The world’s second-largest tobacco company has expressed frustration at the unwillingness of many of its stakeholders to take part in the dialogue that preceded its first social report.
British American Tobacco asked 167 individual stakeholders and representatives of stakeholder organizations to attend dialogue sessions in the UK, but only 34 accepted. It says many of those who refused did so either because they felt they could not be seen talking to a tobacco company or because they mistrusted the process.
‘We recognized that some stakeholders would be unwilling to engage with us at all, and we understand that trust can be fragile and difficult to build,’ said BAT managing director Paul Adams. ‘But it was disappointing that in this first cycle we did not make as much progress as I had initially hoped.’
BAT’s stakeholder dialogue was carried out to the AA1000 standard developed by the Institute of Social and Ethical Accountability and was led by two independent facilitators, the Rt Rev David Jenkins, former Bishop of Durham, and Rev Charles Yeats, who teaches business ethics at the University of Durham. Participants did not have to reveal their identities to the public.
Stakeholders were selected by the two facilitators, with help from the UK consultancy EQ management, and were free to set the agenda in face-to-face discussions. The views of those who took part in the dialogue formed the basis of much of BAT’s social report.
The acceptance rate among the business ethics community was relatively high, with 13 of 32 invitations taken up. Three of six invited trade unions also took part. But only four medical organizations out of the 24 invited accepted, none of the seven educational groups, and only two of 14 family groups. Of the 19 invitations sent to governments and political parties, two were accepted.
BAT says the inputs to its social report ‘cannot therefore be described as fully representative or complete’. However, it expects greater involvement in future. ‘I hope that if some stakeholders do not trust BAT, they may be able to trust the process to which we have committed ourselves,’ said Adams.
The company said stakeholders had been least willing ‘in developed countries’. Stakeholders were generally much more willing to take part in dialogue leading up to 12 country-based social reports BAT is also producing. In Uganda, for example, 80 per cent of invitees took part.
Each country business unit was responsible for producing its own report, while the 156-page ‘Plc’ report – for which the main dialogue exercise took place – was produced at UK headquarters. Verification was provided by Bureau Veritas.
BAT is the first cigarette manufacturer to produce a social report. This year, suppliers and retailers did not take part in stakeholder dialogue ‘due to time constraints’, but will do so in the next phase.