Doubtless there will soon be enough words written about the Steinhoff disaster to fill a library. But already two huge lessons are apparent.
First is that when a crisis hits, you simply cannot over-communicate. Steinhoff’s response has been an almost perfect inversion. Since detonating that sparsely worded bomb last Wednesday, the company has issued just two short statements. In the two previous months it had published eight strong denials of allegations which now appear to be true.
Second is the message this scandal sends about Triple Bottom Line reporting. Most businesses pay lip service to urgings of giving the same weighting to stakeholders and staff as that afforded shareholders. Even in South Africa, home to the King Commission on corporate governance, which has set the global standard on the issue.
The business of business, Mervyn King and his fellows have been imploring, is not just business. Steinhoff tells us the code simply has to be taken as seriously as it was intended. Especially in King’s combustible homeland, where corporates should not only prioritise doing so, but be seen to be making a positive difference to society.
