Anita Roddick the founder of the Body Shop was one of the first entrepreneurs to talk about the concept of the triple bottom line. She recognised that it was not just good enough for a business to maximize returns for their investors at the expense of every other metric. She suggested that business success should also be measured in terms of both their social and environmental benefit. Even our very own Enterprise Awards has introduced an environmental award for business. Yet why is it that the remit of the Jersey Competition and Regulation Authority (JCRA) is solely to determine whether more competition will benefit consumers but excludes consideration of the social consequences of further competition. Where is their “balanced scorecard”?
What the retail strategy debate has highlighted is that there is a real lack of methodology when it comes to measuring the benefits of the wider impact of increased competition on our community.
In Chamber’s recent letter to the Minister for Economic Development, we asked the question of the States Economic advisor how much prices would fall in the event of increased competition from a large multiple. A simple enough question but one which he inevitably can’t answer simply because like the rest of us he doesn’t know; the reality is that prices might not fall at all. How then is it possible to conclude that further competition will be good news for the consumer? The problem is by the time anyone has worked out the answer it is impossible to go back and undo the consequences of such an enormous decision, it’s akin to trying to get toothpaste back into the proverbial tube.
I fervently believe that there is an urgent need to review how issues of competition are considered. For example who measures the importance of a local convenience store or post office to members of our community with restricted mobility? When the Co-Op took over the store at Maufant following the outcry over its threatened closure they were applauded by many. No one talked about price, instead people talked about convenience and community, all the things whose benefit it’s so difficult to measure.
The introduction of competition to Jersey Post will I’m sure be welcomed by many in the fulfilment industry, but isn’t it also important to consider the knock on impact on those who rely on rural post offices, which may consequently be threatened with closure?
Currently the whole Consumer protection regulatory system is a fragmented mess. There is no single body that has the ability to consider in a balanced way, the needs of all stakeholders. Until someone sorts out a far better structure we will continue to have ill informed strategies that are open to derision by all and sundry. That can only lead to further division within our community between those who see protectionism writ large and those who want to see a sustainable community for the benefit of all. David Warr Vice President