Extended-form Case Study

Responsible business: impact as a force for change

Published on October 29, 2020   13 min

A selection of talks on Management, Leadership & Organisation

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0:00
My name is Savitri Groag, and I will talk to you about the effects of responsible business and share an example of how I integrated that into the business of my former employer.
0:12
First, a bit about myself. I live in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands. I hold a Master's degree in Political Anthropology and International Development Studies. I was fortunate enough to spend six months in Florence in Italy to do an Erasmus study exchange program during my studies. Right after my studies, I have first worked for a few, not for profit organizations and governments. During the last nine years, I have been the Head of Impact both social and environmental for Accenture in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. In that role, I integrated impacts into the business strategy of the company, which I hear referred to as the responsible business strategy. Besides social impacts, it instils different areas of impact, like the reduction of carbon emissions through alternative mobility, smarter use of the offices, generating green energy, and offering local and healthy food options.
1:05
The social impact made by the company and its employees was an important part of your responsible business strategy. All employees could volunteer for a social cause of their choice during business hours, and various social impact projects were carried out by teams of employees. This, of course, had a good impact on that specific cause, but in effect, it also had a great impact on the company. That is part of the why companies invest in these kinds of initiatives. I would like to elaborate on six of the positive effects that responsible business could have on a company.
1:38
I will go through the six effects by way of a real-life example of a social impact initiative called the Refugee Talent Hub. The Refugee Talent Hub is an initiative in
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Responsible business: impact as a force for change

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