Governance & organisation

Case study

 

Delivering compliance and anti-corruption policy that seals the deal on government contracts for a container manufacturer

The client, a leading container manufacturer in Italy, was required to implement an ethical compliance and anti-corruption program prior to becoming confirmed as a qualified supplier to a government body. The robust code, procedural frameworks, and governance mechanisms PwC developed not only resulted in new business opportunities, but inspired the parent company to enhance its ethics commitment as well.

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The client’s challenge

The client needed to develop a comprehensive ethics and anti-corruption program to be eligible for supplier opportunities with a government organisation.

Our approach

PwC professionals:
  • Conducting an assessment of stakeholder relationships and risk areas
  • Designed a code of ethics
  • Defined a governance and accountability infrastructure, policies, procedures and role descriptions
  • Trained client and parent company personnel

Benefits to the client

In addition to helping the client secure confirmed supplier status and lucrative new opportunities, the transparency and depth of the new ethics programs made a positive impact on partner relationships and encouraged the both client and parent Boards to comply with Global Compact principles.

Embedding a sustainability agenda for a mining leader

PwC helped a well-known mining company in South America strengthen its reputation and relationships with stakeholders by designing and embedding a meaningful sustainability agenda into its operations.

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The client's challenge

PwC was selected to help a mining enterprise align its sustainability and business strategies and develop a CSR infrastructure.

Our approach

PwC professionals:
  • Delivered a CSR strategy based on an analysis of existing activities and a benchmark of peer group practices
  • Led stakeholder engagement workshops
  • Developed a CSR report

Benefits to the client

Consolidating social and environmental considerations into a unique and robust strategy helped the client expand dialogue with the stakeholders and realise a number of operational and reputation benefits.

Alternative energy producer

PwC has worked extensively with the client, an alternative energy producer, to help shape the company's sustainability agenda. In addition to assisting the client to develop and deploy its CSR strategy and providing technical assistance for the annual audit of its CSR report, PwC supports application of the company's greenhouse gas inventory methodology across five business units worldwide.

Environmental research center

PwC professionals in Chile and Colombia partnered to provide stakeholder engagement services for an environmental research center. The engagement focused on identifying the communications needs of the client’s diverse stakeholders and educating the client’s management on best practices for reporting relevant and accurate information across the audience base.
 

Without effective governance and organisation, the most visionary sustainability strategy is doomed to fail.

PwC helps clients with all facets of perfecting governance and organisation, from developing policies and systems for implementing strategies to gaining organisation-wide buy-in. As with any corporate objective, winning buy-in is vital for developing sustainable businesses. Effective buy-in is achieved through spreading awareness and providing information to all stakeholders. Employees and suppliers, for example, need to know what a facilitation payment is and whether or not it is illegal if an anti-corruption program is to succeed. Similarly, stakeholders must be informed about the broad implications of climate change if they are to be motivated to transform how they conduct day-to-day business.

In some situations, engrained corporate cultures may resist new strategic directions, so change management programs can be invaluable for achieving across-the-board buy-in. Regardless of an organisation’s openness to changes sought, incentive schemes, both financial and non-financial, need to be designed to align with the objectives.

Setting targets and assessing progress against those targets are also key components of optimising governance and organization. Both steps are informed by benchmarks that indicate where an organization is in relation to its overarching goals and in relation to competitors.

Practices across an organisation must be consistent. So, for example, the procurement function of an organisation committed to fair labor practices should not make demands on suppliers that can only be met by violating the organisation’s own labor standards. Mechanisms need to be in place to prevent those types of conflicts.

PwC provides governance and organisational services for all facets of the sustainability agenda including:

  • Educational workshops for both technical knowledge and broad awareness on climate change, anti-corruption, biodiversity, and other sustainability issues
  • Change management programs
  • Incentive scheme designs
  • Executive coaching
  • Policy and system design, including supply chain policies regarding labor and environmental practices, systems for improving energy efficiency practices, whistleblower systems, etc.
  • Target design
  • Benchmarking to assess support for sustainability
  • Employee engagement campaign design
  • Life-cycle analysis of products and services
  • Development and testing of codes of ethics and conduct
  • Development of stakeholder engagement programs

Triggers

  • Are our employees confident that if they act in accordance with the company’s sustainability agenda, that they will be rewarded?
  • Have incentives been set and linked to the bonus program?
  • Is the governance structure up to date and does it make sense with respect to current strategy?
  • Do our customers believe the business operates on the sustainability principles that it claims to?
  • Has everyone on our board bought into the agenda?
  • Do all of our suppliers understand and accept the anti-corruption standards we’ve adopted?