1. The value of trust and social licence in New Zealand’s primary sectors
Dr Peter Edwards & Dr Tim Payn
May 2017

4. Social licence to operate
Licence to operate, social licence, privilege to operate, social responsibility, community licence, how we do business…
Emerged from the forestry and mining industries in the 1990s when they needed to recover their reputation
SLO is ongoing local community and stakeholder approval or acceptance of the activities of a resource development
Development of a MBIE funded research programme across the primary sectors
International collaboration with CSIRO and University of Tasmania
Local collaboration with FOA, Lincoln University, University of Otago and Plant & Food
Preston, 2014

5. Trust – underpinning social licence
Moffat & Zhang, 2014

6. What’s trust? Meeting of mutual expectations
Engagement – quality and quantity
Power
Knowledge
Truth
Procedural fairness

7. Social licence and the value chain

8. Social licence and the value chain? ?

9. Social Responsibility
Sustainability
Social Licence
Social Responsibility
The status quo was not good enough! The term Social Licence was not in use yet.
Regardless, as we know social licence today, it was broken back then.
Just as it has been broken at Kalamazoo Michigan, the Deepwater Horizon, the Exxon Valdez, Lac Megantic Quebec, Mt. Polley …
Social Licence has come to mean meeting social expectations beyond the law.
It is not easily or objectively measured It demands transparency, accountability and continuous improvement
It requires “public engagement”
It proposes that Environmental and Safety performance are looked at before productivity, quality, efficiency, cost => profit
Social Licence -- “public opinion” – driven by Reputation
It has roots in:
Sustainability --- which is Driven by Compliance & Risk -- “it is the law” , and
Social Responsibility – which is driven by Leadership -- “it is good business”.
Tim Ryan, 2014

10. Social Responsibility
Sustainability
Social Licence
Social Responsibility
Environmental compliance
Stakeholder theory
Externality theory
Social cost

11. RA2: Developing Framework
RA1: Exploring Trust
Hypothesis:
Trust is a key element on the establishment of SLO
Investigation:
How is trust built in the ‘post-truth’ society
Is/was trust a factor or is it contractual or something else?
Human interface/ mechanisms of engagement
RA3: Application
RA2: Developing Framework
Validation – does the framework work?
Hypothesis:
SLO fits within a sustainability framework, including CSR
Hypothesis:
SLO concepts can/can’t be applied across a supply/value network
Learning Loop
Investigation:
What framework can we apply to test SLO in practice
at scale and
across different value chains?
Theoretical framework will determine the methods for case study analysis
Investigation:
Testing the application of the framework using practical case studies

12. Current situation Outputs and impacts Outcomes
A breakdown in societal trust formation and retention is compounded due to the emergence of a ‘Post-truth’ society
RA1: Exploring Trust. The building blocks of trust in social licence will be determined, from our analysis of the impact of the ‘post-truth’ society on trust in the social licence context. Stakeholders will have the tools to identify levels of trust that has been built in communities and what tips communities towards distrust.
Stakeholders can apply the broad principles (building blocks) of social licence, and also will have the means to determine where communities stand in terms of trust (temperature gauge). Application of these principles and the ability to gauge trust allows for early identification of social licence slippage.
No framework exists to adequately measure social licence through evaluation of the preferences of different individuals within a stakeholder group and across stakeholder groups
RA2: Developing framework. Provide valuable quantitative measures and insights for development of holistic policies for social license to operate that could more effectively account for the preferences of the people while also accounting for geographic specific characteristics.
Holistic policy development around social licence that accounts for incorporation of stakeholder preferences and geographic nuances.
Lack of understanding of scale or value chain implications on social licence
RA3: Applications. Identify through practical application of framework (i.e. evaluation via case studies) how value chain position and scale aspects impact on social licence and trust formation. Integration of stakeholder preferences via participatory action research, using co-innovation principles.
Community of Practice have adopted and implemented Good Practice guidelines. Implications for social licence across and within value chains accounted for in business practice and policy implementation.

13. In simple terms, we have two roads we can follow.
ONE With public engagement/consultation, transparency, accountability, and INDEPENDENT OVERSIGHT, which leads to public trust
OR one without trust and where we run the risk of repeating history and our mistakes.
THANK YOU
Tim Ryan, 2014

14. Final thoughts (not so crazy ideas)
Social acceptance?

15. Our collaborators & partners
Dr Justine Lacey
Dr Aysha Fleming
Dr Libby Pinkard
Professor Libby Lester
Dr Katharina Ruckstuhl
Tracy Williams
Suzanne Trafford
Dr Juan Monge
Dr Richard Yao
Dr Carel Bezuidenhout
Sandra Velarde
Karen Bayne