Transparansi adalah kunci untuk terhubung secara autentik dengan konsumen, tetapi apakah perusahaan membagikan semua hal yang ingin diketahui oleh konsumen mereka?
Julia Wilson, VP, Global Responsibility & Sustainability, Nielsen, recently sat down with Martin Whittaker, CEO of JUST Capital, to pick up a conversation about the connection points among social and environmental issues, opportunities for corporate impact and investment, as well as how consumer preferences—and a focus on trust and access to information—are driving business forward.
"Kepercayaan terhadap perusahaan-perusahaan besar masih sangat rendah; kami melihat hal tersebut dalam pekerjaan kami sendiri dan pekerjaan orang lain," kata Whittaker. "Kami sedang dalam proses membangun kembali kepercayaan tersebut-tidak hanya dengan konsumen tetapi juga untuk masyarakat luas. Saya rasa perusahaan-perusahaan sadar akan perlunya berinvestasi dalam izin sosial mereka untuk berbisnis, [dan] perusahaan-perusahaan ingin mengetahui bahwa informasi yang digunakan oleh konsumen untuk mengambil keputusan adalah informasi yang baik. Jadi saya pikir akan ada banyak fokus pada kualitas data, makna informasi, dari mana asalnya... Sama seperti apa pun, untuk membangun kepercayaan, Anda harus memiliki rasa keterbukaan [dan] transparansi."
Whittaker cited the connections between company performance on “just” themes—like worker pay and environmental impact—with stronger financial performance, also focusing on the important role that investment can play in advancing action on corporate social responsibility and sustainability issue areas.
“Influencing how capital flows, and certainly influencing the way investors think about the themes that we cover, is really important for companies to understand,” said Whittaker. “We found that the more investors use our data, use our rankings, invest in “just” funds, the more companies were interested in that and wanted to really understand how their Investor Relations, their corporate leadership, C-suite, and Boards connected the dots between their performance on social and environmental issues and their financial performance.” JUST Capital has launched a series of indices, including an exchange traded fund (Ticker: JUST) with Goldman Sachs Asset Management in June 2018.
Nielsen research shows that consumers care about sustainability and are willing to change their consumption habits to address their own impact on the environment. Whittaker shared some examples of how these human and environmental needs intersect with opportunities for corporate impact. “Consumers are very motivated by aspects of environmental impact and a company’s environmental footprint,” said Whittaker. “We see it in health for example. We know people really want to drink clean water, they want to breathe clean air…Environmental impacts that affect health and the health of communities I think are very important.”
Ke depannya, Whittaker memperkirakan bahwa gelombang pengungkapan dan transparansi akan terus meningkat. Ia memprediksi bahwa perusahaan akan terus "menggali lebih dalam" dalam hal menentukan jenis data yang akan dibagikan, dan dengan kelompok pemangku kepentingan yang mana. "Saya yakin kita akan mengetahui lebih banyak tentang kepemimpinan perusahaan dalam berbagai hal yang sepuluh tahun lalu tidak pernah terpikirkan oleh perusahaan-perusahaan," ujar Whittaker.
