Intellectual Slap 2

The Spending Power of Disabled People

Disabled people, their families and friends form a significant market which no organisation can afford to ignore.
10 - 20% of the global population are disabled (2)
It's estimated that one in four people have direct experience of disability - either through being disabled themselves or close to someone who is (3)
UK - disabled people in the UK have a disposable income of £50 billion (4)
USA - annual discretionary spending of disabled people is estimated at US$175 billion. This figure is almost three times as much as the USA teenage discretionary spend, so actively courted by business (5)
Australia - disabled people have a discretionary income of at least AUS $26 billion (6)

The Grey Market
The 'grey market' (7) is both an exciting marketing opportunity and a social challenge. It is particularly significant that many older consumers welcome more accessible products and services even if they have yet to describe (or may never describe) their visual, hearing or mobility impairment as a disability.
The annual income of the over-50s in the UK currently exceeds £160 billion
33% of 50-65 year olds have a disability
By the year 2010 40% of the UK population will be over 45 - the age at which incidence of disability increases (10)
The level of disability increases with age: 34% of those aged 50 to state pension age have a current long-term disability (11)
Whilst older age groups are slightly less likely to save regularly, they are also more likely to say that they are happy to use their savings (12)
The over 50s account for one fifth of the UK population, own more than 80% of the country's asset wealth and are the group most likely to vote in general elections (13)
Disability rates in Australia vary from 4% for children aged 0-4 years to 84% for those aged 85 and over (14)
In 1998, there were 2.3 million older Australians (aged 65 years and over). Over half (54%) had a disability (15)
The proportion of the Australian population aged 65 years and over has risen from 4% to 12% over the last 100 years. It is projected to rise to 18% by 2020 (16)
Over-55s are:
48% more likely than average to spend their day spending in the shops and 14% more likely to eat out
Likely to spend over a third more on their cars than average buyers
80% more likely than a typical person to buy a brand new car
35% more likely to go on a foreign holiday and spend over two-thirds more than average per holiday
80% more likely to invest in shares and almost two-thirds more likely to have a gold card (17)

This demographic revolution will shift the epicentre of consumer activity from the current exclusive focus on youth to matching the needs, challenges and aspirations of middle-aged and mature consumers.

Intellectual Slap

The general lack of awareness of CSR among the general public, the business press, and within corporate boardrooms themselves:

When asked whether the average American had a good understanding of what CSR is, nine out of 10 said "no." More than two-thirds said journalists and CEOs didn't understand CSR either.

When asked if corporations were engaged in CSR merely for public relations, three out of four said yes.

Interestingly enough, four in five were able to correctly identify the author of the famous quote: "Only the little people pay taxes."

Serve your stakeholders well before crisis happen...

A very interesting article which I want to share...

Press release from: The McWilliams Group

After the Cameras are Gone ... Memorandum to Corporate America: Serve Your Stakeholders Well Before a Crisis Occurs


(CSRwire) PITTSBURGH – While the country is still reeling from the impact of two natural disasters, our communities face crises every day – fires, floods, blackouts. The question of "what can I do?" takes on many nuances – what can I do to help, to be better prepared to learn how to respond, to get more information. The business community can play a vital role in helping their stakeholders answer those questions, and, as evidenced by the level of response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, do so in a cost-effective and impactful fashion. The key, according to The McWilliams Group, a professional services firm dedicated to the business of responsible and effective philanthropy, is being proactive.

"Businesses are an excellent ‘distribution channel’ for practical information to employees as well as an ideal conduit for collections and volunteerism," says Paula G. McWilliams, president, CEO and co-founder of the firm. "Responsible organizations have an outlet for their employees and their families, their customers and vendors. The result is a better informed public. Crisis preparedness and response should be an inherent part of every business’s Corporate Social Responsibility program."

The firm, whose founders have over 70 years’ combined experience leading both national for-profit and nonprofit businesses, works with investors in charitable giving to make intelligent decisions about their giving as well as nonprofit service providers to maximize their funding and resources.

Paula McWilliams brings the unique perspective of an individual who has lived on both sides of disaster services. At AT&T Wireless Services (Cingular), she rose to become Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility and was charged with establishing the company’s civic guidelines and initiatives. During her 13-year tenure, she developed and steered the company to implement Telecommunications Disaster Services (TDS) in conjunction with the American Red Cross. The program was the first of its kind to provide wireless technology and support to all Level III and above disasters in North America.

She voluntarily coordinated the response effort with first responder groups and the federal government during over 60 national crises including Hurricane Andrew, the Oklahoma City bombings, the crash of US Airways flight 407 and the 9/11 attacks, providing thousands of wireless phones and millions of dollars of airtime, telecommunications technical support, volunteers and ongoing collection efforts. She built the company’s corps of volunteers, led an initiative to train employees in CPR and first aid, and developed and launched national school safety programs.

Her efforts in disaster relief have been recognized by FEMA, the FAA, the FBI, the Congress of the United States, the Department of Homeland Security, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the Red Cross of Taiwan. Additionally, she has held senior positions with the American Red Cross, including first woman elected chair of the board. She recently was appointed to the board of American Humane Association.

The last weeks have seen corporations executing programs and aid to employees of the affected regions to organizing fundraising drives, employee-match programs and cash and in-kind donations – efforts that are predicted to surpass past levels of giving to similar relief efforts, such as the tsunami and 9/11.

"Americans generosity of spirit is never more evident than during national crises," McWilliams states. "And the level of outreach by the private sector has been exceptional. Determining how to sustain that compassion after the cameras are gone is part of the complex business of philanthropy. The aid required goes far beyond the first responders. That’s where businesses and creative partnerships can make an enormous difference. The organizations that are most impactful are proactive – they have plans in place that address prevention and response year-round."

Disclosure of CSR issues among 11 CEE countries

Press release from: Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program


The Largest Listed Companies in 11 Central and Eastern European (CEE) Countries Disclose More Information on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Issues


Released by the Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program - Tuesday, October 4, 2005




(CSRwire) Today, the Partners for Financial Stability (PFS) Program publishes its fifth semi-annual Survey of Reporting on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the Ten Largest Listed Companies (by market capitalization) in 11 Central and Eastern European (CEE) Countries. Companies in Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia were surveyed for the fifth time; companies in Hungary and Poland were surveyed for the fourth time; and companies in Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania were surveyed for the third time.

Moreover, in response to a request from the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges, an analysis of CSR disclosures by the ten largest listed companies (by market capitalization) in Greece and Turkey is included in the survey for the first time.

PFS Program interns Joanna Karnat, Janis Oskajs and Tomasz Zych conducted the survey from July through September 2005.

PFS Program surveys analyze the annual reports and websites of the ten largest listed companies in the above-mentioned 11 CEE countries in order to document the current disclosure practices of this "blue-chip" peer group and identify best practice among the peer group. Whereas the universe of companies surveyed may change over time due to changes in a company’s market capitalization, the semi-annual surveys of reporting on CSR represent a snapshot of this peer group’s CSR disclosure practices on a given day twice a year. Furthermore, by analyzing disclosures in both annual reports and websites, the surveys track the timing of the publication of the annual report and the related yet separate issue of periodic disclosure, namely, how blue-chip companies keep their websites data-rich and up-to-date.

This survey analyzes companies’ disclosures in English (in the English-language annual report and on the English-language company website) during the time period July - September 2005 on the following three topics: corporate governance, environmental policy and social policy. The record date for the disclosures is September 15, 2005.

This survey demonstrates a general increase in the amount of information disclosed in the English-language on a range of issues since the last surveys, conducted in April 2005 and August 2004. In several areas, no significant change was observed; only in a few areas was a slight decrease in the amount of information disclosed observed.


In Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovenia all ten of the companies surveyed have an English-language website; however, companies in Latvia and Lithuania generally do not disclose information on all three topics surveyed. In Hungary, nine of the ten companies have an English-language website. In general, companies in Hungary, Poland and Slovenia are the leaders in disclosing CSR information among the 11 CEE countries surveyed. The level of disclosure among companies in the three non-European Union (EU) member countries (Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania) increased slightly or remained unchanged since the last survey conducted in April 2005.

Survey findings include the following:

89% of the companies surveyed have an English-language website (compared with 83% in April 2005 and 84% in August 2004);

78% of the companies surveyed have an English-language annual report (compared with 65% in August 2004);

79% of the companies surveyed disclose information about their governance structure on their website (compared with 71% in April 2005 and 69% in August 2004);

68% of the companies surveyed disclose information about their governance structure in their annual report (compared with 52% in August 2004);

48% of the companies surveyed disclose information about their shareholder rights policy on their website (compared with 35% in April 2005 and 46% in August 2004);

41% of the companies surveyed disclose information about their shareholder rights policy in their annual report (compared with 44% in August 2004);

48% of the companies surveyed mention compliance with environmental standards on their website (compared with 41% in April 2005 and 37% in August 2004);

27% of the companies surveyed mention compliance with environmental standards in their annual report (compared with 28% in August 2004);

42% of the companies surveyed disclose employee development/benefit policies on their website (compared with 36% in April 2005 and 28% in August 2004); and

48% of the companies surveyed disclose employee development/benefit policies in their annual report (compared with 42% in August 2004).

Starting today, the survey is available online at: http://www.pfsprogram.org/capitalmarkets_research.php