8 How does climate change affect dialogue with stakeholders?

A stakeholder is defined as someone who is affected or influenced by the business. There is always a range of stakeholders from shareholders and investors to customers and all employees, suppliers and competitors, as well as business partners, government and communities.

Dialogue with key stakeholders is important to develop a sound minimal risk business strategy. It is not just an opportunity to inform stakeholders but also to check out perceptions and conflicts. Such a dialogue is continuous and allows measurement of stakeholder satisfaction. Multi-stakeholder dialogue is a mechanism for resolving environmental disputes.

When climate change is taken into account there is a broader range of stakeholders to consider (policy think tanks, non-governmental organisations, academia and the private sector) because other societal and environmental issues come into the consideration.

Ideally multinational businesses discuss issues involving global warming, resource exploration, globalisation, human rights, etc. This can cover a large number of stakeholders with differing agendas and may require mediation. The definition above however allows for any ‘stakeholder’ to involve themselves at the negotiating table; even those openly hostile to the values of a company’s primary stakeholders. For example, animal rights and other antagonist groups sometimes engage destructively in non-negotiable ultimatums at stakeholder meetings. This results in a more limited dialogue using information websites and public meetings which are designed to diffuse emotion rather than enlist participation.

More information is available on these websites:

• Pioneers of Change Dialogue Project [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] ;
• BNFL National Stakeholder Dialogue;
• BWEA Offshore Wind Consultation and Stakeholder Dialogue";
• Shell: Stakeholder dialogue can be dangerous to your health;
• ‘Toward a theory of stakeholder salience: defining the principle of who and what really counts’, Academy of Management Journal.