Lynn Sharpe Paine
Harvard Business School
SmithOBrien consultants work with clients to build business systems, practices and corporate culture for the long-term success of corporate responsibility. Some of our engagements have extended over a period of several years. In addition to our custom consulting services we also offer:
Emerging Issues Advisory Service
The business case for corporate responsibility may not derive from what you know, but from what you don't know. While most corporations have staff who monitor what is known to impact business conditions, few have the resources to track the development of issues that may become major impediments to growth or new markets opportunities three to five years out.
For this reason, SmithOBrien's Emerging Issues Advisory Service (EIAS) offers clients early warning of critical CSR issues that could affect a company's license to operate or its competitive position in specific countries.
EIAS focuses on five industry sectors: advanced technology, resource extraction, consumer goods, agriculture, and chemicals. Drawing upon the knowledge of leading economists, political leaders, academics, regional experts, CSR activists in China, Africa, and Latin America, and our own analysts, EIAS identifies, tracks and reports on select legal, regulatory, cultural, social, environmental and political issues as they are happening -- often "under the radar" of even the most vigilant companies.
Current topics include:
- Financial accountability, liability and transparency
- Shareholder action and stakeholder engagement
- Human rights and labor relations, including indigenous peoples
Corporate members of the EIAS program benefit from:
- In-depth research reports and analysis of emerging global CSR business issues
- "Issues Alerts," sent monthly on pre-selected research topics in targeted local markets
- Executive Briefings with thought-leaders and our research teams on the ground
- Confidential Advisory Services on how best to respond and prepare for what lies ahead.
Shareholder Resolution Advisory Service
Shareholder advocacy continues to grow as a powerful force for positive change in the behavior of corporations. It's the right of every shareowner to ask questions and seek to influence corporate practices. But shareholder resolutions, whether calling for the elimination of "sweatshops" or reduced executive compensation, are at best a management distraction and at worst a red flag to stock market regulators and investors.
The SmithOBrien Shareholder Resolution Advisory Service can help to predict the risk of distracting and sometimes costly shareholder resolutions and to help prevent them. We advise:
- Building goodwill through promptly responding to shareholder concerns and demonstrating a willingness to work with potential filers
- Carefully listening to their concerns and expectations
- Thoughtfully negotiating a mutually beneficial resolution
- Following through on agreements
Our reputation with shareholder activists and socially responsible investors enables us to facilitate viable solutions to most shareholder concerns before they are filed with regulators or appear in a proxy statement.
Merger & Acquisition Diagnostic
In the midst of a merger, when a company's corporate culture and policies are undergoing radical changes, innovative and responsible business practices can get lost in the transition. From a financial perspective, the fallout of culture clash and the loss of best practices can lead to a substantial loss for investors. On the other hand, acquisition of an admired brand with sustainable and respected practices can be leveraged to improve productivity, quality, customer relations, community/regulatory relations and financial performance.
SmithOBrien's M & A Diagnostic is a critical aspect of due diligence for private equity firms that do not have the operations expertise to uncover hidden reputation and financial risks or opportunities to gain a competitive edge responsibly and cannot afford a costly, problematic acquisition. The M & A Diagnostic provides a team-based assessment to:
- Assess the compatibility between the buyer's and the seller's cultures
- Identify at the seller costly hidden operational liabilities and potential embarrassments, (e.g., employee discrimination, human rights violations in the supply chain, worker health and safety liabilities)
- Indicate where improved productivity, efficiencies, innovation and quality systems can be leveraged to increase revenue
- Report on the concerns and expectations of affected key stakeholder groups, including customers, community leaders, and socially responsible shareowners
- Suggest ways to avoid layoffs or, if downsizing is unavoidable, how to prevent lost productivity and reputation fallout inside the workplace, the marketplace and affected communities
The results can:
- Increase the likelihood of a successful investment,
- Save the buyer (and its shareholders) millions of dollars by avoiding an acquisition that can damage corporate reputation, brand equity and financial performance, and
- Warn the buyer of what lies ahead and what is needed to successfully overcome the obstacles or exposure.
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