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British Land says it has stimulated greater interest in its annual CSR
report by giving stakeholders the opportunity to question its chief
executive directly.
The UK-based property company attracted more than 300 visits to the corporate responsibility section of its website on the day the 2006 report was published, in part because stakeholders were allowed to put points about policies and programmes, live and online, to the group’s chief executive, Stephen Hester.
Hester made himself available for half an hour at the end of March when the report was put on the website. He also participated in a live online presentation of the highlights and gave his own thoughts. Among other things, Hester was questioned on how British Land intends to reduce energy use at its Meadowhall centre, and if it plans to make its sponsorship of good causes ‘less confusing’.
The site area had 371 visits that day, representing 36 hours and 27 minutes of online contact with stakeholders. Of the visitors, 324 were from the UK. Most of the rest were from the US (25) and Australia (15). Altogether 34 people took part in Hester’s question-and-answer session, and 165 in the live presentation. Other questions were put to Hester by telephone or submitted earlier via email.
Claudine Blamey, British Land’s corporate responsibility executive, told EP the company was pleased with the response. ‘It was a fresh approach that we hope showed transparency, especially as we were prepared to take any questions on any topic from our stakeholders,’ she said. ‘We will certainly think about doing it again.’
Many large companies have long complained that they put great effort into non-financial reports but that generating responses from stakeholders is often difficult.
The UK-based property company attracted more than 300 visits to the corporate responsibility section of its website on the day the 2006 report was published, in part because stakeholders were allowed to put points about policies and programmes, live and online, to the group’s chief executive, Stephen Hester.
Hester made himself available for half an hour at the end of March when the report was put on the website. He also participated in a live online presentation of the highlights and gave his own thoughts. Among other things, Hester was questioned on how British Land intends to reduce energy use at its Meadowhall centre, and if it plans to make its sponsorship of good causes ‘less confusing’.
The site area had 371 visits that day, representing 36 hours and 27 minutes of online contact with stakeholders. Of the visitors, 324 were from the UK. Most of the rest were from the US (25) and Australia (15). Altogether 34 people took part in Hester’s question-and-answer session, and 165 in the live presentation. Other questions were put to Hester by telephone or submitted earlier via email.
Claudine Blamey, British Land’s corporate responsibility executive, told EP the company was pleased with the response. ‘It was a fresh approach that we hope showed transparency, especially as we were prepared to take any questions on any topic from our stakeholders,’ she said. ‘We will certainly think about doing it again.’
Many large companies have long complained that they put great effort into non-financial reports but that generating responses from stakeholders is often difficult.
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