STING releases third annual Responsible Business rankings

• Dialog retains leader status; Spence, JKH, HNB top improvers; CTC, Brandix dip

Having conducted an extensive survey amongst the leading businesses in Sri Lanka, STING Consultants has released the results of its annual Corporate Accountability Index for the third consecutive year.

The Index measures businesses for compliance on stakeholder accountability, transparency, ethics and governance, and assess the extent to which these are part of the usual way of doing business in the largest companies in the country.

It is a measure of the extent to which companies manage their day-to-day operations by putting in relevant systems and processes to guide the company and its employee behaviour, leading to being a responsible corporate citizen.         

The published listing reviews the corporate responsibility status of 66 leading companies, consisting of publicly listed companies, private companies and state owned enterprises. The research, which was conducted over a six month period in 2010, concludes that “Sri Lanka Inc. has made progress in readying itself against the oncoming global challenges. However, only a handful of companies are well-versed in the requirements of effective corporate responsibility, and others are gradually finding their feet.”

“There has not been enough progress made, as it is happening at too slow a pace” according to the report.

Having tracked the performance of the leading companies over several years, the study is able to make this assessment since it is the more progressive companies which have been reviewed. A possible reason for the slow progress could be the many misconceptions.

Too many companies confuse the meaning of CSR as being corporate philanthropy, whilst what is required is to understand the impact a business can make both positive and negative towards its stakeholders and to do business in a way which mitigates the negative and enhances the positive.

“Thus, unless a holistic approach is taken, businesses will face significant risks and jeopardize its own sustainability, unless it is able to anticipate issues and readies itself ahead of regulations and other negative factors which can impact its profitability,” the STING Corporate Accountability report has concluded.

STING Consultants is a fully integrated strategic marketing, branding and CSR consulting service.