wfn.org | LWF Consultation Urges Companies to Assume Social and Ethical

["Frank Imhoff" <frank_imhoff@elca.org>]

LWF Consultation Urges Companies to Assume Social and Ethical Responsibility
Call for Value-driven Corporate Culture

STUTTGART, Germany/GENEVA, 5 August 2004 (LWI) * "We have to consider how the
concept of good neighborliness in organizations and companies can be realized
through their social and ethical responsibility." Rev Dr. Karen Bloomquist,
director of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for Theology and
Studies (DTS) made these remarks at an LWF consultation under the theme
"Globalizing Vocation and Neighbor-Love." 

The objective of the June 17-19 gathering in Stuttgart, Germany, was to
discuss and devise new approaches to implementing social and ethical goals in
relation to business. In view of ethical challenges confronting workers in
companies every day with respect to economic globalization, "we should ask
how the church can motivate and encourage people to develop alternatives for
action," Bloomquist said.

Practical Guidelines for Congregations and Business Enterprises

According to the DTS director the consultation's objective was to develop
proposals and approaches that "could be really helpful to those working both
in a congregation and in business." One outcome - after the more abstract
position papers of recent consultations on the LWF "Call to Participate in
Transforming Economic Globalization" - could be a simplified leaflet with
practical guidelines to encourage local churches to raise the pertinent
issues at home.

The consultation took place in the context of the ongoing DTS
theological-ethical engagement with economic globalization, and concentrated
on relations between both church and business spheres. At a DTS consultation
titled "Reclaiming the Vocation of Government" in January this year in
Geneva, participants called for transparency and the exercise of public
office for the good of the population.

As a basis for commercial ethics Rev. Dr Susanne Edel from Esslingen,
Germany, proposed a model for the relation between the individual and his/her
neighbor at three levels: individual ethics; organizational or institutional
ethics; and macro-societal, structural ethics. "The challenges are now to see
how the three levels can come together in order to best serve human needs,"
she told the conference. "Charity must be called for and practiced at all
three levels." According to Bloomquist, the churches need to put more efforts
toward realizing corporate ethics and collaboration between churches and
small and medium-sized enterprises.

Value-driven Corporate Culture

"We must change corporate cultures so that companies encourage their workers
to uphold certain values, and promote environmental sustainability and fair
distribution," Dr Stewart W. Herman, teaching ethics at Concordia College in
Minnesota (USA) stressed.

In this context the model of the so-called sustainability audit, that would
extend beyond the usual financial balance sheet to assess the social and
ecological objectives of a company, could make an important contribution,
according to Mr Peter Stoll, LWF Treasurer and chairperson of the German
diaconal association, Dienste fuer Menschen. Further criteria included strict
corporate governance and fair business dealings.

Participants also discussed ideas like investment based on ethical and social
criteria and the granting of micro credits to small and medium-sized
companies. Another approach was the strategy of shareholder activism, where
organizations like churches acquire shares in order to influence company
policy along social, environmental and ethical lines.

Developing Business Models Based on Ethical and Social Criteria

Carl-Gustav Bjertnes, director of Orah, a Swiss capital investment and
management firm working with small and medium-sized companies in southeastern
Europe, said churches should indeed be platforms for small, value-driven
enterprises. Business models based on ethical and social criteria should be
developed with such companies, and the relevant support provided. While
pointing out that it was difficult to discuss economic topics at
congregational level, he cited another challenge as getting commercial
organizations to consider the church as a serious partner.

However, the churches' advocacy in corporate ethics is limited, stressed
Gunstein Instefjord, director of the policy and human rights department of
Norwegian Church Aid (NCA). An NCA campaign mounted against the Tommy
Hilfiger clothing company, which according to Instefjord, operates under
inhumane conditions, only led to its closure and relocation to another
region, instead of adopting working conditions based on ethical and social
criteria.

"This is not the only example showing that it is questionable whether a
change at the level of individual companies can really be implemented
without, at the same time changing the structural framework," stated Rev.
Sandra Bach from Munich, Germany. "Companies are compelled to work under
certain structural conditions." In order to appeal for corporate
responsibility at the structural level, taxing social and environmental costs
is a patent remedy. Dr Cynthia Moe-Lobeda said the taxing of social and
ecological costs could be constructive. "As a company it would be in my
interest to comply with the principle of sustainability if I had to pay for
environmental pollution," declared the theology and religious studies
professor at the University of Seattle (USA).

The outcome of the recent consultation and presentations from previous
related meetings will be published at the end of 2004 in the LWF
documentation series "Communion, Responsibility, Accountability." 
(815 words)

The statement from the Stuttgart consultation is posted on the LWF Web site
at http://www.lutheranworld.org/What_We_Do/DTS/Statement_Stuttgart.pdf

(Reported by LWI correspondent Anne-Christin Sievers, Tuebingen.)

[The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund (Sweden), the LWF now has 136 member
churches in 76 countries representing 62.3 million of the almost 66 million
Lutherans worldwide. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas
of common interest such as ecumenical and inter-faith relations, theology,
humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects
of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva,
Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information service. Unless
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