A platform for engaging with NGOs when they elect to target companies’ operations

By Sandra E. Taylor

There is a growing worldwide movement afoot with no name, leader or headquarters. Found in every city, town and culture, it organizes from the bottom up, is extraordinarily creative, flies under the radar and includes NGOs, village-based organizations, foundations, institutes, citizen-based groups and more. This movement directly addresses social justice and environmental issues and is estimated to comprise more than 1 million organizations, populated by more than 100 million people. Collectively it constitutes the single biggest citizens’ movement.

In Paul Hawken’s book, “Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No one Saw it Coming,” he skillfully documents this proliferating network, from Greenpeace to Oxfam, from indigenous peoples to anarchists, from labor activists to Kenya’s Green Belt Movement—a worldwide movement, empowered by the Internet, of individuals and organizations dedicated to these concerns. And given the scale of change needed to ensure their goals of sustainable development, poverty alleviation, indigenous rights and the slowing of environmental degradation, their presence will only expand.

Activist NGOs are the trained militia serving this global civil society, yet governments and businesses resist their advocacy, learning the hard way that external engagement—particularly with opinion-forming NGOs—can either enhance and protect, or devastate, their corporate reputation.

There is, for example, an escalating global backlash against multinationals’ consumption of natural resources. Companies have long transformed oil, diamonds, and countless other raw materials into profits that flow out of developing nations and into wealthy ones. But the digital age has made it exceedingly easy for activists to generate blogs, e-mails, and video that get messages out and around the world in mere seconds.

The result? Consumer boycotts of the fruits of bad behavior, from blood diamonds to sweatshop sneakers.

The NGO Spotlight

So how can business work more effectively with NGOs and how can NGOs recognize the ways that business can help them accomplish their goals?

Millions of people, whoever and wherever they may be, are driven by values and priorities typically different from international corporations or major political institutions. Cash is not generally their currency, but their language is not so different. NGOs seek:

• change,
• attention/mindshare,
• resources
• leverage/partners, and
• survival.

Often their activism emerges from a specific problem or crisis, a critical area where government or corporate leadership is failing. NGOs define the problem and put a spotlight on it to force a solution. Some recent examples:

• Violent attacks on Royal Dutch Shell operations in Nigeria forced the company to cut oil production.
• Oxfam and the Ethiopian government targeted Starbucks in a dispute over brand ownership and farm-gate prices for Ethiopian coffee.
• Cargill was forced to temporarily to shut down its soy processing and shipping plant in Brazil amid public outcry that it was contributing to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest.
• Activists in India charged that Coke and Pepsi have unsafe levels of pesticides in their products and that they depleted water resources in local communities.

Global warming is another good example. Based on scientists’ recommendations, environmental NGOs are demanding specific reductions in greenhouse gas emissions every year in this century, across every sector. They are fiercely lobbying governments for such changes.

Some, like Conservation International, are finding they can work cooperatively with business in these sectors. But others, like Rainforest Action Network, can—and do—target companies, launching public campaigns focused on firms with the greatest violations. At times, simply being a highly visible firm gets a company targeted. And some campaigns, though focused on a worthy cause, are self-serving: to brand the NGO, increase membership and raise funds.

However this happens, corporate executives must face the issue head-on and accept that a campaigning NGO with public credibility has the means to bring much damage to the company’s brand and reputation. They must accept that NGOs are savvy, have done their homework about the company, know the industry and are prepared to go the distance. It doesn’t take much if you're in a listening mode, intent to fully hear the concerns of all stakeholders.

Mandatory for Global Companies to Engage

In fact, leadership companies no longer see stakeholder engagement as an option, but as a critical part of their business strategy. In many cases, companies are using the opportunity to, among other things, enter challenging markets, resolve or head off confrontations with activists, and understand where business and CSR strategies ought to be headed. This interaction often requires significant amounts of time, money, and other resources, and may require a level of openness, disclosure, and collaboration, which some companies may be unaccustomed to or find uncomfortable. However, companies operating in the global economy find that whether they like it or not they will have to engage with activists, be it in conflict or consensus.

A Few Tips

Open up dialogue early. Face-to-face interaction and the ability to develop individual relationships with NGOs is the most effective approach to rebuilding the trust and credibility of the company.
This important first step will get this dispute out of the public domain, out of earshot of customers, employees and policy makers who will be paying attention and could misinterpret the situation.
Don’t be blinded by the company’s closely held ideas. Invite and involve those with differing perspectives. Don’t underestimate the information and expertise an NGO has about the company’s business and product sector.

Consider and integrate crucial national differences such as how the roles of business, government, religion, culture and other important institutions are viewed in different countries.

Include all issues in the dialogue. Nothing is off the table. Affirm and acknowledge stakeholders’ legitimate and heart-felt demands, even if later they are limited by what the company can and cannot undertake.

Get help from experts or organizations. Once a company makes the commitment to engage, it can be difficult operationally to find the resources to follow through. It’s wise to seek out experts or organizations experienced in facilitating such dialogue.

Finally, a word of caution: Before engaging with an activist group, a company must do its homework. Find out more about the organization, its programs, its mandates and what it regards as its “bottom line.” This will help determine whether potential exists for a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship.
Likewise NGOs should learn the company’s business, where it operates, what risks and opportunities there are in the supply chain and how, by working together, they can create great change. The key is, start talking, learn about each other, and build trust. With any luck, groundbreaking strategic partnerships will follow.

Sandra E. Taylor is President and CEO, Sustainable Business International.