International and local experts descend on Dubai for Corporate Social Responsibility Summit

The Summit, from June 24th to June 28th, has brought together senior executives from 18 countries to discuss issues, challenges, opportunities and trends related to the social impact of 'doing business' in communities around the globe. The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), a diverse chemical company and science and technology leader, is committed to its principles of sustainability and is a key sponsor of the CSR Summit.

Dow's Corporate Citizenship and Global Contributions Director, Bo Miller delivered a presentation at the summit facilitating a discussion around the critical issues of corporate citizenship. Miller's presentation and speech highlighted the importance of harnessing an organization's greatest asset, its employees, to achieve results that benefit the organization and the communities in which it operates.

A leader in its industry, Dow develops products and services designed to improve human progress and helps provide customers in more than 175 countries with everything from fresh water, food and pharmaceuticals to paints, packaging and personal care products. Dow asserts that sustainability begins at home and therefore actively encourages its employees to help address the problems facing their local communities.

"IIR's 4th CSR Summit has provided a great opportunity for organizations to come together and share their experiences and best practices," said Bo Miller, Corporate Citizenship and Global Contributions Director, The Dow Chemical Company. "Dow is deeply committed to corporate citizenship as it plays an integral role in our sustainability efforts. Dow's commitment to sustainability issues creates opportunities to reduce our global environmental footprint, strengthen the communities where we operate and solve some of the world's most pressing problems."

"This commitment is made possible," Miller continued, "because we engage our employees to embody the very principles our 110-year-old company was founded on."

Long considered corporate philanthropy, CSR is now viewed as essential to the development of effective long term business strategies of companies around the world. As business strategy and investment decisions become increasingly affected by the expectations of stakeholders concerned with social value and complex social issues, an organization's CSR policy can have a direct impact on the bottom-line.

As a leader committed to sustainable development, Dow understands this impact and takes a full spectrum approach to business that emphasizes not only the economic aspects of doing business but the environmental and social aspects as well.

"The creation of value at Dow is a multi-dimensional process that begins with a conviction that a corporate license to operate is continuously earned. Our employees are part of an ever-evolving global society, one that values organizations not only for their products and services, but also for the distinctive contributions they make to the world and its people," Miller concluded.

Miller was speaking alongside an impressive list of global CSR experts, including Jan Buckingham, Director of Global Values at the Body Shop, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, Vice President, Global Corporate Citizenship, The Boeing Company and Ian Kiernan, Founder and Chairman of Clean Up Australia and Clean Up the World.