EASY-ECO Budapest Conference - Stakeholders Perspectives in Evaluating Sustainable Development October 15, 2009

While previous EASY-ECO conferences have dealt with the strategic and project levels of SD evaluation and policy learning processes, the upcoming EASY-ECO Budapest Conference 2009 focuses on key developments in linking Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and stakeholder management to sustainability evaluation in the corporate domain in Europe.

Thematic outline

Stakeholders are increasingly empowered, engaged and have an impact on social expectations, new market tendencies and consumers preferences. New stakeholder activism influences corporate affairs and the traditional pyramid of corporate authority is often replaced by a sphere of cross-scrutiny and corporate transparency demanded by external stakeholders. Stakeholders are influential forces in partnerships between corporations, governments and NGOs.

The relevance of stakeholders’ influence is shaping also the evaluation agenda. Sustainable development has become a prime example of multi-stakeholder strategies. Evaluating local, national and supranational programs of sustainability is a task in which the impact of stakeholders is a key variable. Yet we have rather limited knowledge of how to measure the impact of various stakeholders on sustainability projects, not to speak about their impact on corporate strategies, competitiveness and corporate responsibilities. A particularly challenging task is to evaluate the impact of stakeholders on business sustainability. The primary focus of the Budapest conference is to contribute to this relatively less-researched field of sustainability evaluation.

Key topics

The thematic outline given above can be specified with the following key topics. Submissions can address one or more of the key topics in general terms or in the context of a case study.

• Stakeholder theories: How do latest developments influence evaluation practice?


• Multi-stakeholder strategies and competitiveness: Challenges for evaluation


• Corporate stakeholders: CSR and accountability of corporate boards and management – evaluating changes in corporate governance


• Labour stakeholders: Assessing employee satisfaction, the impact of legislative changes, international agreements and voluntary codes of conducts (such as the Global Compact)


• Consumer stakeholders: Evaluating the impact of consumer satisfaction and changes in consumer preferences: Responsible and ethical companies, green products and fair trade


• Community and NGO stakeholders: Assessing their impact on corporate practices


• Researchers as stakeholders: Developments in evaluation methodologies

Conference information provided by konferenciakalauz.hu

Official Website: http://www.sustainability.eu/easy/?k=conferences&s=budapest