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| The team who are the official PR counsel to
the Forbes Conference. |
Orient recently caught up with the team who are the official
PR counsel to the Forbes Conference.
What’s the Forbes Conference?
Forbes Inc. is hosting its 5th Annual Forbes Global CEO Conference
in Sydney from August 30 to September 1, 2005.
Attended by over 350 of the world’s leading CEOs, presidents
and senior level executives, the conference will allow representatives
from the most successful companies and institutions to discuss the
latest global issues and trends.
Themed, "The Next Move", topics to be discussed during
the conference include:
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New growth, new risks: how vulnerable
is the global economy? |
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Fuelling global growth - sustainably
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Cutting edge investment strategies |
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The business of sport |
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The global entertainment industry
in transition: rewriting the script |
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The power of innovation |
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Branding for the global consumer |
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The deal with China |
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Data: sealing and securing your advantage
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What’s involved with the work you are doing?
Weber Shandwick in Australia has been appointed as the official
public relations counsel for the conference. Weber Shandwick will
be responsible for arranging all speaker and conference profiling
opportunities as well as managing the media accreditation program.
What have you done so far?
We’ve developed a comprehensive plan; leveraged Steve Forbes'
visit to Australia in March this year — secured a number of
media opportunities; made contact with all sponsors to ensure consistency
in communication and developed an understanding of the role each
party plays.
What are you finding the biggest challenge to be?
Given the nature of the Forbes Conference and the range of speakers
from around the globe, interest is spread far and wide. The biggest
challenge therefore is to package information that is of interest
to the widest possible audience. While the conference is being held
in Sydney, this is a global account and it is important to maintain
a balance of both local and international content.
Who are some of the exciting people you will get to meet?
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The Hon. Rudolph W. Giuliani, 107th
Mayor of New York, Chairman & CEO Giuliani Partners, USA
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Hollywood actress - Nicole Kidman |
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The Hon. Robert Carr, MP, Premier
of New South Wales, Australia |
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The Hon. John Howard , Prime Minister,
Australia |
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Chairman of the board of management
BMW - Helmut Panke |
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| The Forbes Global CEO Conference 2005 will
be held at the Sydney Opera House, Australia. Credit: www.nashweb.com.au |
Is there anything significant about the venue?
The event is being held at the Sydney Opera House. This will provide
the international visitors with a unique experience at one of Australia’s
greatest icons.
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Neal McCarthy
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Neal McCarthy was recently appointed vice president
of the consumer practice. Neal has more than 14 years experience with
international PR & marcom agencies.
Prior to joining Weber Shandwick, Neal was part of the senior management
at a Bangkok-based PR agency. As well as having extensive experience
in the development and management of communications programs, Neal
has also played a key role in crisis communications for a number of
clients in the Thai market. He is experienced in writing speeches
for senior executives and Thai government officials and providing
media spokesperson training for Thailand and Asia Pacific senior executives.
China is determined to become one of the world’s
biotechnology leaders in the next decade. With initial goals of
a ten-year development plan to include the establishment of 20 research
and development centers, and ten biotech centers with international
standards and an annual output value of USD 36 billion, biotechnology
is set to become one of China’s pillar industries in the 21st
century.
The Chinese government’s eagerness to develop science and technology
make the environment conducive to the biotech boom. China boasts
a vast number of young, highly-educated scientists working at a
fraction of the cost of their Western counterparts. Global pharmaceutical
companies overwhelmed by the rising costs of producing new drugs,
often in the region of USD 1 billion, are turning to China to conduct
low-cost research and development for some of their clinical trials.
The situation is favorable for all parties involved. China is prospering
from these ventures as significant investments further boost its
capabilities. Concurrently, global companies are establishing strong
ties with Chinese authorities which could prove invaluable for future
expansion of operations and in the fight against counterfeits and
generic products. The discomfort over intellectual-property protection
standards does not seem to deter the arrival of multinationals into
China. Many analysts believe that a home-grown biotech industry
could resolve this lingering problem. Chinese scientists trained
in the West and returning to China appreciate the importance of
patent rights and, in the near future, local companies will demand
regulatory cover for their own discoveries.
Another significant factor in the equation is China’s growing
private sector. With 70 percent of the population paying for healthcare,
the government is pushing to switch product dispensing from hospitals
to pharmacies, thus further shifting the purchasing power to consumers.
Analysts predict that by 2010, the pharmaceutical market in China
will be worth USD 24 billion, with 70 percent of the market controlled
by multinationals.
Jill Mortensen, managing director of Weber Shandwick’s healthcare
practice in Asia, and managing director of the Hong Kong office,
believes that the healthcare sector offers plenty of PR opportunities
in China: "China will eventually become the largest global
pharmaceutical market – Weber Shandwick, as a global PR agency
with strong capabilities in China, can provide the necessary expertise
to multinational pharmaceutical companies wishing to get ahead in
the region."
Weber Shandwick’s healthcare clients in China include GSK,
Pfizer, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly and Boston Scientific.
By Brendan May,
Head of Corporate Responsibility, Weber Shandwick in the UK
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Brendan May
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In John Cleese’s smash hit A Fish Called Wanda, Kevin Kline's
character Otto simply couldn't apologise. It was a symptom of his
irreversible maniacal psychosis. No matter how hard he tried - the
words "I'm sorry" couldn't seem to come out. Until he
had no choice, having almost killed his love rival (Cleese) by accident
in one of the film's most farcical scenes.
Recently, Nike, one of the world's most iconic brands and largest
companies, apologised. Very publicly. The firm that only a few years
ago was the icon of corporate irresponsibility has been all over
our screens and newspapers saying sorry. In its first corporate
responsibility report for a number of years (the delay caused by
an ongoing court case following dubious claims the last time Nike
released one) Nike's founder and Chairman, Phil Knight, very openly
and humbly apologised for past misjudgements. He didn’t just
apologise for the company, but took personal responsibility. Moreover,
he acknowledged there are still problems with the way the people
who make our trendy Nike gear are treated in factories around the
world. And he published a global list of names and addresses of
all Nike’s manufacturers and suppliers (more than 700). If
Nike once retreated to the bunker and shifted blame, today the company
has opened its books and admitted that it bears responsibility for
the way in which its entire supply chain operates. The activist's
dream target has become the proof that activism works. Nike has
proved that CSR isn’t an optional extra.
Some will view this development with cynicism and suspicion. Certainly
the lens of scrutiny will not disappear overnight. Nor should it.
But sometimes companies deserve a pat on the back (no matter how
bad their past wrongdoings) and there are few better examples than
this. The bar has been raised in terms of corporate transparency.
The whole CSR needle has shifted a little further in favour of openness
and honesty. For what we are witnessing is one of those big gestures
that shift agendas. They don’t happen often, but when they
do the world notices. It’s not about PR, but PR is at its best
when there is real substance behind it. In the case of Nike, there
was substance aplenty. Nike is not the first company to preside
over a large agenda shift. Not even in its own sector: Gap, a similar
target, started to publish details of its supply chain manufacturers
last year and withdrew contracts from the worst offenders. BP shifted
the corporate agenda on climate change back in 1997 when John Browne
acknowledged the company was part of the problem and pledged to
become part of the solution. Unilever, one of the world’s largest
seafood buyers, shifted the global fishing industry in favour of
sustainability in the mid-90s, and Rio Tinto's leadership of the
Global Mining Initiative did the same for the extractive industries.
But that does not undermine the value of Nike's decision. Their
handling of the decision was first rate for the following reasons:
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The apology was real. And it bore
the personal stamp of the company chairman. |
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The tone was human. Interestingly,
Nike’s new CSR report does not, like so many others, begin
with the ‘Chairman’s Foreword’. It is called
‘Phil’s letter’. |
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Mistakes were catalogued in detail.
And ongoing problems openly disclosed. |
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The report’s detailed information
was backed up with evidence of truly independent observers from
trade unions, NGOs, academia and the business community. |
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The document charted a course for
the future against which the company can be judged. |
This last point is perhaps the most significant. It presents Nike
with its greatest challenge and its most promising opportunity.
It is one thing for the company to have hung out its dirty laundry
for all to see. Demonstrating real and tangible improvements is
going to be even harder. But at least there is now an incentive
for Nike to do so, since they will not be forgiven if they slip
up again.
Like many human beings, too often corporations fear the consequences
of apologising even when they know they are at fault. Understandably,
in a tough competitive world businesses often do not want to admit
they sometimes get it wrong. They fear that investors and regulators,
not to mention NGOs, will seize upon the perceived weakness of their
strategy if they say sorry. The question companies need to ask is
whether an apology will draw a line under past mistakes or simply
fan the flames for renewed assaults on their reputation. The Nike
experience suggests the former, provided they live up to the enormous
expectations they have now created. As the American theologian Tyron
Edwards put it, "Right actions in the future are the best apologies
for bad actions in the past."
Nike must have thought long and hard about how to resurface from
the dungeon of unaccountability. One can only imagine the internal
debates about the pros and cons of apologising so publicly. In this
case, my hunch is that this corporate apology will turn out to be
an asset to Nike, rather than a liability. It is hard even for the
most single-minded activist not to see Nike’s CSR report as
progress.
Corporate apologies are not always sincere. Nor are they always
warranted, as sometimes companies are unfairly placed in the dock
when there is nothing to apologise for. This was not the case with
Nike. As Phil Knight might have said to his staff: "Just do
it." Well now they have, and the world is a little better for
it.
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