Stakeholder engagement and social reporting have been cornerstones of
responsible business practice for more than a decade. A number of
companies now hold informal discussions on their social and
environmental performance with interested parties, as part of routine
reporting practice. The mobile phone group Vodafone, however, has gone
a step further. Since last year it has been running a series of ‘CR
Dialogues’ to advance the group’s wider thinking.
The first step is for the company to produce a research report on a key
issue that Vodafone is facing or might face in the future.
Representatives from non-governmental organizations, media, customers,
governments and investors are then brought together to analyse the
report and offer their views.
‘The basic rationale is that we are going beyond reporting,’ says Ramon
Arratia, corporate responsibility manager. ‘We have a group CR report
plus 11 country reports, and we see the dialogues as issue reporting.
But they are more than that – they are issue reporting as a basis for
stakeholder engagement.’ Arratia stresses the importance of picking the
right topic. ‘This is critical to a dialogue’s success. We try to
choose topics on which our views are not fixed and where there is scope
for others to influence decisions. A tight focus also helps, because it
enables us to bring together a group of specialists with in-depth
knowledge,’ he says.
So far there have been three CR Dialogues: on stakeholder engagement,
the assurance of non-financial reports, and on the social and economic
impacts of mobile technology. The first, on stakeholder engagement, had
five discussion themes, such as whether multinationals should engage
locally or globally. Talking points have also prompted discussion in
the other dialogues – questioning, for instance, the degree to which
mobile phones might improve the livelihoods of people living in
deprived areas.
The dialogue reports contain new research carried out in conjunction
with other organizations. The report on ‘Economic Empowerment through
Mobile’, for example, contained research conducted by The Consultative
Group to Assist the Poor and the World Resources Institute. Others can
take part by downloading the reports and submitting comments. Vodafone
also brings together groups of eight or nine ‘opinion leaders’
representing a range of views – with invited organizations including a
UK government department, a development NGO, and a fund management
company. The minutes of these meetings, developed by a third party
facilitator, are sent to the participants, as well as to senior
managers at Vodafone and its local operating companies, who use them to
inform social and environmental policy and target-setting in different
parts of the group.
Each dialogue runs until a consensus is reached – and none have yet got
to that point. ‘Once the issue becomes mature and all the parties agree
a framework to tackle it – and it becomes clear what are Vodafone’s
responsibilities – then the debate would eventually end, becoming a
performance and implementation matter,’ says Arratia.
