| Name | Measuring the Impact of Engagement in Canada |
| Author(s) | Hebb, Tessa, Heather Hachigian and Rupert Allen |
| Editor | |
| Year | 2010 |
| Publication Type | Unpublished Work |
| Web Location | http://www.businessethicscanada.ca/kr/One.aspx?objectId=15079910&contextId=677979&lastCat=10527576 |
| Keywords | corporate engagement, shareholder engagement, stakeholder theory, environmental, social and governance (ESG) |
| Areas of Interest | Corporate Governance; SRI/Responsible Investment; Theory - Shareholder; Theory - Stakeholder |
| Citation | Hebb, Tessa, Heather Hachigian and Rupert Allen. 2010. Measuring the Impact of Engagement in Canada. Working paper. Ottawa: Carleton Centre for Community Innovation. Available at http://www.carleton.ca/3ci/3ci_files/Documents/Hebb%20et%20al%20Measuring%20Impact.pdf. Accessed on January 07, 2012. |
| Summary | This paper argues that corporate engagement has the potential to produce a positive change in company behaviour. It asks what leads to successful outcomes in engagement? We seek to quantify any observed positive change in corporate ESG standards that result from engagement. The paper extends the literature on stakeholder engagement. We use three case studies of engagements between institutional investors and companies in Canada over the past five years. We examine the outcomes of each engagement from the perspectives of the investor. We also consider the short term impacts and long term changes in corporate behaviour that resulted from engagement. |
| Abstract / Description | Institutional investors are becoming more concerned with the environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards of companies in which they invest. For these investors company-level ESG factors represent future risk when they hold their investments over a long period of time. Given the long-term nature of their portfolios, these investors engage with companies to raise these standards. This paper argues that corporate engagement has the potential to produce a positive change in company behaviour. It asks what leads to successful outcomes in engagement? We seek to quantify any observed positive change in corporate ESG standards that result from engagement. The paper extends the literature on stakeholder engagement. We use three case studies of engagements between institutional investors and companies in Canada over the past five years. We examine the outcomes of each engagement from the perspectives of the investor. We also consider the short term impacts and long term changes in corporate behaviour that resulted from engagement. |
| Publisher/Organization | Carleton Centre for Community Innovation |
| Cluster Library | Governance Law and Public Policy; Socially Responsible Investment |