In the classic tale of Web activism, a diminutive David raises doubts online about the ethics behind a corporate Goliath's global business practices with respect to human rights, environmental
responsibility and economic development. "Goliath may have a squeaky clean image in the West," he types, "but did you know he's destroying African agricultural communities by laying oil pipelines that
leak - and using child labor to turn a profit?"
If you imagine David as some digital recluse who sits in his attic until 3:00 a.m. coding his HTML diatribes, think again. Your company's next online critic may well be another company - a socially
conscious one, that is. Log onto the "Interactivist" channel on the Body Shop's Web site (http://www.usa.the-body-shop.com) and you'll find Wal-Mart's
name mentioned amidst statistics about child labor, land degradation and other unseemly side effects of corporate globalization. "In 1995, Wal-Mart had greater wealth than Israel, Poland and Greece," the
site flashes. "And it was only the 12th largest corporation in the world." The insinuationis that Wal-Mart should be applying more of its resources abroad to help the communities that produce the goods
it sells.
"The idea is not to say these people are bad and these people are good," says Alistair Jackson, director of values & vision for The Body Shop USA. "But on the issue of globalization, we're trying
to raise consciousness about the impact of the homogenization of massive global retailers. Wal-Mart has the opportunity to be a very positive force and should maximize its position."
Granted, this is not new behavior for The Body Shop. In the early 1990s the British-based cosmetics retailer teamed with Greenpeace and other advocacy groups to launch an all-out offensive against
Royal Dutch/Shell for its less-than-pristine ventures in the Niger Delta. Ads, billboards and in-store signage urged Body Shop customers to boycott Shell products after Nigerian Ogoni activists were
executed for speaking out against the dislocation of their villages and farms as a result of oil drilling.
But the PR lesson to be learned here is not that global corporations need to hunker down in fear of attacks by vigilante companies and the media. It's that business transparency is often the best
strategy in preventing such attacks in the digital age. Corporations that wear their philanthropic hearts on their sleeves have become a dime a dozen, but those that are willing to expose their own
operating principles stand a greater likelihood of winning public trust. Full disclosure marginalizes would-be attackers by leaving them with nothing to uncover. Provided, of course, your has
sound practices to brag about.
"We're living in an increasingly global society where when something happens in one corner of the world, everyone knows about it two hours later," says Jackson. "Kathie Lee Gifford's being dragged
across the TV indicates that the public will take offense at [exploitative practices such as sweatshops] if they see them. And that can have a huge impact on business and share price." You may have to
spend $10,000 setting up a program that holds international suppliers accountable for meeting certain standards, but the cost pales in comparison to a reputational hit that can cost millions, he adds.
When Policy Speaks for Itself
Levi Strauss & Co. was among the first to showcase its corporate guts when it established its Global Sourcing & Operating Guidelines in 1991. The manifesto - which the company makes public via
its Web site annual report and other venues - sets a standard for the selection of contract manufacturers and suppliers, taking into account track records in environmental responsibility and workplace
conditions. While the code of conduct emanates from Levi's highest echelons, the communications staff plays a key role in updating the doctrine as needed, and in educating employees and business
partners about what the guidelines mean, says Linda Butler, senior manager of communications.
"We don't do these things to get publicity," she says. It's more a matter of business efficiency, crisis prevention and employee recruitment.
The Body Shop similarly adheres to the practices it preaches, making its supply chain transparent to the public. A map on the company's Web site prompts users to click icons on different parts of the
globe to read about its various local business partners - including the Tungteiya Shea Butter Association of women's groups in Ghana, and brazil nut gatherers in the Peruvian Amazon.
No doubt the PR trend toward full disclosure has grown hotter in recent years, fueled by stakeholders' increased tendency to base purchasing, investment and job-hunting decisions on a corporation's
humanism. The latest Cone/Roper research indicates that two-thirds of Americans (about 130 million) say they're more likely to trust companies that are aligned with a social issue (PRN, Jan. 17).
And a study released last fall by the Toronto-based research firm Environics International found that six out of ten consumers worldwide form impressions of companies based on factors such as labor
practices, business ethics, environmental impacts and responsibility to society at large.
Leaders and Followers
While operational business decisions historically have not fallen under the banner of PR (except where crisis control is needed in the wake of poor planning), the paradigm is changing. According to Rob
Kerr, a senior consultant with Environics, today's "change agents"pushing for global corporate responsibility most often fall under the aegis of public affairs, not marketing or operations.
"[Our clients are] focusing on leadership based not just on price and market share, but on using their reputation to help them improve their overall performance," he says. Environics arms PA officers
with what Kerr calls "the brutal gang of facts" - research findings about public attitudes that demonstrate to the CEO why it will be cost effective in the long run for a company to revamp its operating
practices.
Ask the experts to name the global leaders who are setting standards for aligning business practices with ethics, and you'll hear the same names repeated - Levi Strauss, The Body Shop, Reebok, The Gap,
BP Amoco, Interface Corp., DuPont. And one other...Royal Dutch/Shell Group.
"Shell recognized that [it] made a big mistake in the [Ogoni] situation, and is now engaging its stakeholders much earlier in the exploration of oil production," Jackson observes. "They are now on the
leading edge of the movement toward more sustainable business practices. Like BP Amoco, they are now saying, 'Ok, we have to start thinking of ourselves as an energy business, not an oil business,
because the future is not in oil.'"
Meanwhile, the communications counselors logging the best chance of sustainable career development in global corporations are those who are rethinking the parameters of their own job descriptions.
Because the future of PR is not just in publicity.
(Butler, 415/501-6070; Jackson, 919/554-4900; Kerr, 416/920-9010)
Boycotts Live And Breathe
The rate at which consumers worldwide tie their purchasing
decisions to corporate reputation is on the rise. A recent study from the Toronto-based research firm Angus Reid indicates that 30% of consumers worldwide have decided (currently
or in the past) not to buy a company's products because of concerns about the company's policies or behavior. The boycott rate was highest (48%) in Canada. Angus Reid polled
5,800 citizens in 19 countries.
A similar study by the Toronto-based research firm Environics found that 40% of consumers worldwide "have thought in the past year about punishing a specific company perceived
as not socially responsible." One in five respondents in the study said they'd avoided a company product or spoken out against the company in conversation. The Environics
"Millennium Poll on Corporate Responsibility" surveyed 25,000 citizens in 23 countries.
In December, Environics will introduce its Corporate Social Responsibility Monitor, a public opinion research product that will be published annually.
(Angus Reid, 416/324-2900, http://www.angusreid.com, Environics, 416/920- 9010, http://www.environics.net)