Transparency contributes to business success

The Hungarian business sector agrees that operating transparently is the fundamental duty of all companies – as revealed in BCSDH’s annual sustainability survey.

91% of Hungarian businesses believe that operating transparently contributes to long-term success, and 98% even consider transparency to be a fundamental duty of all companies – as revealed in the Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary’s (BCSDH) own, non-representative survey. BCSDH has more than 70 corporate members who contribute 30% of Hungary’s GDP. The organisation was interested in how companies that signed the Recommendation for Business Leader in 2013 evaluate progress in the implementation of the Recommendation’s core principles in the Hungarian business sector and in their own operations. The core values are: strategic approach, responsible management, ethical operations, respect for human values, environmental responsibility, partnership with stakeholders and transparent operations. This year, the core survey topic is transparent operations.

The survey reveals that leaders still consider the business sector as key player in promoting sustainable development. Large companies are expected to play a key role in facilitating the move towards sustainable development. Their sustainability strategies are mostly determined by regulators, consumers and customers. In order to ensure effective and successful dialogue and cooperation between companies and other stakeholders, mutual information sharing is necessary. Operating transparently can help to achieve this and to develop and strengthen trust among stakeholders.

„It has been confirmed that measuring sustainability performance and making these findings and goals transparent, discourse that stimulates creativity and innovation can be established. Therefore, the BCSDH recommends that all businesses and business decision-makers who are operating in Hungary gradually and continuously improve the transparency of their operations in order to take advantage of the benefit and potential that can be gained from non-financial reporting.” – Attila Chikán Jr., President of BCSDH summarised the most important lessons learned from the survey conducted with the participation of 68 companies.

 Even though strong commitment and belief are clearly demonstrated in the survey, these factors are overshadowed by the fact that 76% of respondents thought that the extent of a company’s transparency is the result of interaction between the company and its stakeholders. Furthermore, the greatest barrier to the creation and promotion of non-financial reports is the fact that ‘nobody asks or makes companies accountable for this kind of information’

The more detailed and downloadable version of the BCSDH survey is available on the site www.bcsdh.hu/topics/recommendation-for-business-leaders