Ten years ago, top executives of three major corporations, faced with a boycott by the radical group Rainforest Action Network, dedicated to destroying their corporate name, did exactly the opposite of what most corporate lawyers, PR, and crisis professionals advised them at the time: they sat down and engaged in a dialogue with the group’s leaders.

Their experience, which helped give birth to a field now called “stakeholder engagement”, provides lessons for both executives and activists navigating the tumultuous waters that often divide them.

Now that RAN has come of age – its then leader, and current board president, Randy Hayes having moved on to fresh posts within local governments such as the City of Oakland and leading a new NGO entitled the International Forum on Globalization – it seems to be an appropriate time to reassess the value of boycotts and today’s moves toward negotiated corporate/NGO settlements.

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