A natural path to greater business impact

Why take the test?

Every day, people vote with their money for the companies they believe in. Increasingly, the companies that win are those that behave responsibly with the planet’s resources, take care of their employees and play it fair on the market.

It's often said that you have to sacrifice your business success to make a positive impact. But that's not true. When you follow a path authentic to your business, your positive impact can help you reach new customers, motivate employees, manage reputational and operational risks, reduce costs and do many more great things.

And, no matter if you are a big or small, if you manufacture goods or deliver online services…there is a natural impact path for you.

The responsible business conduct test tells you what your company should do to create the greatest impact for itself and its stakeholders. You will learn whether you are doing things right, and - most importantly - you will gain an understanding of what the right things to do are.

Save time and energy browsing through hundreds of responsible business and sustainability guidelines and standards, find out how you create impact and get a 15-page personalized report that gives you your unique natural path to  increasing your business impact.

• Understand your natural path to increase your sustainability and amplify your impact

• Clarify what you already do that is generating value for you and your stakeholders

• Understand what your customers and the global community expect from you

• Learn which global issues unite your industry to understand partnership opportunities with the greatest potential for impact

Change always begins with self-awareness. You can only make an impact if you know where you currently stand and what can generate the most value for your shareholders and stakeholders. But the number of guidelines and standards can be overwhelming. We can spend hours browsing and still be left with the questions, “So how do I know if my business is sustainable and responsible?” and “Where should I focus my sustainability efforts?”

The tool delivers value by offering companies an enhanced understanding of where they currently stand in order to empower organizations to expand their impact. It reflects a synthesis of world-class sustainability and responsible business standards such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Global Compact, the Global Reporting Initiative, ISO 26000 Corporate social responsibility and UNDP guidelines and countless other instruments. We designed it with clarity, simplicity and actionability in mind.

It's the first step in understanding how well-positioned the company is to deliver long-term value and impact in economic, environmental and social terms.

To us, impact means two things. First, it's the positive effect that a company has on broader economic prosperity, environmental sustainability and the flourishing of societies. And second, it's the positive influence on the longevity and success of any business. These two aspects of impact are inseparable and mutually dependent. This test will show you what to focus on to connect these two aspects of impact for the greatest benefit of your stakeholders and your company.

The test is unique compared to other responsible business or sustainability tests in the following four ways:

• it provides an understanding of responsible conduct and why it is valuable to your company
• it does not require you to submit any documents for verification and gives you quick answers
• it integrates numerous global standards and guidelines used by major global companies in one place
• it gives you an indication of what you can do to make a positive impact while increasing the long-term success of your business

The three parts of the test provide a sense of the company’s economic, environmental and social impact:

• Economic impact centers on the company’s activities related to ethics, transparency, anti-corruption, inclusive economic growth and shared prosperity
• Environmental impact refers to the company’s impact on the planet: its natural ecosystems, biodiversity, energy and material resources
• Social impact focuses on people-centered topics, such as employee human rights, community welfare and broader societal issues such as health and education

Clear-cut questions guide your self-assessment and answer categories help you identify how much your company has engaged with each issue. Each answer category refers to the degree to which a given responsible business topic has been integrated into your company’s governance mechanisms and systems of value creation.

The test is based on the latest research in the field of business sustainability and focuses only on what brings the most value and impact. For example, a recent survey of 30,000 companies showed that responsible supplier and contractor practices are one of the most powerful yet lagging areas of responsible business conduct worldwide. Therefore, the test also explores the company’s secondary impact through the practices of its suppliers and contractors.

• Gain insights about the current status of responsible conduct at your company as well as actionable recommendations for your next steps