Case study: How Australis Seafoods promotes ethical business conduct
Australis Seafoods is one of the leading companies in the Chilean salmon industry, led by a team of professionals with vast experience in the production and marketing of salmon in Chile and the world. Since 2016 Australis Seafoods has a Code of Ethics and Conduct, which acts as a framework and guide for the performance of the entire company. Tweet This!
This case study is based on the 2019 Sustainability Report by Australis Seafoods published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
Australis Seafoods’ Code of Ethics and Conduct establishes the values, ethical principles and behaviour guidelines that guide the actions that Australis members must adopt. In order to promote ethical business conduct Australis Seafoods took action to:
- implement a Crime Prevention Model
- launch a complaint channel
- establish an Ethics Committee
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Australis Seafoods has identified;
- How Australis Seafoods proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Australis Seafoods to promote ethical business conduct
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2019 Sustainability Report Australis Seafoods identified a range of material issues, such as product safety and quality, community relations, human rights, talent management, environmental footprint. Among these, promoting ethical business conduct stands out as a key material issue for Australis Seafoods.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Australis Seafoods engages with:
| Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
| Collaborators and leaders of the organisation
| · Intranet · Wall diaries · Complaint Channel (CPM) · Information Screens · Communications Mail · Newsletters · Joint Hygiene and Safety Committees · Sustainability Report |
| Customers | · Direct relationship with Commercial Management · Meetings in commercial offices · Participation in international fairs · Web page · Complaint Channel (CPM) · Social networks · Corporate Memory · Sustainability Report |
| Consumers
| · Stores in Santiago, Puerto Varas and Puerto Natales · Social Networks (Instagram) · Cooking lessons |
| Suppliers
| · Meetings · Contract administration · Complaint Channel (CPM) |
| Communities | · Community Links Programme · Puerto Natales Office and Store · Email box |
| Local authorities
| · Public Affairs Meetings · Visits to the company’s facilities |
| Sector Authorities
| · Operation Coordination · Public Affairs Plan · Visits to the company’s facilities |
| Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) | · Meetings · Joint Development Programmes |
| Industrial associations
| · Global Salmon Initiative · SalmonChile · Magellan Salmon Farmers Association |
| Academy | · Meetings |
| Media | · Meetings · Activities and visits to the company’s facilities |
| Business Partners
| · Bice · Santander · Chile bank |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritise material topics Australis Seafoods conducted stakeholder surveys.
What actions were taken by Australis Seafoods to promote ethical business conduct?
In its 2019 Sustainability Report Australis Seafoods reports that it took the following actions for promoting ethical business conduct:
- Implementing a Crime Prevention Model
- Through its Crime Prevention Model (CPM), Australis Seafoods manages and controls the activities that are exposed to the risks of committing criminal offenses, seeking to promote an organisational culture of business integrity. During the year 2019, Australis Seafoods was focused on the dissemination and implementation of its CPM and the tools to channel possible complaints.
- Launching a complaint channel
- This tool is available on Australis Seafoods’ corporate website and intranet and allows all the company’s employees, anonymously or under strict reservation of their identity, to report any fact in order to be investigated. There is a detailed protocol on how these situations should be handled and it is based on the principles of legality, reservation and respect.
- Establishing an Ethics Committee
- Australis Seafoods has an Ethics Committee composed of the Chairman of the Board of Australis Seafoods S.A. (Jie Tang), the Administration & Finance Manager (Moisés Saravia) and the Corporate Affairs & Human Resources Manager (Josefina Moreno). The Ethics Committee’s main function is the investigation and resolution of complaints received through the complaints channel. The Head of Crime Prevention is the internal collaborator with direct dependence on the Board of Australis Seafoods S.A. and Subsidiaries, who will coordinate the activities to be developed once a complaint has been received. He/she is in charge of collecting preliminary records to see if it is appropriate to inform the Ethics Committee to proceed with the relevant research actions.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 205-2 Communication and training about anti-corruption policies and procedures
Disclosure 205-2 Communication and training about anti-corruption policies and procedures corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
- Targets: 16.5
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References:
1) This case study is based on published information by Australis Seafoods, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
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