Stakeholder panels are only likely to be of value when clear ground
rules govern their establishment and they are given a real say in
corporate decisions.
That is the conclusion of a joint study from the British think-tank
AccountAbility and the French consultancy Utopies into the experience
of businesses that have convened such panels to review social and
environmental policies.
The study, which looked at panels established by Areva, BT, BP, EDF,
Camelot, Gaz de France, Ford, Nike and Vodafone, concluded that they
‘do work’, and that all parties felt they had ‘strengthened the links
between business strategy and societal issues’. However, AccountAbility
and Utopies say that from the outset, detailed consideration should be
given to the way panels are constituted, who is going to serve on them,
and what their ground rules should be.
The report, Critical Friends,
says panels will work only as ‘a forum for dialogue and mutual learning
which feeds into corporate decision-making’ rather than just a place
for interested parties to air views.
Alan Knight, head of standards at AccountAbility, said: ‘the increasing
use of panels has made it important to understand how they can
contribute to better corporate government, reporting and
accountability.’
A company should review a panel’s progress regularly and ‘make any
changes necessary to its make-up and operation to enable it to deliver
against its evolving purpose’.
The study says it is often useful for panels to start by discussing
issues where there is already consensus, allowing trust to develop
before members move on to more controversial topics.
It recommends that companies: 
consider whether an external facilitator would help in the early stages make sure panellists are provided with plenty of background material, site visits, research results and training involve senior executives when responding to panel suggestions always inform members of progress or changes made.
