Appendix 2: Methodology & Business Interview Guide This report is based on a series of interviews conducted either in person or virtually over an eight-month period between October 2019 and June 2020. All interviews were entirely voluntary and consisted of a free-flowing conversation about the state of the relationship between civil society and Canadian businesses. Brian Gallant led the discussion for all interviews aided only by a pre-prepared Interview Guide that was shared with all Survey Participants prior to their interview. The Interview Guide consists of 20 open ended questions which served to lead the discussion, although all questions were not always asked of all Survey Participants. In addition, some follow-up questions that do not appear in the Interview Guide were asked under the circumstances of particular interviews and the chronological order of the questions in the Interview Guide was not always followed. A subset of questions from the Interview Guide was asked of all Survey Participants and responses from those questions will form some of the data that is presented in this report. In total, 90 interviews were conducted. The Survey Participants represent a diverse set of leaders across the business, non-profit, and academic fields from all Canadian provinces and one territory. The interviews were conducted in the Canadian official language of choice of the Survey Participants. Quotes delivered by Survey Participants in French have been translated into English and vice-versa for the purposes of both the French and English versions of this report. Quotes from Survey Participants in this report have been provided to give the reader a firsthand look at the viewpoints of the Survey Participants. At times, these direct quotes and other viewpoints are not attributed to the participant as some have elected to permit attribution to one or more of their quotes, while preferring that one or more of their remaining quotes stemming from the interview process be left unattributed. All material that is included in this report that is attributed to an individual participant has been approved in advance.
Interview Guide Section 1: Society and Business 1. What are the most pressing challenges in the world? 2. What do you see as the challenges facing the relationship between business and society? 3. What implications do all these challenges have for your business and/or industry? Where are the biggest risks, the biggest opportunities? How does this link to competitive advantage and sustained profitability in your sector? 4. Are you hearing more demands for your engagement in solving societal issues from your employees / customers / supply chain / lenders/ investors? How has it changed over the years? 5. Some have argued that there’s a lack of evidence and/or a lack of a business case to convince senior executives and shareholders that linking profit with purpose is good for the bottom line. What would you say to that assertion? 6. Is there an opportunity to strengthen the business case and/or better communicate the evidence that the linkage of profit with purpose is good for the bottom line? 77
