Are companies wasting their time developing CR policies which don’t address the needs of the world’s poor? The report published by World Growth raises an interesting debate by suggesting that companies tend to prioritise western stakeholders and fail to address emerging markets’ issues.
Nowadays, most large companies have established their key impacts through materiality assessments and elaborate stakeholder engagement processes. So how could emerging markets’ issues have been left off the radar completely? The answer might be in the types of audiences involved in stakeholder engagement processes. Reviewing a few CR reports’ stakeholder sections, the list of usual suspects features fairly frequently, often including only UK-based NGOs.
This is a shame. The value of real stakeholder engagement lies in its ability to bring new issues to the table, to challenge a company’s approach, and to voice the concerns of those who aren’t usually heard. For an international company, this can be done by empowering and training each country affiliate to conduct its own materiality assessment, to best respond to the needs of all geographies. For a western-only company, this can take the form of inviting new stakeholders from different backgrounds into discussions.
There are inevitable tensions between different sustainability issues. For instance, local and seasonal sourcing might reduce CO2 emissions, but it will harm developing countries’ growth and producers. But the first step should be to ensure that companies are aware of all relevant impacts and issues, then decisions and priorities can be made on an informed and strategic basis.
For instance, Unilever, Coca-Cola and G4S have followed this process and as a result, decided to produce economic impacts assessments conducted in developing markets. Base of Pyramid programmes by Novartis, SABMiller, P&G and many more are also a promising example of the progressive shift in priorities in world markets.
So let’s use the lessons of this study and build on the innovative activities implemented by companies which are conscious of their impact on emerging countries.
Myriam Galopin was a consultant at Corporate Citizenship. Supply Chain
Report from World Growth indicates leading companies are putting the poor at risk
A report has been released indicating that the CSR strategies of retail and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies follow CSR policies driven by Western concerns rather than the concerns in emerging markets. The report from World Growth, a pro-development NGO, argues that campaigning groups like Greenpeace and WWF put pressure on companies to enforce costly WWF standards are met by suppliers. Pushing these strategies on suppliers means that developing countries have less capacity to generate revenue, drive economic growth and reduce poverty. The report reviewed nine CSR strategies from leading FMCG firms and hopes to create a constructive dialogue with them as a result.
Gartner releases its seventh annual Supply Chain Top 25
Research company Gartner have announced the rankings of its 2011 Supply Chain Top 25 revealing that Apple, for the fourth year in a row, has topped the list. The rank is based on a range of factors, including financial performance, inventory and revenue growth, in addition to opinions. Debra Hofman, research Vice President at Gartner, indicated four key themes that emerged; how the company dealt with volatility, approach to value chain network integration, focus on sustainable execution and orchestration abilities. Similarly to last year, the technology industry dominated the list. Aside from Apple, who posted strong financials and top-of-the-line voting scores, Dell took second place, whilst Research In Motion rose to no.4 this year and Amazon rose to no.5.
Mattel cuts off sub-supplier in response to Greenpeace pressure
Toy maker Mattel announced the development of a sustainable procurement policy for all of Mattel’s product lines in order to address the issue of deforestation. The policy ensures packaging suppliers commit to sustainable forestry management practices. This news comes in response to Greenpeace’s attack on popular Barbie and Ken doll brands, in which a YouTube video shows an animated Ken doll watching Barbie slaughtering tigers and orang-utans. The video refers to Mattel’s packaging suppliers, APP and Sinar Mas, destroying the Indonesian Rainforest to make throw-away packaging. Mattel’s corporate Facebook page states that they do not contract directly with Sinar Mas/APP, “we have directed our packaging suppliers to stop sourcing pulp from them as we investigate the allegations”.
Nestlé receives award for sustainable water management
Nestle has been named as the winner of the Stockholm Industry Water Award as a result of its sustainable water management within its internal operations as well as throughout the supply chain. The award recognises the business sector’s contribution to sustainable water management through minimising water use and environmental impact. Nestle employs 1,000 agronomists and water experts who work directly with farmers to help them reduce their water requirements, increase yields and reduce pollution. Nestlé also provided training and technical support for 300,000 farmers and the company continues to collaborate with other food industry leaders to establish best practice and guidelines for sustainable water use at a farm level.
Contact: The Stockholm Industry Water Award www.siwi.org
Companies sign up to the sustainable seafood movement
Wednesday 8th of June marked World Oceans Day and the week saw two large companies join the sustainable seafood movement. McDonalds announced that they will source Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified fish from October this year after a commitment made by McDonalds to work with suppliers to improve sustainable fishing practices. The MSC is an organisation which aims to tackle the problem of overfishing by recognising sustainable fisheries. McDonald’s will be the first food service retailer in many of its 39 European countries to sell any products carrying the MSC logo. In the same week, Sodexo signed a worldwide agreement with the MSC for wild caught fish with the view to promote MSC-certified seafood across the 80 countries where it operates and maximise awareness of clients and consumers.
New online tool kit that aims to help brands rid supply chains of labour abuses
Verité, the global NGO, has announced an online tool to help companies eradicate human trafficking, slavery and debt bondage found in supply chains across the world. The tool is part of the organisation’s Help Wanted campaign and is based on years of research, on-the-ground investigation, and direct experience with workers and employers. The toolkit has been developed for use by multiple stakeholders including brands, suppliers, investors, governments, and advocates. The initiative covers problems encountered by employers resulting from labour brokers and hiring traps that are a consequence of migrant workers seeking employment. It is also the first Ngo initiative to publically available advice to companies to help them improve their supply chain.
COMMENTS