A veritable gold mine of information to help understand what attributes of sustainability are important to both internal and external stakeholder groups likely already exists within your organization or outside resources. Mining these resources for data and insights relating to sustainability may provide a partial or perhaps even a complete picture for one or more stakeholder groups. The following chart lists potential internal and external sources for data that already exists, as well as other research methods appropriate to each audience should additional research be needed.
| STAKEHOLDER GROUP | DATA SOURCES | OTHER METHODS |
|---|---|---|
| Employees | Employee engagement or satisfaction surveys Existing employee safety or other teams Labor representatives | Email surveys Focus groups |
| Consumers | Consumer relations contacts Social media comments Brand market research Trade association surveys Market research firm reports Industry research | Online surveys Focus groups |
| Customers | Customer service contacts Customer surveys Customer information requests Trade association surveys Industry research Market research firm reports | Email surveys One-on-one interviews |
| Non-governmental organizations | NGO websites Trade association insight | One-on-one interviews/meetings |
| Community leaders | Chambers of commence Local media coverage | One-on-one interviews Group meetings |
| Suppliers | Trade publications Commodity organization research | Email surveys Farmer meetings |
Once you’ve completed your inventory and extracted the information relevant for each stakeholder group, determine what additional input is needed to complete the picture. The marketing or consumer insights department is a good resource for expertise on how to best fill missing information gaps. Depending on the audience, this may include formal or informal research, utilizing one or more of the other methods described above.
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