate Affairs Alcoa of Australia

Case Study 3: The Stakeholder 360® at Transurban Ltd

A company’s ability to reduce its environmental impacts and deliver strong social outcomes while driving business improvement depends on the quality of its relationships with a broad range of stakeholders. In 2006, Transurban engaged the Australian Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility (ACCSR) to conduct stakeholder research with the company’s Australian stakeholders.

The aims of the research were to help Transurban better understand the issues that matter to stakeholders and to inform and support the development of Transurban’s community engagement framework. To achieve these goals, ACCSR implemented the Stakeholder 360®. ACCSR conducted 79 in-depth stakeholder interviews and two external stakeholder meetings.

The results were used to build Transurban’s community engagement strategy and develop its first sustainability report, while the process helped strengthen relationships and shared understanding between Transurban and its stakeholders.

In Transurban’s 2007 sustainability report (www.transurban.com), the company described how it uses the Stakeholder 360® as its “main tool for formally engaging with its stakeholders.” In 2007 ACCSR conducted a Stakeholder 360® for Transurban to uncover key emerging issues and track changes to the company’s stakeholder relationships and reputation from 2006. ACCSR conducted 53 interviews with people from 38 stakeholder organisations.

The 2007 research showed that stakeholders are becoming increasingly concerned about sustainability issues. Transurban’s 2007 sustainability report said: “As well as extracting key stakeholder issues, the research provides valuable data on ‘social capital’ — the quality of our relationships with stakeholders.”

Read Transurban’s first sustainability report by clicking here

“ACCSR’s stakeholder research helped us to think about sustainability in a more holistic way. In the past we tended to deal with stakeholders on an issue-by-issue basis. Now we look at the links between our stakeholders and the issues we share with them as an interconnected network. This gives us new ways of improving business sustainability.” Mike Roberts General Manager, Corporate Relations & Strategic Marketing Transurban Limited

Case Study 4: Review of Westpac Banking Corporation’s 2005 Stakeholder Impact Report

Westpac, a global leader in sustainability reporting, asked us to review their fifth Stakeholder Impact Report in June 2006. Westpac wanted to ensure that its report was addressing the most material issues and that it meets the needs of a range of different stakeholders in the most accessible manner.

We designed a two-part process to achieve Westpac’s objectives. First, we developed a short telephone survey that allowed us to measure and compare in a systematic way the preferences of different stakeholder groups on aspects of the report such as readability, preferred format, narrative quality, data presentation, length, accessibility and language. We also collected data on the issues that matter most to stakeholders. Next, we facilitated stakeholder dialogue about the report through workshops that enabled us to probe issues in more detail that were raised in the survey.

Finally, we synthesised the results of the survey and workshops into a concise report that clearly explained what is working and why, and what can be done to improve what is already a report that other companies look to for benchmarking.

Read our review by clicking here (742 KB PDF)

Read Westpac’s Stakeholder Impact Reports by clicking here

“We were really happy with the outcomes and the process that ACCSR used to review our Stakeholder Impact Report. We had excellent feedback about the process from both employees and external stakeholders. They said it really made a difference having someone who understood the subject matter and appreciated the nuances of key issues. ACCSR’s recommendations are practical and have informed our plans to further improve our Stakeholder Impact Report.” Emma Herd Senior Advisor, Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability Westpac Banking Corporation

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