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Agenturprofil

imug Beratungsgesellschaft

Research

imug´s corporate research examines the social and ecological behaviour of German and International businesses according to varying systems of criteria. Imug follows a three step procedure in enquiring the social and ecological performance of companies.

	Primary information Assessment of information provided by the respective company. This is carried out predominantly by questionnaires sent to the companies for commenting and background information. Beyond that, company publications e.g. annual reports, social and environmental reports or brochures, are included in the evaluation. Personal contacts to company representatives are used to round out the picture and allow specific insights into procedures and problems. Occasionally imug pays companies a visit.
	Secondary information Assessment of media reports on company activities. In a broad news search the imug enquires on a regular basis into economical and socio-ecological issues. These consider not just companies but provide also industry standards.
	Experts know-how Since ethical-investment is not considered a classical financial topic, expert know-how is indispensable. Hence, imug cooperates with NGO´s and various stakeholders to get their assessment on company activities and possible consequences.

Criteria

Some of imug´s criteria of ethical investment.

Social affairs:
Stakeholder Management and Reporting
Safety and health
Relationships to suppliers and clients
Advancement for women
Diversity Management
Further education and human resource development
Job security
Employee involvement and labour unions
Regional engagement
Exposure to human rights
Work and social standards
International supplier chain

Environment:
Environmental management
Environmental politics
Environmental performance
Transparency and Reporting
Renewable Energies
Contribution to the climate protection
Greenhouse Gases
Nuclear energy
Factory farming, animal experiments
Gene technology
Pesticides, creation of PVC
Exposure to dangerous chemicals
Environment scandals
Tropic wood

Governance
Corporate Governance Performance
SEE Risks and SEE Risks Management
Bribe and corruption
Code of behaviour
Compensation system
Transparency
Party donations

“Sins”
Share of the weapon industry
Alcohol, tobacco, gamble
Abortion and contraceptives
Pornography
Fur- trade

Ranking- / Rating-System

imug does not conduct company ratings according to own standards but utilises different systems of criteria provided by customers or partners e.g. EIRIS, NAI.

Quality Management

imug performs the following activities to assure the quality of information accumulation and the evaluation process:

	imug fulfils a quality standard (cp. www.imug.de).
	Within a handbook "imug´s quality standards and qualitymanagement" the workflow for each project is described and continually updated.
	Every analysed company has the option to get to know their sampled data and may comment on them.
	imug conducts its company-research in dialog with numerous stakeholders
	Every customer, journalist, or interested person has the option to get to know and check Imug´s questionnaires, handbooks, information sources and methodologies
	imug participates in public initiatives serving improved transparency and research quality. This is currently especially the initiative of the European Commission to develop a voluntary quality standard for SRI-research.
	The development of this voluntary quality standard is carried out in cooperation with numerous independent research agencies, e.g. SIRI-Group, Ethibel, EIRIS.