The recognition that corporate activities can bring harm to some in society as well as benefit is nothing new. Disputes between companies and those affected by their operations are an ever-increasing feature of media reporting and non-governmental organisations’ campaigns, be it a mining company accused of causing harm to the health of communities, a construction project displacing indigenous peoples, workers in a retailer’s supply chain forced to work overtime or any number of other examples.

One thing is clear: companies with complex structures, operations and supply chains can expect to face disputes over their impacts on communities and other stakeholders, however good their policies, monitoring and auditing systems.

The only question, then, is how they respond. A failure to resolve disputes effectively carries numerous risks: lost productivity, high staff turnover, strikes, attacks on infrastructure, lost reputation and brand value, lawsuits and lost business opportunities. Even seemingly small complaints, if left to fester, can accumulate and escalate into larger-scale grievances that are hard to ignore.

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