Advisory Case Study

Service: Global Portfolio Benchmarking

Date: 17/05/2013

In 2013 BITC worked with Legal & General Group for the second time to benchmark how international subsidiaries and joint ventures integrate global CR policies and strategies within the core business practice on local levels.

“By using the Global Portfolio Benchmarking process within Legal General Group, we have created a universal language and structure to understand what happened naturally within overseas businesses. The CR Index is flexible enough to accommodate local responsible business activities as well as global standards and has resulted in tangible public commitments to improve our responsible business performance. All of our overseas business improved their CR Index performance as a result of this focus and flexibility.”

Date: 17/05/2013

Graham Precey, Head of Corporate and Social Responsibility, Legal & General Group

Business in the Community
137 Shepherdess Walk
London N1 7RQ / T: +44 (0)20 7566 8650
F: +44 (0)20 7253 1877
E:

Registered details: 137 Shepherdess Walk, London N1 7RQ, Telephone 020 7566 8650

Registered Charity No: 297716, Company Limited by Guarantee No: 1619253

Theopportunity

Legal & General is a leading provider of risk, savings and investment management products in the UK, with approximately 7million customers within the UK and over a million in overseas markets. They are the biggest single Investor in the FTSE 350 All-Share with around 4% control on behalf of their clients and £442.7bn funds under management.

Legal & General have an International Division, with wholly owned subsidiaries in the US, Netherlands and France and joint ventures in Egypt, India, Bahrain and Kuwait, which are increasingly becoming material as a source of revenue. Legal & General is working towards strengthening its position in the existing markets and continue to search for further opportunities though partnership with local banks in new, fast growing markets. This prospect of international growth put pressure/incentivise to continue engaging with and supporting these business units in driving the responsible business agenda.

Methodology

Following seven years of using theCR Index and achieving a Platinum Big Tick in 2013 CR Index ranking, Legal & General chose it as a trusted management and benchmarking tool to undertake a Global Portfolio Benchmark.

First assessment of subsidiaries took place in autumn 2010 with subsequent gap analysis against the same criteria to measure how different business units integrate CR policies and strategies within their core business practices.

Following that, Legal & General committed publicly to improving the score over the next 18 months in France, Netherlands and the US as well as expanding the scope of this exercise to include joint ventures in Gulf, India and Egypt. The second Global Portfolio Benchmark was carried out in 2012..

BITC provided bespoke approach for each participant. Some participants benefited from:

Additional guidance and recommendations prior to the completion of the assessment,
Coaching during the assessment process
Additional resources to complete the data collection process.

Close engagement with all the participants created a positive impact on the quality of the assessment and a more accurate benchmark.

Conducting global benchmarking project for the second time Legal & General was able to assess the level of progress made by subsidiaries and determine whether the targets have been achieved.

By inviting also joint ventures Legal & General not only could compare the CR activities of all international business units but also understand where improvements were needed and to engage the business units more closely in the agenda, tapping into their competitive instincts.

Outcome

The result of the process has been a comparison of all the subsidiaries and joint venture companies against each other and the Group.

Legal & General demonstrated high level of transparency not only by facilitating information exchange between participants but also by including the results in the 2012 CSR report.

The assessment has identified clear areas of strength in all the regions which has given the participants the opportunity to improve the sharing of best practice. For weaker areas BITC provided recommendations for improvement with action plans for each company and the Group.

Key outcomes include:

Allocation of responsibility over specific areas of CSR in all subsidiaries and joint ventures
Development of targets for key areas for improvement, specific for each subsidiary and joint venture
Improved group reporting though disclosure data from America, France and Holland in the product, environment, and community areas
Better understanding of CR achieved though employee engagement as well as series of workshops organised to raise awareness in areas such as sustainable procurement, environmental performance, etc.

Business in the Community
137 Shepherdess Walk
London N1 7RQ / T: +44 (0)20 7566 8650
F: +44 (0)20 7253 1877
E:

Registered details: 137 Shepherdess Walk, London N1 7RQ, Telephone 020 7566 8650

Registered Charity No: 297716, Company Limited by Guarantee No: 1619253

Business in the Community
137 Shepherdess Walk
London N1 7RQ / T: +44 (0)20 7566 8650
F: +44 (0)20 7253 1877
E:

Registered details: 137 Shepherdess Walk, London N1 7RQ, Telephone 020 7566 8650

Registered Charity No: 297716, Company Limited by Guarantee No: 1619253