ISO 26000 and the Standardization of Strategic Management Processes for Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility

Rüdiger Hahn

6/11/2014
(Original Publish Date: 6/27/2012)

The standard ISO 26000 aims to provide guidance on social responsibility and help all types of organizations contribute to sustainable development. Such guidance is important since there is still no consistent understanding of what corporate sustainability and social responsibility (CSSR) encompass. Many companies lack a strategic approach to CSSR and instead follow unsystematic procedures; thus, formal strategic planning could improve operational efficiency. Against this background, the paper critically examines the contribution of ISO 26000 to the strategic management processes of different types of companies. This allows the potential of ISO 26000 for guiding companies on their path to sustainability to be identified. The analysis shows that the standard is most useful for beginners in CSSR. However, ISO 26000 does not cover the entire range of strategic management processes. Instead, the standard is especially helpful for internal and external analyses and in providing starting points for implementing sustainability strategies.