Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility

Today’s corporations operate in an environment of intense media, investor, regulatory and public scrutiny. The financial scandals of recent years have created a significantly more constrained regulatory environment. At the same time, increasing public and stakeholder concern about the social and environmental impacts of business practices is forcing Canadian companies to come to terms with a much broader set of interests and expectations.

For over twenty years, The Conference Board of Canada has assisted Canadian companies to embrace these challenges, helping them to reap significant benefits in terms of: proactive legal, social, environmental, and reputational risk management; enhanced organizational effectiveness; improved relationships with stakeholders; and social license to operate within communities.

Our areas of expertise include: board effectiveness • corporate social responsibility • private and public (Crown) sector governance • corporate ethics and compliance management • corporate-aboriginal relations • sustainability and environmental stewardship • corporate community investment • strategic risk management • corporate communications • public affairs • pandemic preparedness.

Our practical and solutions-oriented approach helps executives see beyond ‘flavour-of-the-month’ approaches to governance and social responsibility (CSR). We help them to understand the benefits and limitations of a wide variety of governance mechanisms and CSR-related business practices, and assist them to implement the ones that are right for them in the unique context of their own organizations.

We do this by providing:

• Trusted research and analysis on emerging trends and best-practices in governance and corporate social responsibility;
• Peer-to-peer networking opportunities that provide an opportunity for you to take part in facilitated, closed-door discussions with your counterparts in other organizations. Participants in these forums also benefit from The Conference Board of Canada’s unparalleled access to speakers from the highest levels of the Canadian and international public and private sectors;
• Full and half-day public and customized briefings on best practice areas of critical interest to boards of directors, chairs and CEOs, and other senior executives;
• Custom-tailored advice and assistance to boards and management on how they can enhance their organizations’ governance and CSR practices in the context of their own organizations;
• In-depth executive education programs for executives and corporate directors. These include
  • The Directors College, a joint-venture with McMaster University, which has awarded the Chartered Director* (C. Dir.*) designation to over 100 corporate directors since the College’s inception in 2003; and
  • The highly-rated Certificate in Corporate Social Responsibility, offered in partnership with the University of St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto.

* "The Directors College", "Chartered Director", and "C. Dir." are official marks of McMaster University.