The CASE Journal

British Telecom: Doing the Right Thing or Doing Things Right?

Herbert Sherman,
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Herbert Sherman, (2005) "British Telecom: Doing the Right Thing or Doing Things Right?", The CASE Journal, Vol. 2 Issue: 1,
pp.102-102, https://doi.org/10.1108/TCJ-02-2005-B007
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 The CASE Journal Volume 2, Issue 1 (Fall 2005)

British Telecom: Doing the Right Thing or Doing Things Right?

Herbert Sherman, Southampton College - LIU

“British Telecom. (BT) has used stakeholder consultation to strengthen customer, and
other stakeholders' loyalty. As a privatized ex-government monopoly, British Telecom has
always had a strong public service ethos. It has gone from being the only telephone company
in the UK to competing with a variety of new and international telephone companies - many
of which use aggressive pricing strategies to win new customers. Stakeholder consultation is
a way for the company to demonstrate its conviction that its ethical framework best serves
the interests of all stakeholders. To do so, it sought the views of and feedback from a diverse
set of stakeholders about their ethical expectations. BT set up liaison panels to provide two-
way, in-depth discussions with consumers, convened seminars and conferences on key
issues, and held other exercises to engage stakeholder views about ethical issues.
Every six months, BT analyzes the output from its various stakeholder groups and
presents it, via the CEO, to the company's board executive committee. "Hot" issues requiring
action are debated and resolved in steering committees chaired by BT's director of corporate
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relations and attended by policy makers from the major divisions. The company has
described its stakeholder consultation as ‘the measure which ensures that the corporate
equation of commercial success and long-term stakeholder loyalty is balanced and ultimately
keeps the corporation on the right track’. BT's efforts seem to be working; stakeholder
consultations have been credited with helping BT align management priorities with
stakeholder expectations. BT has published a booklet on the stakeholder process, including
details of consumers' and others' perceptions of BT's ethical policies and practices.”5

Questions:
1. Describe BT’s strategies for managing stakeholder relations.
2. How do these actions provide value to the stakeholders?
3. Why would BT use these strategies rather than rely on only traditional market strategies
(i.e. price competition, marketing, and differentiated services)?
4. Is BT being ethical by using customer consultation or is this just a good business practice?
5. What other strategies might BT avail itself of?

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