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Briefing paper No 2Engaging Business
Engaging businesses in the Material Resources Strategy is of extreme importance to the schemes success. This document briefly explains how the Material Resources Strategy Project Team aim to engage with business, providing them with as much opportunity as possible to comment on, and input into, the Material Resources Strategy. There are six project areas:
The absence of any substantial business presence at the first Material Resources Strategy workshop on 23 September 2003 was noted by the stakeholders in attendance and the Material Resources Strategy Project Team. Feedback from delegates emphasised the absence of SMEs, retailers, manufacturers, producers, waste management companies, construction industries, refuse collection agencies and, agricultural sectors as a problem in relation to this strategy.
Why Engage business in the Material Resources Strategy? There are between 43,000 and 45,000 businesses based in Hampshire (including Portsmouth and Southampton), many are major UK businesses or overseas owned organisations who consider Hampshire to be the right environment to do business, others are small and medium sized businesses who are the supply chain for larger businesses in Hampshire. Major international companies such as IBM, British Aerospace and Motorola pin their success on being in close proximity to the right mix of skills, facilities, suppliers and partners. These businesses have a major influence on the quality of life of the 1.6million people who live in Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton and the quality of Hampshire’s environment By engaging business in the Material Resources Strategy at a stakeholder level we have an opportunity to influence and change the way businesses operate in Hampshire and business have an opportunity to influence and change the Material Resources Strategy. The Material Resources Strategy is proposing that we examine existing business practice and look to develop new ways of working, developing new markets and new products, focusing on waste streams rather than waste producers. For example, one of the three main elements of the Material Resources Strategy is engaging the process chain, considering the way products are made, examining the product design in terms of recyclability at the end of the chain and the potential use of alternative materials, such as recyclate, in the original product. If we want to create this kind of change we need to understand from businesses what barriers they face in implementing both this and the other two elements of the Material Resources Strategy; establishing material resource recovery systems and delivery on the ground. The Project Team believe that Material Resources Strategy could be the driver of new innovation and markets in relation to recycled materials and resources at all stages in the chain, collection, recovery, reuse and recycling. Businesses who become stakeholders and engage with this process from the start, taking the time to understand the opportunities and benefits, stand to benefit financially as, should they choose to take advantage of the situation, it would give them a clear market advantage not only in Hampshire but in the whole of the UK and potentially Europe.
Problems/barriers to engaging business The problems with engaging with the business sector are well documented, especially small and medium sized businesses. The main problems are:
Overcoming these barriers/problems Overcoming these barriers and creating useful and productive engagement with business falls into three main areas:
Ensuring that there is a clear understanding of why businesses are involved and developing a business case for involvement. Being selective about the businesses engaged, contacting them through existing networks rather than developing new ones and making every effort to link to existing practices such as Corporate Social Responsibility.
Involvement and commitments are made clear with an emphasis on action and what needs to be done. There should be as little politics and bureaucracy as possible with clear briefings connecting to the business agenda with no jargon.
Ensuring businesses needs are listened to and their time constraints taken into consideration. Providing, if necessary, high level chief executive, support to ensure engagement across the board.
Material Resource Strategy - Engaging with Business To ensure business representation in the Material Resources Strategy stakeholder dialogue process, the Project Team have developed various initiatives to engage specifically with business. These activities will engage with business throughout the stakeholder process and will seek responses at various stages of the engagement process. The prearranged Material Resources Strategy stakeholder workshops will still remain open to all businesses and all opportunities to further encourage business to attend these events will be made in addition to initiatives set out in this document. This document outlines the six initiatives that the Material Resources Strategy project team are planning to carry out. An action plan on how exactly these initiatives will be implemented is nearing completion and more detail on any of these initiatives is available by contacting the Material Resources Strategy Project Team directly. The project team would also welcome any further suggestions for engagement, offers of support or potential engagement opportunities. There are many organisations in Hampshire that engage with business regularly such as the Business Environment Forum, the Environment Centre, Envirowise, the Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Hampshire Economic Partnership. Every opportunity will be taken to create links with these organisations, and others, in all Material Resources Strategy business engagement activities.
The need to engage business in the Material Resources Strategy has been made established, however this engagement needs to be clarified and developed to ensure that when we start talking to business, we are clear why we want to engage business and what the potential benefits and opportunities are. These benefits will need to be sector specific, flexible and developed over time as our engagement with business highlights what the opportunities are. The benefits and reasons for engagement need to be established for each of the elements of Material Resources Strategy:
HNRI and Hampshire Economic Partnership recently hosted an event on the benefits of Business Sustainability. At this conference we asked the businesses that attended if they would like to engage with us on other issues. We will then follow up those who responded positively and ask their advice about how to engage business in the Material Resources Strategy. We will also contact existing business, who are already engaged with us on other projects, and ask for their advice. Once the case for engaging with business has been established a document will be drafted, circulated to select business for comment and posted on the Material Resources Strategy website for comment.
Through various contacts and partnerships across Hampshire we could contact most businesses in the county. However, we need to have a co-ordinated and systematic approach to the way we contact business, prioritising the sectors we feel are most relevant to the Material Resources Strategy and establishing who our key audience is. We need to maximise our existing contact with businesses already involved in initiatives such as Hampshire Economic Partnership Task Groups or the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Business Environment Forum. From our existing contacts and ‘warm businesses’ we need to develop businesses who are willing to become ‘champions’ and take the Material Resources Strategy to other businesses. The creation of Business Champions will also assist in the development of business to business meetings and briefings, as businesses are more likely to listen to their contemporaries. Lists of all those businesses that are engaged with us will be posted on the Material Resources Strategy website, taking into account all data protection issues, so that we are open about who we are engaging with. Due to time and resource issues it is hard for businesses to attend the major Material Resources Strategy stakeholder workshops, therefore we plan to host some specific events for businesses. These will include a variety of breakfast meetings, one to one meetings and business to business briefings, tailored to specific audiences (retailers, manufacturers, small and medium sized businesses, etc.). These events will highlight the benefits of engaging with the Material Resources Strategy for any particular audience, requesting input and feedback about the process and potential changes to current business practice. These events will be short and focused ensuring that business understand why they have been invited, why we are engaging with them and what, ideally, we would like from them. We realise that asking businesses to come to another event might not work for all sectors, therefore we will also target other business associations, such as trade unions, and other business support agencies or networks, such as the Hampshire Economic Partnership, linking up with them for specific events or meetings possibly by becoming a speaker, running a workshop or having a stall, enabling us to reach the business audience. To provide business with support throughout this process, the Material Resources Strategy Project Team and the Hampshire Natural Resources Initiative team will support business with any enquiries or comments they have. High level support will be available from Bob Lisney, Head of Hampshire Natural Resources Initiative and the Communications Director for the Material Resources Strategy. Information specifically for business on the Material Resources Strategy will be created to help business understand the issues. Bespoke information will be created for each of the sectors explaining how the Material Resources Strategy could effect their business, what the potential opportunities are and why they should be involved in the stakeholder process. Most of this information will be web based and available on the Material Resources Strategy website, however the information will also be available to hand out to business at any events members of the Material Resources Strategy team attend. Business information of the Material Resources Strategy will include:
A standard PowerPoint presentation on the business links to the Material Resources Strategy will also be created for use at any event, this will provide consistency in relation to the messages we are giving to business. We need to make sure that articles about the Material Resources Strategy get into the local, regional and national newspapers and into specific business news sections to encourage more businesses to become involved in the stakeholder process and raise awareness of the Material Resources Strategy in Hampshire. A Material Resources Strategy communication subgroup has been established to deal with the communication of the Material Resources Strategy. This group will also look to engage existing magazines and newsletters which sent out to business by other organisations such as trade unions or trade associations. Continuous communication with the business community and the business stakeholders is important. The Material Resources Strategy project team will do this through the Material Resources Strategy website and existing newsletter communications that go out to business by organisation such as HNRI, HEP and the Environment Centre. During the implementation of these projects and throughout Material Resources Strategy stakeholder dialogue process the Material Resources Strategy project team will be developing a new business engagement strategy to help implement the Material Resources Strategy when it is formally agreed in 2004. This strategy will take into account the experiences and lesson learnt from the initiatives detailed in this document, seek advice from the business it is engaging with in these projects and consider the implications for delivering the Material Resources Strategy in Hampshire. |
Why engage business in the Material Resources Strategy Problems/ barriers to engaging business Overcoming these barriers/ problems Material Resources Strategy - Engaging with Business 1. Develop the case for Engaging the business 2. Develop a distribution/ engagement list 3. Business specific events and briefings 4. Create bespoke Material Resources Strategy information for Business 5. Engage with the Business Media 6. Communicating with Business Engaging with Businesses to deliver the Material Resources Strategy Links |
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