BSR Conference Miami
5th to 8th November 2002

We thoroughly enjoyed Business for Social Responsibility's annual conference in Miami.

The conference was strongly supported with six hundred delegates, mainly from companies but including NGO's and business organizations. Here are a few observations:

This was BSR's fifth conference and the attendance reflects a gathering momentum for CSR issues in US business. Most US speakers related CSR to September 11th, Enron, or both. Questions of governance and accountability are dominating US thinking.

The agenda of US companies is subtly different from UK and European companies. Two areas of CSR predominate in the US: philanthropy and human rights in the supply chain. The environment is played down and left to the regulatory process.

US companies seem more in-touch with their supply chain than is typical in Europe. Their proximity to central and Latin America and the very large imports from these regions may explain this. Issues of agricultural production and factory conditions (particularly in the clothing and shoe sectors) were discussed in detail.

US companies are increasingly interested in CSR reporting. They view leading European reports such as those of Shell and BP as role models. However, legal storm-clouds hover over CSR disclosure and the Nike/Kasky court case is a negative influence (see http://www.srimedia.com/ and http://www.socialfunds.com/news/article.cgi/article957.html).