Assessment of Social License Indicators

Summary

Community values and attitudes to the red meat industry, otherwise known as the industry's social license to operate, have become increasingly important to the red meat industry.
While there has been a lot of investment accress the red meat industry in education, training, research and communication on issues related to social license, there was a need to look at risks from a whole supply chain perspective to identify any areas of unmanaged risk and ensure the current investment mix is appropriate to deliver on industry requirements and community expectations.
The objectives of this research were to:Review industry data on community values and attitudes toward red meat productionConduct a whole of red meat industry assessment of risks to social license to operate based on community values and attitudes.identify risks that are not being adequately managed by existing industry activities.Identify performance indicators that are of greatest importance to meeting community expectations and in doing so, inform priorities for the next Meat Industry Strategic Plan (MISP).
The project used in depth interviews to identify key indicators of red meat industry social license to operate at each sector of the red meat supply chain.

The project then measured differences between current performance levels and expected performance levels for these key issues in the eyes of key opinion leaders in the industry and in the broader community.

The project contributed to development of the Meat Industry Strategic Plan and informing future investment in industry research, development, adoption and communication programs. It achieved this by identifying appropriate indicators to measure and performance levels to set as objectives to maintain and grow the industry social license to operate.