Researchers from the UCL Centre for Sustainable Business have joined forces with Newcastle University Business School to support organisations in demonstrating the value of responsible business to their investors and decision makers.
The project, involving UCL School of Management academics Professor Steve Yoo, Jingze Wang and Dr Jan Dauman, will include a systematic review of academic literature to identify the commercial benefits associated with responsible business practices. This evidence will be strengthened with stakeholder interviews to understand the implementation experiences, barriers and enablers that UK businesses are encountering.
The partnership was launched by the UCL Grand Challenges’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Reactor, which brings together the UN Global Compact Network UK – part of the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative – with the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) UK, which is hosted by UCL and has a similar mission within academia to advance the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
A key focus of the SDG Reactor is understanding the most prominent SDG-related challenges that UK businesses are facing. Across the UN Global Compact Network UK’s nearly 1,000-strong member base, many organisations reported understanding what responsible business looks like, but lack the evidence needed to demonstrate its value to stakeholders.
The findings from the collaborative project will create a strong evidence base, providing organisations with an accessible toolkit showing how responsible, ethical and sustainable business contributes to resilience, innovation, competitiveness and long-term value.
