New Year, New Label

Over the years, our industry has had more labels than I can remember: corporate social responsibility, corporate citizenship, community affairs, responsible business, corporate responsibility and, of course, the most recent addition, shared value. Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting these terms  all mean the same thing. In fact, as someone, who religiously chooses to use 'corporate responsibility' over 'corporate social responsibility', I'm very conscious that they don't. On the whole, the development of these new terms is a good thing and the number of them reflects the face pace of innovation. However, the introduction of 'social licence to operate' as the new 'shared value' for 2013 seems to me to be a step too far.

In an entry on the Forbes CSR Blog, Paul Klein, suggests that 2013 will be the year of the Social Licence to Operate (SLO). This is not a new term. It has traditionally been used by companies in the resource extraction sector to describe the importance of engaging local communities and other stakeholders whose support is required to secure government approval or raise capital for their projects. However, as Paul Klein argues, with the increasing use of social media the concept of a Social Licence to Operate should no longer be thought of solely in the context of the resource extraction sector; it's relevant to all companies. In today's world, there's no longer anywhere to hide and all companies have to recognize the importance of stakeholder support to continue doing business. 

It's not the argument I disagree with, it's the term Social Licence to Operate that feels wrong. I actually quite like the term 'shared value' as it expresses the balance required; it's about finding that sweet spot between business objectives and social and environmental objectives, balancing the concerns of shareholders and stakeholders. Social Licence to Operate loses that - it sounds like companies are at the mercy of what stakeholders want and need to justify their business actions accordingly. 

It's not just semantics, the way we talk about things and the words we use can have a real impact to how a concept is received. So I'm afraid my vote is for new year, old labels.

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