On the cover of the May 25th Wall Street Journal there were two articles that caught my eye. One was about BP and its efforts in the gulf and the other was on Nestle and its bottled water business. The articles highlighted to me the importance of stakeholder engagement and communication. Many companies talk about it, some companies pay lip service to it, and others actually use it to help guide their business strategy.
When looking at the disaster in the gulf most people agree that BP hasn't done a good job in communicating with its stakeholders. They have been criticized from the beginning about how they have been handling the oil spill. Few would argue with the fact that BP is culpable and therefore has a responsibility to take appropriate actions to address the situation. That is pretty black and white. However, what has made matters worse for them is that they have done a poor job communicating to its key stakeholders involved in this situation.
In contrast, I was reading Deborah Ball's article on Nestle titled "Bottled Water Pits Nestle vs. Greens," which talks about how Nestle is looking to tap into an Oregon spring as a source for its water bottle business. At first blush, and given the title, one might assume it is another example of a corporation pillaging some of the earth's dwindling natural resources, and doing so with total disregard to the community. This is how I expected the article to play out. However, it didn't turn out that way.
A number of interesting points are highlighted in the article that illustrates Nestle's awareness of the importance of its stakeholders. It shows how they are trying to engage with them in a proactive fashion. Nestle's plan is to tap into 100 million gallons of water annually from the spring, and replace it with municipal water so as not to harm the local fish hatchery. Nestle is running a one-year test hoping to demonstrate that the fish won't be affected by the well water. They have support from the local community which has been struggling since the decline of the timber industry. Nestle would build a plant that would employ workers and would pay roughly $360K annually for the municipal water. They have also held town hall meetings, set up a hotline, and even rented out a store to answer any questions.
When I speak with organizations about sustainability, we always talk about the importance of effective communication with stakeholders. I don't know all the details about everything that BP is doing in the gulf to rectify the mess, nor do I know much more about what Nestle is doing in Oregon than what is written in the article. However, at the macro level, it certainly appears that one organization understands the importance of effective communication with its stakeholders and the other doesn't.