Proxy advisory firm ISS has been voted best for corporate governance research while Sustainalytics has taken the top spot for SRI research in an annual survey of analysts and portfolio managers.
The 2014 Independent Research in Responsible Investment (IRRI) survey, conducted by WeConveneExtel and SRI-Connect, also sees MSCI named as the best firm for indexes, Hermes EOS as the best for engagement services and Solaron as the top company for emerging markets research.
Unilever was voted the company that best communicates with analysts and portfolio managers on corporate governance and SRI issues in the survey of 1,000 respondents from 500 firms, based in 35 countries. Royal Dutch Shell comes second, followed by GSK, Marks & Spencer, AXA, Danone, Repsol and Schneider Electric. The companies respondents would most like to have contact with include Alibaba, TransCanada, BNP Paribas, BP, Scotiabank, Vodafone, Walmart, Amazon and The Gap.
The survey organizers invited respondents to comment on corporate communications and improvements they would like to see, eliciting comments such as: ‘More consistent year-on-year reporting of metrics – often metrics are reported one year and not the next.’
Another respondent implores companies to ‘report more transparently on controversies… don’t pretend they don’t exist!’, while other suggestions include increasing the number of meetings and corporate roadshows, nominating a contact person for SRI communications, and maintaining a focus on material issues rather than emphasizing volume of data. A quarter of the respondents also suggest companies integrate SRI information into their financial and strategic information when reporting.
Companies surveyed, on the other hand, have common requests from SRI researchers contacting them for information, including standardization of questions and more company-specific research. One company also calls on ‘investors to take more interest in and action on the quality of research they buy. Research that best meets customer needs should flourish, but something is skewing this.’
