Positive Power of Principled Profit
Volume 4, Number 4—December, 2006

Positive Power Spotlight: Timberland

In the Swartz family since its founding in 1918, Timberland has for many decades demonstrated a commitment to improving the world. Its mission statement sounds like it could have been lifted right off the pages of Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First:

"We believe the honest and ethical conduct of our employees is an essential prerequisite to our success as a company. There is a direct relationship between the conduct of the Company and its employees, and the attainment of our corporate mission and goals. Maintaining the highest standards of ethical behavior is consistent with our core values of Humanity, Humility, Integrity and Excellence.

"Throughout our history, The Timberland Company has been guided by a values system that emphasizes integrity and trust at all levels of the organization. Our policies and practices help to ensure that our Company is managed with integrity and in our shareholders' best interests. We are also committed to upholding the requirements of federal and state law and the rules of the New York Stock Exchange."

http://www.timberland.com/timberlandserve/content.jsp?pageName=timberlandserve_inform

On social service, the company has a longstanding partnership with City Year, which provides skill-building community service opportunities to inner-city youth. It also sponsors employees with 40 hours of paid time for volunteer work.

http://www.timberland.com/timberlandserve/content.jsp?pageName=timberlandserve_inform

On the environment, the company developed a rating system for its tannery suppliers that resulted in a 30% improvement of their environmental performance. It has also shifted to organic cotton for a significant portion of its needs, purchasing 167,000 pounds of it--a three-fold increase in a single year. Other initiatives reduce the use of chemical solvents and greenhouse gas emissions, and develop partnerships with several environmental organizations and standards. And the company has cut its own energy consumption, incorporated renewable energy technologies, and offset 2500 tons of carbon emissions. http://www.timberland.com/timberlandserve/content.jsp?pageName=timberlandserve_inform_environmental
and http://www.timberland.com/timberlandserve/content.jsp?pageName=timberlandserve_inform_environmental_environmental_impact

On labor, the company actively monitors its international facilities and subcontractors for compliance with fair labor standards, including a Code of Conduct (translated into 20 languages) that "requires all employment to be voluntary, prohibits child labor and sets standards for freedom of association, labor hours, compensation, workplace conditions and health and safety."

http://www.timberland.com/timberlandserve/content.jsp?pageName=timberlandserve_inform_global

There's quite a bit more. Spend a bit of time exploring the company's social responsibility web pages (I've given you some links to get started). I was impressed, and I think you will be as well.

Another Recommended Book: "The Power of Principles," by William J. Byron, S.J.

A Jesuit priest who teaches ethics and corporate responsibility at Loyola Maryland and Georgetown University, Byron shares my point of view that businesses based in ethics are more likely to succeed. There's even a section in his chapter on corporate responsibility--a phrase that he finds in use at least as far back as the 1940s CEO of Johnson & Johnson, Robert Wood Johnson--called "The Partnership Between Profitability and Social Responsibility."

CSR, in his view, has four levels: economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary/philanthropic. Too often, though, executives fail to go beyond level 2, and that's when their companies get into trouble.

Alternating between examining what went wrong in the corporate culture--and laying much of the blame on spineless board members unwilling to risk their sinecures by questioning practices they knew to be wrong--and trumpeting examples of how to do it right, Byron lays a strong philosophical framework to help make sense of the points I make in Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First about why doing the right thing is good for business.

He also looks at some issues as the type of leadership--leaders, he feels, must earn the consent of those led--appropriate compensation for executives, and both personal and corporate integrity.

The book is heavily researched, drawing both on the printed literature and on conversations with ethical executives across many industries. And it has a welcome touch of humor here and there, as in this quote from Al Casey, deceased former chair of American Airlines. Casey was not a "murphyist"; Casey's Law states, "If something can go right, it should."

If you'd like to buy this book, please follow this link to buy from a BookSense independent bookseller:
http://www.booksense.com/index.jsp?affiliateId=FrugalFun