Malaysian companies are viewing
sustainability with a growing sense of importance, as part of their branding
effort, in line with global practices.
Zenith Malaysia chief executive officer
Gerald Miranda said that companies worldwide are increasingly aligning their
operations and strategies with universally accepted principles in the area of
human rights, labour, environment and corporate governance.
"Social and environmental responsibility has become an
integral part of strategic corporate practice, and the Environmental, Social
and Governance (ESG) index mandated by Bursa Malaysia is a major step in this
direction.
"It sets out internationally benchmarked criteria that
measured a company's efforts in environmental conservation, the impact of
social responsibility initiatives and the practice of good governance,"
Miranda told the audience during his opening speech at the Sustainable Brands
Conference in Kuala Lumpur today.
Miranda noted that many companies were actively integrating
sustainable principles into their businesses by reducing energy and natural
resources.
He added that recent studies show that consumers were more
likely to purchase from socially-responsible brands.
In his presentation on Sustainability
in Communications at
the conference shortly after his opening speech, Miranda argued that brands and
agencies need to practice holistic marketing, in order to reach out to the
wider target audience.
"What this means is that they need to think beyond their
(company) products, and think about the context of consumer, society and the
broader consumer," he said.
Miranda also highlighted that 89% of consumers in the US stated
that they would switch to a brand that supports a cause, emphasising just how
important corporate social responsibility is to consumers in the country.
"It's about building and maintaining trust of various
stakeholders," Miranda said, referring to the evolving communications
between companies and consumers.
-The Edge Markets
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