Turning threats into opportunities: An analysis of the response of palm oil companies implementing NDPE commitment to NGO complaints
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Since the early 2010s, several palm oil companies committed to produce and trade palm oil that is termed “no deforestation, no peatland, and no exploitation” (NDPE). Nongovernmental organizations (NGO) are generally supportive of the commitment. However, they remain critical of how the companies implement their commitment. The paper aims to answer the question of “how to do the palm oil companies implementing the NDPE commitment navigate around the complaints of the NGOs?” We applied and adopted the corporate political activity (CPA) concept. Specifically, we used and extended corporate strategies to manage Kneip (2013) protests and Balsiger (2014). We analyzed over 150 complaints of the NGOs to six major palm oil companies from 2014 to 2019. We found that 1) the complaints are related to one or a combination of breaches in deforestation, peatland, and exploitation; 2) the protests are not only addressed to the companies or their subsidiaries but also the third-party suppliers; 3) it generally takes longer to resolve cases related to exploitation than deforestation and peatland. We argue that the companies navigate around the complaints by applying one or a combination of the responses to the NGO complaints. Using the CPA framework, we say that the companies largely apply information and vertical constituent-building strategies to strengthen their supply base to comply with the companies’ NDPE commitment. The implication is that any commitment towards reducing or ending deforestation should consider the importance of respecting communities’ rights.
Keywords: Deforestation and forest degradation, Value chain, Partnerships, Policies, Policies
ID: 3486658