Recent News from Hedstrom Associates

For the latest news from Hedstrom Associates, and a list of published articles and books, see below.

Recent Client Assignments

• Board Sustainability Expert: Gib Hedstrom was asked by a $10B chemical company to provide a 45-minute external report on "Sustainability: Update, Trends and Implications" for a Board of Directors committee meeting in July, 2010.

• Keynote Speaker: Gib Hedstrom was asked to be the keynote speaker at the annual Novartis sustainability conference in May, 2009 and again in June 2010.

• Sustainability Ratings Analysis: In early 2010, we were asked by a Fortune 20 company and a Fortune 100 company to help an internal team come to grips with the hundred-odd external sustainability ratings. We updated our database of ratings; conducted extensive analysis on their audience, methodologies, rigor, reputation; and geographic status - and then selected a "top ten" to pay most attention to. We update our analysis quarterly.

• Sustainability Strategy for COO: A Fortune 500 technology company emerging from a major business transformation has a strong EHS, diversity, employee, and community story to tell - but lags in developing a sustainability strategy. We were asked to help guide and internal team preparing strategy options presented to the COO in July 2010.

• Full-Board Sustainability Update: Our client, the VP of EHS and Sustainability at a $20B manufacturing corporation, asked our help in preparing his annual sustainability update for the full Board of Directors meeting in December, 2009.

• CEO-Led Sustainability Workshop: A privately-held Swiss company in the resource and materials businesses was feeling growing pressure from customers and competitors around sustainability. We organized and facilitated a three-day workshop for the CEO, his direct reports, and a dozen other executives, drawing on outside speakers and a special benchmarking survey.

Carbon Neutral

• Going CarbonNeutral: In 2006 we decided to take additional action on climate change by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and providing certified offsets for the unavoidable emissions. Click here for a copy of our current CarbonNeutral status and here for information on our carbon neutral initiative.

Publications

• Insight: "The Messy Transformation." Now may be the time to make money by going green. Current financial pressures give every reason to sit tight. But waiting too long will increase the risk of losing competitive edge.

• Insight: "Before the Storm." At the Conference Board's two premier conferences on corporate citizenship and sustainability, the message was clear that the time has come for "doing well by doing good." But that was before the financial meltdown. So what gives? Click here for conference summary.

• Insight: "Case Closed: The Business Case for Sustainability is Over!" Following a powerful conference we ran for The Conference Board (Leadership Conference on Global Corporate Citizenship), this issue of Insight shows how leading companies are just getting on with transformation around corporate citizenship. Click here for conference summary.

• Insight: "The Innovation High Ground." Hedstrom Associates teamed with Arthur D. Little to survey 40 leading technology companies across Europe, North America, and Japan. Our latest survey noted striking developments from our earlier 1999 survey and study.

• Insight: "Reinventing Quality, Round Two." We recently completed a research project looking at leading technology companies in the United States, Japan, and Europe to gauge how to be tomorrow's winning company at the intersection of environmental trends and corporate strategy.
  
  
• Insight: Environmental Governance Survey. We recently completed our analysis of a comprehensive survey of the environmental and sustainability practices of 25 leading multinational companies.

For information on these and other current news items, please contact us.