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Barcelona, February 25th, 2015. EADA Business School hosted the presentation in Barcelona of the report ‘The value of sharing principles’, which analyses the implementation of social responsibility among signatory companies of the Global Compact in Spain. The event was presented by Ángel Pes, president of the Spanish Global Impact network and Elisabet Garriga, the study coordinator and director of the Social Sustainability Impact Center in EADA Business School.

During the event, Ms Garriga highlighted the fact that one of the great milestones during these years of crisis “was that there have been more adhesions by Spanish companies to the Global Compact network, and that among other local networks we are the one that has the most signatories” In fact, in the last ten years the number of signatory bodies has risen from 200 to 2,535.

“It is worthwhile being a part of this initiative because 97% of the companies that take part consider that they have made headway in the field of social responsibility” pointed out professor Elisabet Garriga. The companies have self-evaluated to what degree they have implemented it in areas such as human rights, labour and environmental regulations as well as anticorruption initiatives.

According to the presented report, big organisations give great importance to improving labour measures and fighting against corruption, 80% and 70% respectively whereas SMBs have focused more on labour regulations (68%) and the environment (63%).

One outstanding factor is that the associated companies have increased their international expansion since the signing of the Global Compact. The big companies, in 13% of cases have increased their revenues from abroad by over 60%. Whereas 11% of SMBs have increased their turnover by up to 40%. And from a qualitative viewpoint, 62% of large companies with international operations have improved their corporate reputation and their competitive edge, and among SMBs, the percentage is 54%.

The presentation of the study ‘The value of sharing principles’ was followed by a round table discussion with Janette Martell, General Coordinator of the ESADE Social Responsibility Plan, Ignasi Fainé, Communication and Social Responsibility Manager at Agbar, Marcos González, a journalist from Corresponsables and founder of the Media Responsable publishing firm, and the EADA Business School professor, Elisabet Garriga.

“We need to measure the social and economic impact of implementing social responsibility inside companies, always with a view to improving” statedElisabet Garriga. That’s why “efficient measurement methods have been created to help companies and the Global Compact in their work”.

Ignasi Fainé commented that “working with the United Nations is inspiring” and that “in order to accomplish the millennium goals we must commit companies to changing things, not only local governments”, and he concluded that “the Global Compact network is a tool for making companies more human, through motivation, commitment and impact”.

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