Studies of lobbying confirm that pressure is mounting on companies that say one thing in CSR reports but do another behind closed doors.
Like travelling on the bus, you can wait ages, and then three come along at once. If nothing else, these studies of lobbying confirm that pressure is mounting on companies that say one thing in CSR reports, but do another behind closed doors. Such overt double standards may not be widespread, but it does happen and – more troublesome – it’s eminently believable (the conflicting agendas within corporations are well known, never mind between companies in trade associations) and it’s hard for companies to positively prove the absence of something (how do you convincingly show you never do it?). The picture is more complex still, as some lobbying is perfectly right and proper. Managers have a duty to defend their shareholders from unnecessary costs. Legendary ‘red tape’ destroys economic value and has to be tested against any social or economic. Indeed governments often ask companies for their help and advice in framing new regulations to make them workable. The starting point for managing these issues must be transparency: set out a clear principle, publish specific policies around direct political donations, ‘soft’ money and trade association activity, then provide a description of activities undertaken, amounts paid, and why. But that alone is unlikely to be enough: the key is rebuilding trust among critical audiences. To achieve that, companies need to go beyond lobbying to protect their own interests and embrace lobbying for society’s interests – speaking out on climate change or demanding more regulation if a voluntarist approach to sustainable design isn’t working, for example.
Few accounts of CSR can honestly be described as a cracking good read, but this is one: the story of how one company faced up early to the sustainability challenges of a key product and has spent ten years trying to solve them, with mixed results. Recognising its dependence on suppliers and retailers, partnership was the chosen route, and it’s been a rocky path. Along the way, bold, indeed risky, decisions were taken, like setting a goal of 100% sustainability by 2005 even though no one then knew how it could be attained. Without a clear simple goal to inspire and drive action, it’s doubtful so much progress could have been made, but it created a vulnerability. Thankfully Unilever’s good intentions have, for once, protected it from criticism of falling short, and in Jonathon Porritt’s hands, the tale is well told. Every good story needs a clear villain – in this case it’s you and me: the British consumer, to whose every whim the retailers dance. A CSR whodunit: the shopper, in the supermarket aisle, with the fussy taste buds.
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