Research Symposium

BIO

Hello! My name is Ethan Correa and I am currently in my second year at Florida State University. I am a Political Science and Classics double major and have always had a love for research. Career wise, I plan on attending law school and focusing my life around helping those who feel their rights have been violated.

Assessing the Social Side of Corporate Sustainability

Abstract

Our study aims to identify current social sustainability metrics and understand the role they play in fostering corporate social responsibility (CSR). We examined consumer and stockholder demand for sustainable products and the net benefits of engaging in environmental and social sustainability practices. Next, we compiled social and environmental sustainability metrics and constructed a consumer-facing sustainability framework, entitled the Corporate Sustainability Indicator (CSI). We centered our framework around social and environmental sustainability in the agri-food industry and evaluated two chocolate companies, Alter-Eco and Tony’s Chocolonely. Then we compared the results of the the CSI with the results of an existing framework, the Good Shopping Guide (GSG). Based off the data collected in the case study, we will assess the effectiveness of the CSI. Our results can be beneficial to corporations, small businesses, governmental agencies, shareholders, and consumers among other entities.

Keywords: Sustainability, Food, Environment