*{Business and NGOs: From Diatribe to Dialogue [http://www.weforum.org/site/knowledgenavigator.nsf/Content/Business%20and%20NGOs%3A%20From%20Diatribe%20to%20Dialogue?open&topic_id=300600000&theme_id=300]

            30.01.2001

            Annual Meeting 2001}

            *partie=titre Dialogue or Diatribe: When Business and NGOs Meet *partie=nil

            The demonstrations that have become a common feature of major international events have put the issue of governance on the front burner. Claude Smadja, Managing Director, World Economic Forum, said that amid all the uncertainties about globalization and the IT revolution, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have emerged as spokespersons for people concerned about what is happening to the quality of life and social mores. The political world has been unable to assert its role, while business is seen to be arrogant. NGOs have moved into this "vacuum" and become more assertive. "We are at a critical stage and need to find a way to make sure there is constructive dialogue" between business and civil society.

            Social responsibility is important to our customers, Jack Greenberg, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, McDonald's Corporation, USA, told participants. There are commercial benefits to being a good corporate citizen and to engaging and communicating with NGOs and communities. "Doing well and doing good are increasingly connected," Greenberg said. He proposed rules of engagement for business-NGO dialogue:
            communicate openly,
            listen for understanding,
            assume innocence in others,
            treat each other with respect.

            Later, Greenberg said that often the ability, power and influence of business to solve problems are overestimated. He insisted that his company does not deserve to be a key target of the anti-globalization protests because McDonald's franchise holders are typically local people who buy locally and create jobs in their communities. 

            In fact, dialogue between companies and NGOs is nothing new, Thilo Bode, International Executive Director, Greenpeace International, Netherlands, asserted. Greenpeace has been carrying on a dialogue with the automotive industry for years, for example. Sometimes companies take the credit for an initiative or corrective measure they have made, when in fact it is an NGO like Greenpeace that pushed them to act. Bode said that it is unrealistic to ask NGOs to abandon vocal protest, demonstrations or "diatribe." The fact of the matter is that if organizations do not speak out publicly, then companies would be unlikely to open a dialogue or give access. Bode questioned whether companies really understand NGOs. "CEOs at this meeting are more interested in the cooling of the US economy than in the warming of the planet," he argued, asserting that executives seem to live in a different world. He proposed that the World Economic Forum bring to Davos actual victims of global warning, people who live on islands that are disappearing into the oceans. "CEOs listen to me, but don't understand me." He said that the meeting that Greenpeace and the WWF held with CEOs had been useful, but something has to be done to turn such talk into action.

            Without NGOs, the world would be in worse shape than it is, Pierre Sané, Secretary-General, Amnesty International, UK, argued. Social movements emerge in response to inadequate policy responses or problems created by policy-makers. "Unless the social movement gets stronger, the 21st century could be worse than the 20th century [in terms of abuses of human rights]," Sané said. Sometimes, radical action - even violence - is necessary when all avenues are blocked and options run out. Globalization cannot be stopped, but the shape it takes can be adjusted, Burkhard Gnärig, Chief Executive Officer, Save the Children Alliance, UK, told participants. He insisted that there are times when NGOs have to mobilize the public to reverse a policy decision or corporate action. "There can be diatribe," he said. "We can't give that up." Gnärig added that if there is to be dialogue, then it must be done openly and only rarely on conditions of confidentiality. 

            Hendrik A. Verfaillie, President and Chief Executive Officer, Monsanto Company, USA, said that while it is valuable to communicate with the majority of NGOs, some of them are concerned more with publicity and disruption than with serious dialogue to deal with problems.
                       *{Contributors:       Bode Thilo
                  Gnärig Burkhard
                  Greenberg Jack
                  Sané Pierre
                  Smadja Claude
                  Verfaillie Hendrik A.}