The Beyond the Triple Bottom Line by Francisco Szekely & Zahir Dossa

Author:Francisco Szekely & Zahir Dossa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The MIT Press
Published: 2017-05-31T04:00:00+00:00

Companies are largely unaware of all the impacts their actions have on stakeholders. In the case of the garment industry in Bangladesh, purchasing companies knew who their suppliers were, but they developed bureaucratic structures to manage them and failed to see all the impacts they were having on stakeholders. While some may argue that the large fashion brands were not directly affecting stakeholders, the indirect impacts of a company’s actions are often the most detrimental to society. Engaging with these stakeholders is paramount to understanding what the actual impacts of your organization are, and how it can best serve the needs of the organizations, communities, and environments it affects.

On March 17, 2010, Greenpeace launched one of its most viral campaigns to date against Nestlé for its palm oil sourcing. Moreover, one of Nestlé’s palm oil suppliers in Indonesia, Sinar Mas, had been accused of deforesting areas that supported a diminishing orangutan population. Prior to noon on March 17, a “stay tuned” message was posted along with a countdown. When the clock struck 12:00, Greenpeace released a horrific one-minute video. An office worker was depicted opening a Kit Kat package to find a chocolate-covered orangutan finger, which he proceeded to eat as blood poured out. The segment ends by showing an entire orangutan habitat being deforested and then offers a call to action: “Give the orangutan a break. Stop Nestlé buying palm oil from companies that destroy the rainforests.”12 The video became a viral sensation and was supplemented by social media campaigns, which too quickly spread.

Despite a sweeping policy that Nestlé had passed prior to Greenpeace’s campaign, the company had failed to inspect all its suppliers properly. Most important, however, was Nestlé’s failed response to Greenpeace. Rather than opening up a dialogue to determine how it could ameliorate the situation and improve its impacts, Nestlé requested that Greenpeace’s video be removed from YouTube and attempted to eliminate the movement on social media channels. The manager of Nestlé’s Facebook page was also combative with the people who posted comments rather than engaging in constructive dialogue. This first response thus led to the campaign going increasingly viral as Greenpeace spread its message through social media channels and in physical spaces. Indeed, activists dressed up in orangutan outfits to protest outside Nestlé’s annual meeting on April 15, 2010, and even hid in the ceiling of Nestlé’s boardroom to drop down on board members as they convened.

Greenpeace’s measures were obviously extreme, but Nestlé’s response merely intensified the backlash. It was only when Nestlé agreed to sit down at a table with key stakeholders that real progress was made, and both financial and nonfinancial objectives were achieved. After realizing the futility of trying to control the social media conversation, Nestlé stopped sourcing palm oil from Sinar Mas and actually discussed its supply chain for palm oil with Greenpeace. To help certify its palm oil suppliers and ensure sustainable practices, Nestlé partnered with Tropical Forest Trust and joined the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil to work with other companies and organizations.

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