Accenture Foundation, Ferrovial and Telefónica agree at ESADE on the important role of business in transforming society

“In order for societies to prosper, they need responsible companies,” declared Ignasi Carreras, Director of the ESADE Institute for Social Innovation, during a session entitled “How CSR strengthens the environment to promote business development”, organised by the SERES Foundation and ESADE. The aim of the session was to share and examine the formulas applied by the boards of Accenture, Telefónica and Ferrovial to contribute to the transformation of society.

“At SERES, we believe that companies can be engines of change, and we work to strengthen their commitment to the betterment of society,” commented Ana Sainz, Director General of the SERES Foundation. “Creating shared value means responding to a societal need with a business model, so that it can be sustainable.” She added: “The social problems we face require new players with new roles.”

Sustainable solutions, environmental footprint reduction and pro bono action

Cristina Moral, Senior Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at Ferrovial, acknowledged that CSR forms part of the company’s fundamental principles – a mindset that materialised in 2011, when Ferrovial launched its first strategic plan for CSR. “We’re now in the third phase, in which we want to position ourselves as a company that offers sustainable solutions,” commented Ms. Moral. “Not only do we want our partners to see us as the best in our field, we want them to differentiate us because corporate responsibility is present in all our decisions.”

Telefónica was also a pioneer in CSR. “If anything has characterised this company from the beginning,” commented Elena Valderrábano, Director of Responsible Business, “it is the fact that we have always focused on our stakeholders: investors, customers, suppliers, etc.” She added: “Since the creation of our foundation in 1998, we have concentrated on studying the ways in which the evolution of information technology has influenced society, especially in education. At Telefónica itself, as well as in other areas, we are working to reduce our environmental footprint and that of our customers.” Ms. Valderrábano concluded: “Telefónica is working to measure the social and environmental return of its products. This will allow us to take that factor into account in the manufacture of new products and in the company’s targeting of different groups.”

Like Telefónica, Accenture distinguishes between the actions of its foundation, which focuses on social work, and those of the company, which is where its CSR strategy is implemented. Ana Millán, Director of the Accenture Foundation, commented: “Our foundation was not born with the aim of generating business, but rather as a free consulting programme for the third sector, where we donate more than 80,000 pro bono hours each year. In addition to this work, for the past four years we have also been working on ‘Together for Employment’, a market-oriented training programme for members of vulnerable groups.”