What do our stakeholders think about ASC?

Delving into the findings from ASC’s first annual stakeholder survey.

As part of ASC’s commitment to continuous improvement, in the first quarter of 2022 we ran a stakeholder survey designed to identify where ASC is doing well, areas where improvements could be made and where future challenges and opportunities lie – both for ASC as an organisation and for the sector as a whole.

This survey was a trial to explore which areas we would like to track over time with our stakeholders, to serve as a baseline for future work. Our intention is to run this survey annually so that we can measure how we are performing over a longer period, as well as using the survey results to inform strategic decision-making and as an early-warning mechanism to flag future challenges or risks to us.

We were very pleased by the detail and nuance of the responses we received to this initial survey, as well as the diversity of sector and the geography of the respondents. Stakeholders from over 40 countries across production, processing, retail, Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) and NGOs took part.

Here are the top five insights we gathered from our research:

1. When asked how ASC is beneficial to their organisation, stakeholders mentioned three key benefits:

• ASC opens doors to new customers and markets
• ASC offers consumers an easy choice that ensures they can make a difference
• ASC stimulates businesses to improve their production processes with a long-term objective

2. 7 out of 10 respondents see ASC as an effective collaborator with other organisations

3. 59% of respondents agree, or strongly agree, that ASC is responding to emerging challenges and opportunities in the market

4. 44% of respondents think that ASC responds well to feedback provided

5. One of the key opportunities highlighted by respondents was growing sustainability-awareness among consumers – and one of the key challenges highlighted was the risk of being unable to keep up with consumer demand.

More information about the survey and a summary of the key findings can be found here.

While we are pleased with the picture painted about ASC’s performance overall, we recognise from these findings that there is still room to improve in key areas – particularly in terms of how we respond to feedback provided, as well as how we respond to emerging challenges and opportunities. These insights have been fed back into the business and will inform our future work.

We are very grateful once again to all the stakeholders who shared their views with us and look forward to seeing the insights that our 2023 survey will bring us during this time of rapid global change. Although we will be seeking your feedback through this exercise over a fixed period annually, we still welcome any comments or suggestions about how we at ASC can do better at any time– either via your ASC contact person or via info@asc-aqua.org.