A change in focus to stakeholder engagement and reputation management aligned to King III recommendations

Abstract

As the King III code has been described as the future of corporate governance the question has to be asked whether corporate South Africa is able to translate this international best practice document into best practice implementation. The purpose of this research was to assess how companies and industry experts have interpreted the requirements of King III – Governing Stakeholder Relationships – and to see if there was a change in focus by companies and their boards ‘to stakeholder engagement and reputation management’. Through qualitative interviews the objective of the research was to: • find out to what extent companies had adopted the recommendations on governing stakeholder relationship (King III); • confer with industry experts as to what companies are expected to report on when they adopt King III principles on governing stakeholder relationships; and • ascertain if there was a common understanding of the adoption of King III – Governing Stakeholder Relationships – from a company and industry perspective? For business leaders who have accepted that the sustainability of the system depends on delivering wealth creation and economic return for shareholders and stakeholders, sustainably and responsibly and who have placed stakeholder trust at the heart of their companies’ strategy adopting governing stakeholder relationship – governance element eight – recommendations is in synch. Copyright