2011 Cone/Echo Global CR Opportunity Study

The Corporate Responsibility Opportunity

Welcome to the world of responsible business. And we mean that in the literal sense. The unequivocal takeaway from the 2011 Cone/Echo CR Opportunity Study, the latest in Cone’s 18-year chronicle of consumer expectations of responsible business, is that consumers globally believe companies have an explicit responsibility to help change the world.

Cone partnered with Echo Research to field our most extensive study to-date – 10,000 consumers in 10 countries, including the United States, Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, China, India and Japan. These are 10 of the 11 largest countries in the world by GDP, representing just over half of the world’s population. We anticipated some interest in responsible business within this sample.

What we got was a groundswell.

The desire to see companies drive social and environmental change was clear and consistent across every country we surveyed. Regardless of politics, historical context or cultural norms, consumers expect business to address social and environmental issues through their operations, their products and services and their unique expertise. The opportunity? Consumers want to support these efforts. This report will highlight data and insights that speak to the specific opportunities in each market to help companies tailor their approaches for greatest relevancy and impact.

We conducted an online survey, and we described “corporate responsibility” to the 1,000 respondents in each country broadly as “companies changing their business practices and giving their support to address social and environmental issues.”  In this report, we’ll share their opinions on:

• The role of business in society – It’s to change it.
• Leading issues – Focus on material issues.
• Leading approaches – Maximize core business competencies.
• Impact – Consumers want to know, be engaged and give credit when it’s due.
• Communications – Tell it how it is.