The business model at Timberland, the $1.5 billion New Hampshire-based global footwear, apparel, and accessories company, is geared toward thoughtfully and passionately engaging customers in order to earn their support.
The “boot, brand, and belief” approach to business has been a success. Jeff Swartz, president and CEO of Timberland, predicts that next year 30 million people worldwide will each pay the equivalent of $100 to buy Timberland boots. Speaking at The Center for Corporate Citizenship’s 2006 International Conference, Swartz asked rhetorically, if it’s possible to rally so many consumers to buy boots — a product he admits they don’t fundamentally need — why not invite them to serve their communities and create new ideas and social solutions involving clean air, safe neighborhoods, and good schools? Swartz continued, “Why can't we call our consumers to action?" Then, answering his own question, “We can.”
Swartz described the tremendous strides in corporate citizenship during the last 20 years. He compared economist Milton Friedman’s assertion that the only concern of business is to return a profit to shareholders with the once-held belief that the earth is flat. Pioneers in corporate citizenship who questioned Friedman’s thinking insisted that companies must go beyond compliance with relevant laws; they framed a more radical notion, declaring that commerce and justice are not opposing ideas.
“Friedman's model has been reimagined,” Swartz declared. “Eighty-eight percent of the global Fortune 500 have some reference to CSR, however self-defined, on their website. And the syntax of business has changed in a very powerful way. The creation of vocabulary is to me real proof that this roar about ideas, this battle for a notion that commerce and justice are not antithetical notions, that language has changed as powerfully as it has, is to me a really sure empirical sign that things have changed right.”
The Civic Square
The definition of corporate citizenship now includes active participation in what Swartz refers to as “the civic square.” Issues such as social justice, climate change, poverty, and education are the legitimate purview of for-profit business leaders. “By inviting the engine of commerce to fit into the chassis of civil society, we argued that we could bring the free market to bear in order to feed, educate, and inoculate children even as we made the quarter."
While the successes should be celebrated, Swartz believes the job has only just begun. Despite the huge progress made, the gap between the problems and their solutions is growing. Twenty years later Swartz asks why more children in America are going to bed hungry, threats to and from the global climate are more acute, and educational outcomes are worse. Business can’t afford to be satisfied, he said.
Swartz offered two suggestions for how business can build on its success and achieve greater outcomes.
First, business must secure the base and lock in the gains that have been accomplished. As an example, he noted, Timberland was a trendsetter in offering paid time for corporate volunteers – a practice that is no longer unique or special. A consortium of corporations recently exceeded the challenge of 500,000 employee volunteer hours in one month. Swartz contends that securing the base means every business should get involved; they should be able to galvanize employees to contribute the same amount every month of the year to reach six million hours. “Before we can be radical, let’s just take what’s in front of us and execute it,” said Swartz. “Don’t let leadership be the constraint. Secure the base. Do the obvious.”
While securing the base will not solve all problems, it will signal a different standard. Beyond that, Swartz’s second suggestion is to radically reexamine the role of business in civic solutions. He talked about the importance of shaking things up inside the corporation—tending to one’s own garden—as well as participating in radical ways, externally, with other civic partners.
Timberland Minimizing its Environmental Footprint
Using his company to illustrate the point, Swartz talked about Timberland’s acceptance of responsibility for its own environmental footprint. At its California distribution plant, for example, the company is roofing over the employee parking lot and installing a 400-kilowatt passive solar array. Though Timberland is in the boot business, not the energy-creating business, 60 percent of the energy needs of that distribution plant will be met by solar power. Timberland also installed wind turbines in the Dominican Republic where the company manufactures its shoes. Swartz is proud of these accomplishments but says environmental stewardship needs to move from “something we do to something we’re all about”—less about programs and more about transformation.
Business Should Move from Funding Programs to Building Solutions
For Swartz, transformation means much more than public-private partnerships. “I believe that for-profit business needs to make a move from funding programs to building solutions,” he said. He charted the successful course of the groundbreaking partnership between Timberland and City Year. Launched in the mid-’80s, the Timberland–City Year partnership has grown from one city to 17, from 50 corps members to 1,000. City Year is a powerful, built-to-last organization. But, said Swartz, as necessary and miraculous as City Year is, as a solution it’s not sufficient. Like City Year, there are myriad examples of corporate and nonprofit partnerships that did not exist 10 years ago. These partnerships work, said Swartz, but they are not a sustainable solution in and of themselves. Why? Twenty years later, in Boston, for example, there is more youth violence. Building affordable housing without jobs doesn’t work; building after-school programs without effective community policing doesn’t stop children from getting shot on their way home, said Swartz.
Integrated and System Solutions are the Answer
So, he said, it is important to imagine a future that not only includes programs, but also, and more important, integrated solutions. That future, he noted, may be envisioned by looking to the example of the Harlem Children’s Zone, on whose board Swartz serves. This community-based organization, currently operating within 24 square blocks, serves thousands of children and adults, rebuilding the fabric of community life. In the zone, said Swartz, there are many programs, but it is very different from other program-based organizations. Starting from the view that “every child is my responsibility until he or she graduates from college,” this community operates inside one explicit framework involving a master network of social entrepreneurs and leaders from the faith, business, and public sectors. In the zone there’s a comprehensive strategy for coordinating programs and partnerships that already exist.
We are not constrained by a lack of resources, passion or thinking, said Swartz, but by a lack of sustainability that comes from systemic solutions. The Timberland CEO expressed urgency for private-sector leaders to join him in the kind of corporate citizenship where “we must be implicated, not in a casual way, but up to the elbows, by the throat, in the building of the beloved community.”
Friday, December 5, 2008
CORPORATE RESPONSIBILTY
Executives Say Corporate Responsibility Can Be Profitable
Kristi Grgeta
A new national survey finds companies plan increased investment despite drop in business confidence
CHICAGO, Sept. 10, 2007 - Company executives believe that corporate responsibility programs can positively impact their business and help achieve strategic goals, according to a survey of more than 500 business executives conducted by Grant Thornton LLP, the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International, one of the six global accounting organizations.
While conventional wisdom might suggest that these initiatives will drain the corporate coffers, only a quarter of survey respondents agreed that profits needed to be sacrificed, while three quarters believed corporate responsibility could enhance profitability. As a result, 77 percent said they expected corporate responsibility initiatives to have a major impact on their business strategies over the next several years.
"Corporate responsibility programs have moved out of the realm of public relations to become real tools for improving the bottom line," said Jim Maurer, Grant Thornton's national managing partner of the consumer and industrial products practice. "Companies are realizing that strong investment in corporate responsibility programs is both a civic obligation and a successful business strategy."
In fact, despite the Grant Thornton Business Optimism Index (a semi-annual measure of confidence among U.S. business leaders) reaching an all-time low at the beginning of the summer, executives say their companies will increase investment in corporate responsibility: 77 percent anticipate more spending on environmental programs, 50 percent expect greater allocation to social responsibility programs and 45 percent say economic/governance initiatives will see more funding. Respondents felt that tax incentives, customer support, and innovative technologies were most likely to prompt companies to invest more heavily in environmental initiatives.
"Today, corporate responsibility programs are a large part of what customers demand," said Maurer. "What's more, if implemented correctly, they can also serve as a highly effective means of recruiting and retaining talent."
Other findings in the survey include:
19% of the companies surveyed report having a single point person in charge of all their corporate responsibility programs.
68% say they expect environmental responsibility reporting to be mandatory within the next three to five years, yet 55% say they have no plans to do any kind of corporate responsibility reporting.
The four greatest obstacles to successful execution of corporate responsibility programs are: focus on quarterly earnings or other short-term targets, cost of implementation, measuring and quantifying ROI, and a non-supportive corporate culture.
The three greatest benefits of enacting corporate responsibility programs are: improves public opinion, improves customer relations and attracts/retains talent.
72% of respondents believe that government should regulate companies for their effect on the environment and 56 percent said companies should be regulated for their effect on human rights and labor practices.
70% of respondents foresee increased government regulation for environmental responsibility in five years or less.
62% believe that pressure to pursue corporate responsibility programs in the future will come chiefly from consumers (45%) and investors (21%).
64% believe that the human resources department should take on social programs, 50 percent say operations should be in charge of environmental initiatives and 57 percent say finance should be responsible for economic responsibility programs.
About the Corporate Responsibility Survey
BusinessWeek Research Services conducted a detailed study of corporate responsibility in partnership with Grant Thornton. More than 500 online surveys were conducted with business executives from June 21-29, 2007. The survey included in-depth interviews with ten executives involved in the development and implementation of corporate responsibility programs.
About Grant Thornton
Grant Thornton LLP is the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International, one of the six global accounting, tax and business advisory organizations. Through member firms in more than 110 countries, including 50 offices in the United States, the partners and employees of Grant Thornton member firms provide personalized attention and the highest quality service to public and private clients around the globe. Visit Grant Thornton LLP at www.GrantThornton.com.
Kristi Grgeta
A new national survey finds companies plan increased investment despite drop in business confidence
CHICAGO, Sept. 10, 2007 - Company executives believe that corporate responsibility programs can positively impact their business and help achieve strategic goals, according to a survey of more than 500 business executives conducted by Grant Thornton LLP, the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International, one of the six global accounting organizations.
While conventional wisdom might suggest that these initiatives will drain the corporate coffers, only a quarter of survey respondents agreed that profits needed to be sacrificed, while three quarters believed corporate responsibility could enhance profitability. As a result, 77 percent said they expected corporate responsibility initiatives to have a major impact on their business strategies over the next several years.
"Corporate responsibility programs have moved out of the realm of public relations to become real tools for improving the bottom line," said Jim Maurer, Grant Thornton's national managing partner of the consumer and industrial products practice. "Companies are realizing that strong investment in corporate responsibility programs is both a civic obligation and a successful business strategy."
In fact, despite the Grant Thornton Business Optimism Index (a semi-annual measure of confidence among U.S. business leaders) reaching an all-time low at the beginning of the summer, executives say their companies will increase investment in corporate responsibility: 77 percent anticipate more spending on environmental programs, 50 percent expect greater allocation to social responsibility programs and 45 percent say economic/governance initiatives will see more funding. Respondents felt that tax incentives, customer support, and innovative technologies were most likely to prompt companies to invest more heavily in environmental initiatives.
"Today, corporate responsibility programs are a large part of what customers demand," said Maurer. "What's more, if implemented correctly, they can also serve as a highly effective means of recruiting and retaining talent."
Other findings in the survey include:
19% of the companies surveyed report having a single point person in charge of all their corporate responsibility programs.
68% say they expect environmental responsibility reporting to be mandatory within the next three to five years, yet 55% say they have no plans to do any kind of corporate responsibility reporting.
The four greatest obstacles to successful execution of corporate responsibility programs are: focus on quarterly earnings or other short-term targets, cost of implementation, measuring and quantifying ROI, and a non-supportive corporate culture.
The three greatest benefits of enacting corporate responsibility programs are: improves public opinion, improves customer relations and attracts/retains talent.
72% of respondents believe that government should regulate companies for their effect on the environment and 56 percent said companies should be regulated for their effect on human rights and labor practices.
70% of respondents foresee increased government regulation for environmental responsibility in five years or less.
62% believe that pressure to pursue corporate responsibility programs in the future will come chiefly from consumers (45%) and investors (21%).
64% believe that the human resources department should take on social programs, 50 percent say operations should be in charge of environmental initiatives and 57 percent say finance should be responsible for economic responsibility programs.
About the Corporate Responsibility Survey
BusinessWeek Research Services conducted a detailed study of corporate responsibility in partnership with Grant Thornton. More than 500 online surveys were conducted with business executives from June 21-29, 2007. The survey included in-depth interviews with ten executives involved in the development and implementation of corporate responsibility programs.
About Grant Thornton
Grant Thornton LLP is the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International, one of the six global accounting, tax and business advisory organizations. Through member firms in more than 110 countries, including 50 offices in the United States, the partners and employees of Grant Thornton member firms provide personalized attention and the highest quality service to public and private clients around the globe. Visit Grant Thornton LLP at www.GrantThornton.com.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
COMMUNITY ACTION FIGURE
From Buffalo Rising Online - October 22, 2007
Marilyn Rodgers was awarded a Certificate of Excellence recently by the Community Action Organization (CAO) of Erie County for her work with the West Village Renaissance Group. This is the second year in a row Rodgers has won this award for the neighborhood group she founded.
Rodgers, who eschews the label activist, remembers the unpleasant set of events that led up to her birth as a community advocate. It was August 9, 2002, and Rodgers was enjoying a pleasant day with her neighbors on Johnson Park. There was a performance at the quaint New Phoenix Theater at the end curve of the park, and people were arriving for the show.
That's when the tenants of a nearby rooming house, sitting in lawn chairs, swilling beer and openly smoking joints, started heckling the theater patrons. About that time, one of the offenders rose, spraying insecticide and expletives and swinging a Samurai sword around in wide arcs. Rodgers decided things had gone too far and vowed to do something about it.
"It wasn't just that," Rodgers said. "It was the fact that little kids couldn't play in the park with Slick Rick out there, shooting up heroin between his toes." That's why, the very next time she saw him there she physically threw him out. Then she made an appointment to meet with her councilman, Brian Davis.
Rodgers brought along a bag full of drug paraphernalia she'd collected from the park: whippets (small canisters of nitrous oxide), needles, crack sacks, and pictures of the characters who'd left this trail of implements.
She brought a positive message too. Rodgers didn't want to put the councilman off with whining, so she brought a lovingly compiled history with her, that of the park and the residents in it. Having done her homework, she presented solutions to Davis, describing what could be done to make Johnson Park a jewel in the city's crown. “I had a plan,” she said, “and I came asking for guidance. The next summer, in 2003, we had Arts in the Park: A Non-Electronic Event for Kids and Their Parents." It was attended by 350 people, and marked a milestone in the revival of Johnson Park.
In October 2003, Buffalo Spree Magazine cited the West Village Historic District as one of Western New York's great neighborhoods. In May of 2004, the Johnson Park group won the Civic Empowerment Award.
In July 2004, Marilyn and the rest of the residents of Johnson Park were getting ready for the Garden Walk (GW), forming GW Boot Camp, which later became known laughingly as GW Hell. And then, shortly before Garden Walk, National Fuel discovered a gas leak in a nearby building that necessitated digging up a good portion of a resident’s lawn.
As Rodgers and another couple were trying to clean up the mess, a man came by with a lawnmower to cut the lawn at the rooming house. He was loud and shouting obscenities, and became abusive when Rodgers tried to quell his behavior. He punched Rodgers in the ear with such force that she still has a hard, raised lump there. Then he kicked her in the stomach and removed his belt, intending to whip her. As he began to swing the belt, the woman who had been working with Rodgers snagged it with her garden rake and yanked it away. That's when the man ran. In the aftermath, the landlord of the rooming house identified the assailant by name to Rodgers and the police as a man living in her building.
"A few weeks later, I saw a guy drinking in the park at eight in the morning. When I went over to him, I recognized him as the guy who'd attacked me. He took off, " Rodgers said. "The next week, a badly decomposed body was found in the rooming house. It was estimated that it had been there for eight weeks. His name was that of the man ID'd by the landlord [in the assault]." Rodgers explained that the government subsidies that allowed the man to stay there could still be collected as long as no one knew he was dead, so there was no rush for the landlord to report it.
That's when Rodgers began the campaign to get the rooming house into the hands of someone who was like-minded with the park's devoted residents. "We flyered, emailed, called in the Department of Inspections, took the rooming house to court, and finally persuaded the owner to sell.”
Now that Johnson Park is cleaned up, Rodgers, a grant writer, can turn her attentions to a restoration fund for the park. The West Village Renaissance Group (WVRG) hopes to build a meditation labyrinth, along with the reinstallation of a fountain surrounded by a conservatory in the park, to make the culture and history of the neighborhood a source of building pride in the younger people in the community. The conservatory they are planning will be a center for storytelling, a home for seedlings, and a healthful haven for residents. Rodgers, plagued by rapid onset rheumatoid arthritis, will benefit by being able to sit in the sun on winter days.
Rodgers hopes to involve Hutch Tech High School students by utilizing their solar and wind power knowledge, as well as having them design a rain cistern system to benefit the parks greenery. Aside from grants, Rodgers will try to procure funds through an individual gift, a capital campaign, and corporate endowments. She will also establish a trust for maintaining the structure for perpetuity, an endeavor that has her researching grants and consulting with developers and designers.
Grant writing is what Rodgers does best. Her health may require that she tele-commutes as a consultant, but her knowledge is a goldmine for those who choose to employ her. "I just finished a contract with one of my biggest clients, so I happen to have a spot available for work right now," Rodgers said. "I'm a great employee to have because I don't need an office, and I put my heart and soul in everything I do."
As for her non-commissioned community work, Rodgers says it's important for her to be productive and dedicated. "My connection to this area...the northwest corner of Virginia and Tupper...is spiritual. My mother was born there, first-generation from Palermo, and I'm hooked. My grandparents helped to develop this city."
So is she restricted to that area? "Look at the twin Liberties on top of the Liberty Bank building. Each one keeps watch on each side of Main Street. However, they are grounded together as the building is on Main," Rodgers said. "Those statues pull us together and connect our neighborhoods."
Marilyn Rodgers was awarded a Certificate of Excellence recently by the Community Action Organization (CAO) of Erie County for her work with the West Village Renaissance Group. This is the second year in a row Rodgers has won this award for the neighborhood group she founded.
Rodgers, who eschews the label activist, remembers the unpleasant set of events that led up to her birth as a community advocate. It was August 9, 2002, and Rodgers was enjoying a pleasant day with her neighbors on Johnson Park. There was a performance at the quaint New Phoenix Theater at the end curve of the park, and people were arriving for the show.
That's when the tenants of a nearby rooming house, sitting in lawn chairs, swilling beer and openly smoking joints, started heckling the theater patrons. About that time, one of the offenders rose, spraying insecticide and expletives and swinging a Samurai sword around in wide arcs. Rodgers decided things had gone too far and vowed to do something about it.
"It wasn't just that," Rodgers said. "It was the fact that little kids couldn't play in the park with Slick Rick out there, shooting up heroin between his toes." That's why, the very next time she saw him there she physically threw him out. Then she made an appointment to meet with her councilman, Brian Davis.
Rodgers brought along a bag full of drug paraphernalia she'd collected from the park: whippets (small canisters of nitrous oxide), needles, crack sacks, and pictures of the characters who'd left this trail of implements.
She brought a positive message too. Rodgers didn't want to put the councilman off with whining, so she brought a lovingly compiled history with her, that of the park and the residents in it. Having done her homework, she presented solutions to Davis, describing what could be done to make Johnson Park a jewel in the city's crown. “I had a plan,” she said, “and I came asking for guidance. The next summer, in 2003, we had Arts in the Park: A Non-Electronic Event for Kids and Their Parents." It was attended by 350 people, and marked a milestone in the revival of Johnson Park.
In October 2003, Buffalo Spree Magazine cited the West Village Historic District as one of Western New York's great neighborhoods. In May of 2004, the Johnson Park group won the Civic Empowerment Award.
In July 2004, Marilyn and the rest of the residents of Johnson Park were getting ready for the Garden Walk (GW), forming GW Boot Camp, which later became known laughingly as GW Hell. And then, shortly before Garden Walk, National Fuel discovered a gas leak in a nearby building that necessitated digging up a good portion of a resident’s lawn.
As Rodgers and another couple were trying to clean up the mess, a man came by with a lawnmower to cut the lawn at the rooming house. He was loud and shouting obscenities, and became abusive when Rodgers tried to quell his behavior. He punched Rodgers in the ear with such force that she still has a hard, raised lump there. Then he kicked her in the stomach and removed his belt, intending to whip her. As he began to swing the belt, the woman who had been working with Rodgers snagged it with her garden rake and yanked it away. That's when the man ran. In the aftermath, the landlord of the rooming house identified the assailant by name to Rodgers and the police as a man living in her building.
"A few weeks later, I saw a guy drinking in the park at eight in the morning. When I went over to him, I recognized him as the guy who'd attacked me. He took off, " Rodgers said. "The next week, a badly decomposed body was found in the rooming house. It was estimated that it had been there for eight weeks. His name was that of the man ID'd by the landlord [in the assault]." Rodgers explained that the government subsidies that allowed the man to stay there could still be collected as long as no one knew he was dead, so there was no rush for the landlord to report it.
That's when Rodgers began the campaign to get the rooming house into the hands of someone who was like-minded with the park's devoted residents. "We flyered, emailed, called in the Department of Inspections, took the rooming house to court, and finally persuaded the owner to sell.”
Now that Johnson Park is cleaned up, Rodgers, a grant writer, can turn her attentions to a restoration fund for the park. The West Village Renaissance Group (WVRG) hopes to build a meditation labyrinth, along with the reinstallation of a fountain surrounded by a conservatory in the park, to make the culture and history of the neighborhood a source of building pride in the younger people in the community. The conservatory they are planning will be a center for storytelling, a home for seedlings, and a healthful haven for residents. Rodgers, plagued by rapid onset rheumatoid arthritis, will benefit by being able to sit in the sun on winter days.
Rodgers hopes to involve Hutch Tech High School students by utilizing their solar and wind power knowledge, as well as having them design a rain cistern system to benefit the parks greenery. Aside from grants, Rodgers will try to procure funds through an individual gift, a capital campaign, and corporate endowments. She will also establish a trust for maintaining the structure for perpetuity, an endeavor that has her researching grants and consulting with developers and designers.
Grant writing is what Rodgers does best. Her health may require that she tele-commutes as a consultant, but her knowledge is a goldmine for those who choose to employ her. "I just finished a contract with one of my biggest clients, so I happen to have a spot available for work right now," Rodgers said. "I'm a great employee to have because I don't need an office, and I put my heart and soul in everything I do."
As for her non-commissioned community work, Rodgers says it's important for her to be productive and dedicated. "My connection to this area...the northwest corner of Virginia and Tupper...is spiritual. My mother was born there, first-generation from Palermo, and I'm hooked. My grandparents helped to develop this city."
So is she restricted to that area? "Look at the twin Liberties on top of the Liberty Bank building. Each one keeps watch on each side of Main Street. However, they are grounded together as the building is on Main," Rodgers said. "Those statues pull us together and connect our neighborhoods."
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