BRAND PAPERS: Court of public opinion.

Geoff Lye explores how new forms of liability can affect brand value and warns that brands must take strategic approaches to risk management

Around the world, boardrooms are grappling with new and expanded concepts of corporate responsibility, accountability, governance and liability. Companies that have long believed themselves safe from the type of crises experienced by Shell over Nigeria or Nike over child labour are now feeling vulnerable. In a world characterised by instant global communication and decreasing trust in business, disgruntled stakeholders are holding companies to account for perceived societal or personal damage, often in a court of law. Perhaps most worryingly for business leaders, companies are being challenged for actions and decisions taken outside their control, occurring decades if not generations ago, and for impacts never before interpreted as their responsibility. This demands robust and strategic approaches to risk management by business leaders if they and their companies are to thrive in the 21st century.

SustainAbility's latest report, The Changing Landscape of Liability, illustrates how CSR standards are progressively shifting from the 'soft' voluntary codes into 'hard' regulation and legislation. Beyond legal and regulatory liability, there's an accelerating range …