Summer has definitely arrived early (for those of you based in the UK; apologies to our readers in southern Europe who may well be wondering where the sun has gone). This, combined with the excitement surrounding the Royal Wedding, has provided some good cheer in what has so far been a difficult 2011 for many.  

Despite the continued tough economic climate, the focus sector of last month's Concerned Consumer Index (CCI) - supermarkets - also has reasons to celebrate. Not only have the BBQs and summer parties helped boost sales, but all retailers have seen a rise in consumer trust (M&S remain top on almost all ethical measures) and nearly half of consumers (49%) think the sector is doing enough to address its social and environmental issues - the highest of any sector we survey. It certainly looks like the sector's investment in addressing these issues is paying off.

However, the sector is still facing a number of serious issues, none more pressing than waste. 92% of consumers think food waste in the supermarket sector is a serious issue and more needs to be done about it. Given that a commitment to no landfill and compostable waste is the social or environmental issue that has seen the biggest rise in importance when it comes to determining consumers'supermarket choice (up 12% from 2010 to 55%), this is clearly going to be one of the big talking points of 2011 - after 'that' dress, and the question of what exactly Prince Harry said in his speech, of course!  

Like many of the social and environmental issues that we face, waste is an area where many different stakeholders are involved. One approach to dealing with these complex issues is the Government's new Responsibility Deals. This new partnership approach between Government and organisations representing the voluntary sector, business and industry taps in to a multi-stakeholder approach to finding solutions to some of the key challenges faced by society. As with any new initiative, Responsibility Deals have had their fair share of criticism. But interestingly, there appears to be an unlikely supporter emerging - the consumer. According to our survey, 59% of consumers support the idea of Responsibility Deals.

The idea of everyone working towards common goals makes sense to consumers - there's no silver bullet to these issues, it's about a mix of solutions. The businesses that take their social and environmental impacts seriously should be thinking about how they can work proactively with Government to go further, rather than waiting to be forced into the predictable knee-jerk reaction to regulation.

And interestingly, consumers are receptive to positive nudges from business to help them make the right decisions. The top two behavioural change approaches, in last month's CCI survey, that resonate with consumers in the supermarket sector are providing incentives to purchase fruit and vegetables (53%) and displaying healthier food in more prominent positions (50%).

The multi-stakeholder approach of Responsibility Deals reminds us that responsibility can't be dominated by one stakeholder. True responsibility (especially in business) needs to have a shared common purpose - a phrase that is certainly getting some airtime at the moment - just look at Nestlé's recent sustainability report or the recent piece in Marketing Week. It's also something we elaborated on recently in our Value for All article.

For all those who are endlessly demanding the business case for responsibility - here it is. According to recent research by IW Financial, a more balanced stakeholder approach does provide tangible returns to the bottom line. In Corporate Responsibility Magazine's 2011 "100 Best Corporate Citizens List", overall performance against the 320 social and environmental data points of disclosure improved among the 100 Best by some 5% over last year. However, probably more noteworthy was that the three-year average returns to shareholders of the 100 Best outpaced the S&P average by more than 4%.

However, when you talk about these social and environmental issues as a business, you need to make sure you have a credible story. In a study released last month, the Confederation of British Industry says businesses must do more to give consumers the right information about buying low-carbon products. The report, Buying Into It, surveyed 2,000 people and revealed that 83% think businesses have a responsibility to tell their customers about energy efficiency, but only 16% trust manufacturers (and only 9% trust retailers) to be truthful about it. However, according to a recent poll from Green is Universal in the US, 68% of consumers say it's worth paying more for a green product or service if it's from a brand they trust (an increase of 8% since 2009).Trust is still the commodity that is vital for businesses to earn if they are going to bring consumers with them on their sustainability journey.

This lack of trust in manufacturers, even if it is focused on information related to low-carbon products,  is probably not what Sony would want to hear right now. In what is probably one of the biggest breaches of personal data by any single company, Sony has announced that nearly 100 million customers have had their personal data stolen by hackers. Sony's brand reputation will have taken a serious hit. All eyes will now be watching to see how the brand reacts. A bowed head and mentions of 'sorry' will only go so far. Open and honest communication on a large scale must follow. Get this wrong and trust in your brand might never return. Get it right and you might just emerge a stronger and more responsible brand. 

Operating as a responsible business requires leadership from the top (Sony take note) - so it's interesting to see what CEOs like Jochen Zeitz from Puma and Ian Cheshire from Kingfisher are saying.  Last month Jochen Zeitz argued that "CSR is an obsolete idea and we cannot delegate responsibility to one department. We have to do more good rather than just less bad." And Ian Cheshire suggested in a recent article that we need to radically redesign our business models with less emphasis on growth and more on wellbeing. Both are sentiments that we would echo (and have been for some time) and are also ones that I touched upon at the recent Names Not Numbers conference. Click here to read more.  

As with the Puma and Kingfisher stories, we are always pleased when others come round to our way of thinking. So we were delighted to see a recent report by BBMG talking about the New Consumer or so called 'conscious consumer' - a consumer grouping that certainly has a few similarities with our Concerned Consumer that we have been talking about for the last five years! 

With new consumers comes new media. And hand-in-hand with new media comes mobile phones. With the battle of the smart phones now raging, reports about Apple's environmental record hitting the newsstands again, the launch of eco-rating tools from O2 and a volunteering app from Orange, it's going to be an interesting month for CCI. If you have questions you would like to add or would like to see more data from our most recent survey on supermarkets, please email David on david@goodbusiness.co.uk.

Until the next time.

Best wishes,