Economy, Strategy & Finance Data Reactions

internal communication professionals need to do a better job of demonstrating their value to senior leadership. To be considered trusted advisers and counselors by executives and senior leaders, internal communication professionals should, among other things, assess and measure their value, bring unique insights, and better understand the financial metrics used by business leaders.

The Conference Board has launched an expanded initiative to track and benchmark societal investments, and their resulting impact, extending the organization’s 75 years of leadership in corporate citizenship research.

In this heightened environment of activism, quantitative investing and shorting, understanding who owns your company and why and even more importantly which firms do not own the stock is information that company management and the board should have in their arsenal.

The Conference Board recently released its annual study on the state of corporate sustainability disclosure around the world. The research assesses environmental and social disclosure practices of the 250 largest publicly traded companies domiciled in each of the 10 largest economies (by GDP at purchasing power parity) in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. As we look to Asia, what are key trends in reporting practices across the region? Where do we see the biggest challenges ahead?

C-suite executives are taking notice of global talent shortages. Attraction and retention of top talent was the top ranked internal hot button issue by CEOs in every region of the world. At the same time, wage increases are ranked among the bottom of the hot-button issues across regions. This is in line with current wage data for most regions, but with the wage acceleration in recent quarters in many parts of the world, we do expect this to change in 2019.

Key trends related to the corporate disclosure of environmental and social practices in Europe

Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is the region with perhaps the most severe shortage of labor in the world. Many companies with operations in this region are running into hiring difficulties and labor costs are rapidly rising. While a problem for companies, workers are benefiting and taking home large real wage gains.

Sophie L’Helias, a senior fellow with The Conference Board Governance Center and founder of the LeaderXXchange, was named to Global Proxy Watch’s “2018 GPW 10” list.

Artificial intelligence (AI) could help to address significant societal challenges, including those identified in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For organizations that seek to use such technology for social good, an understanding of the existing use cases and potential for social impact should be considered within the context of a heightened regulatory framework that might stifle successes.