Natural Disasters: resilient response required

Competitive Intelligence: fixing on a formula

Only two senior executives are supposed to know the recipe for Coca-Cola. The US beverage company forbids them to travel on the same plane in case the mythical formula should go down with them. Now the best kept secret in corporate history is out (or so a US radio show would have us believe). All along, the ingredients for inventor Dr Pemberton’s fizzy magic were tucked away in the pages of his local newspaper. So now we all know: just a splash of cinnamon and Neroli oil, a drop of coriander, orange and lemon, a tea-spoon of alcohol and – hey presto – the ‘real thing’.

Hogwash, says Coca Cola. It would. For more than a century, the company has kept the world guessing. Such uncertainty does wonders for marketing. Yet, in today’s competitive, dog-eat-dog world, the days of corporate confidentiality seem to be fast disappearing. Renault in France, Rio Tinto in China and Sears in the US are just some of the big names to have found themselves embroiled in recent espionage scandals.

It’s natural to want to know what your competitors are up to. Some even say it’s an ethical obligation. (Willful ignorance leads to uncompetitiveness, which leads to shortchanged shareholders, the argument runs). Yet where to draw the line? It’s not easy, admits Rajesh Chhabara in the latest issue of Ethical Corporation. Especially in an environment where ‘competitive intelligence’ companies are out hawking their investigative services.

One basic rule of thumb: if you came by the information ethically, it’s probably okay. And, in the internet age, there is a mountain of publicly-available data out there – if you’ve the time, energy and expertise to go looking for it. If your means were dubious (think: theft, spying, phone tapping, computer hacking, etcetera), then you’ve almost certainly overstepped the line. There are guidelines out there. Surveillance firms have a code of ethics courtesy of US trade group, the Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals. Corporations are developing their own norms too. Training staff, developing approval processes and conducting regular cross-functional reviews are just three of the ten best practice suggestions featured in a recent report by the Institute of Business Ethics.

Chhabara weighs up other angles too. How might companies misuse information collected legitimately, for instance? Or where does collecting information on campaign groups cross the line? (Greenpeace recently sued several companies, including Dow Chemical, for espionage.)

Sophisticated software is making it easier for those with criminal intent to steal competitive information. On the other hand, it’s also enabling companies to better protect their private data. In our high-tech age, however, good old honesty still goes a long way. Like when PepsiCo was offered stolen trade secrets from a disgruntled Coca-Cola employee. It could have paid the asking price. Instead it phone the FBI. Now, in ethical terms, that’s surely the real thing.

Sustainable Agriculture: fact, not factoid

Factoids and facts. In the ‘Just Google It” generation in which we live, both proliferate. But an important distinction exists between the two. Factoids win you pub quizzes. Example One: 2010 was the International Year of the Potato. Example Two: almost a third of the 4,000 known potato varieties are grown in the Peruvian Andes. Facts, in contrast, demand that you get up and take action. Example: Peruvian glaciers above 5,000m (26,000ft) will have almost completely vanished by 2015. Why? Climate change. So what? No more potatoes.

It would seem a semantic distinction were the same story not being repeated the world over. The planet’s capacity to provide the food stuffs that keep us alive are under strain. Warmer temperatures and changing rain patterns are altering farming conditions and impacting agricultural productivity. Earlier this month, the New York Times reported on how Colombia’s coffee harvest is faltering because of higher temperatures and above average rainfall. That’s not just a worry for the country’s producers (many of whom are small farmers with diminutive incomes). It’s a concern for coffee drinkers too. Less supply means higher prices. Global brands such as Maxwell and Folgers have upped their prices by 25% since the middle of last year. 

Global agriculture is coming under threat just as demands on farmers are on the increase. Another jump-into-action fact: the world will have an extra two billion mouths to feed by 2050. And another: demand for agricultural products is expected to double over the same period. Without action, the prospect of food shortages looms large. Food price crises point to what could be around the corner. Over the last three years alone, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation calculates that around 40 million people have been pushed into hunger due to food inflation.

The business world is beginning to respond. At this year’s World Economic Forum, a heavyweight coalition of seventeen multinational food and beverage companies took the podium to call for a “New Vision” for the world’s farming and food communities. Their goal? Sure future access to affordable and nutritious food. Their ‘roadmap’? To be decided.

In the search for possible answers, Ethical Corporation’s latest issue includes a Special Briefing about how large food companies are responding to the pending agricultural crisis. Walmart, Pepsico, Unilever Coca Cola, Cargill and Nestlé are just a few of the enormous players in the food and beverage industry to have recently come out with big commitments around ‘sustainable agriculture’. Strategies range from improving farmer productivity through crop science to introducing environmentally friendly growing techniques (reducing soil loss, cutting back excessive nutrient use, minimising pesticides) and increasing the capacity of food processors (as in the case of General Mills' new 'Partners in Food Solutions' programme).

So far, no one solution has won out. That’s not surprising. Early experiments in sustainable agriculture demonstrate that the right answers depend on a host of factors (geography, soil type, crop variety etc). Nor are the solutions in the hands of private sector alone. World farming requires a complete ‘redesign’, according to the authoritative Foresight Project report ('Global Food and Farming Futures'). For that to happen, it will require no less than an overhaul in public policy, market and trade systems, and consumer behaviour. A fact to act on if there ever was one. 

n.b. as well as an overview of the issues underlying sustainable agriculture, Ethical Corporation's Special Briefing includesexamples of best practice from the food industry as well as an examination of partnerships with civil society organisations.