James Kirkup:
Our corporations should not be scared to champion the role they play in building the UK economy
Nike has run headlong into America’s culture war. The US sports giant features in its latest ad campaign Colin Kaepernick, the American football player who first “took a knee” during the national anthem, to protest America’s unjust treatment of black Americans.
Kneeling football players drive a certain sort of US citizen into apoplectic rage. Given that one of those citizens is currently president, Nike’s decision can only be described as political: the company has, knowingly and willingly, decided to take a side in this fight.
Why? Obviously Nike calculates that the decision is good for business, but it also reflects something more interesting. American businesses, and the people who run them, are increasingly accepting that politics is part of the job; in a democratic culture polarised by Donald Trump’s election and supercharged by social media, big companies are under increasing pressure to think of things other than the financial bottom line.
That pressure doesn’t just come from customers who want to know about the “values” of the firm supplying their shoes. The investment funds that look after our pension savings also increasingly talk about “responsible” business, asking companies to consider how their activities affect things not reflected on the balance sheet. Employee welfare, community impact, environmental burdens – all can matter to the share price.
This isn’t a uniquely American movement. The forces that helped put Kaepernick on Nike posters are heading towards Britain. But not many British businesses are ready.
Big British companies are, on the whole, scared of political and social controversy. The orthodoxy of corporate communications drives companies to play safe, avoid sensitive issues and generally speak in meaningless jargon in an effort to avoid saying anything that anyone might find offensive. Recent events have only reinforced the desire to stay out of politics: the experience of seeing their warnings ignored by significant numbers of voters in the Scottish and EU referendums left some executives scarred. Corporate shyness is understandable, but it is not sensible. British businesses need to make themselves heard.
This is about Brexit, and more. It’s about what sort of economy we want to have, and the role business plays in it. I am not starry-eyed about the private sector, but nor do I think that the virtues of responsible business have been properly explored in recent political debate. Good companies provide jobs and growing wages, spread wealth and generate tax revenues. They support and provide good public services. When our future economic settlement hangs in the balance, businesses should say these things with a louder voice.
British corporate life is full of good examples of big companies that make money while treating people well: Greggs trains its staff to help them progress to better jobs and higher wages; Tesco lets staff benefit from corporate success by buying shares at a discount; South West Water is looking at giving its customers a stake in the company; Legal & General uses the billions it manages to invest in regional growth and house building.
Lush, maker of expensive bath froth, this year ran a campaign about police “spying” – I thought it silly and wrong, but at least the business stands for something. Companies can make arguments as well as money.
Privately, many executives worry about the political climate facing British business, fretting not just about Jeremy Corbyn but also about a Tory Party whose more original thinkers (Michael Gove, Jesse Norman, Ruth Davidson) are keen to explore the flaws in UK plc’s business model. But the smart response to such scrutiny is not to retreat behind the stockade of corporate PR but to venture out and engage: make a case, take a position. If you stop talking to people who disagree with you, you will never persuade them to change their mind. (This, of course, is a lesson that too many politicians have also forgotten.)
It’s time for British business to start talking. Some people won’t like it; some may even say nasty things. Never mind that. Just do it.