Corporate Responsibility Reporting Meets Web 2.0

Timberland alters timetable, uses social networking site to reach stakeholders

By Dennis Schaal

Timberland’s corporate responsibility reporting just took a Web 2.0 twist.

The Stratham, N.H., footwear and apparel company overhauled its CR reporting frequency and process, utilizing a social networking/community website, JustMeans.com, to publicize its efforts and engage stakeholders in interactive ways.

Instead of publishing annual corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports, which take about nine months to develop, Timberland announced it will publish them every two years.

However, Timberland plans a quarterly release of CSR performance metrics, which will be available at its Timberland JustMeans page.

The first such update is currently online, so visitors to http://timberland.justmeans.com can view newly released metrics related to energy, products, workplaces, service, and factories in its supply chain.

In addition, the JustMeans platform, which is in a beta test, enables visitors to its Timberland page to join a Timberland network, initiate dialogues with company executives by posting comments about the apparel company’s reports, and view Timberland videos and press releases.

One might think of the fledging JustMeans offering as enabling Timberland to mimic some of the community aspects of Facebook and MySpace for CR communications and engagement purposes.

Timberland is a founding member of JustMeans, which provides companies with the ability to create networks, publicize their news, and recruit employees with jobs listing. JustMeans is not a CR-only platform, but Timberland is using the site for CR objectives.

Timberland outlined its reasoning for abandoning annual CSR reporting. “Developing a full CSR report is a time-intensive process, generally taking about nine months -- and allowing little time for investments in process improvements, development of data infrastructure, testing new mediums and other innovations necessary in effective CSR reporting,” the company stated. “As a consequence, Timberland has decided to move to a two-year cycle for publishing full CSR reports.”

A Ceres-convened stakeholder group provided Timberland with guidance about the switch to a quarterly dashboard of performance metrics, according to Timberland.

“We believe in the adage, ‘what gets measured gets managed,” said Alex Hausman, Timberland’s CSR Reporting Manager. “Quarterly reporting will strengthen our communication with stakeholders, and also drive progress internally against our CSR initiatives.”