Timberland Stakeholder Dialogue: Responsible Sourcing

Thanks to those who have joined our online discussion - continuing the conversation from October's Responsible Sourcing Dialogue. The comments presented circle around brand leverage, NGO capacity building, educating suppliers, and investing in social impact. We at Timberland agree that we want our business presence to help improve the lives of our workers and their communities - hopefully moving beyond factory walls to achieve those goals. We also agree that there's no "easy solution" to measuri

Stephen,



You state:



As this area the develops, I think brands should then turn their focus on building NGO's as a sort of "on the ground" check and balance.



I think this solution is easier said than done. One example: I visited multiple fair trade tea fields in India and stayed with the plantation managers. The plantation managers had made repeated calls to certain Fair Trade advisory organizations to visit their plantations on the ground. In two years,

David, thank you for posing this very specific question for the dialogue. I agree that measuring impact can be difficult to quantify, not only for training programs but also for beyond workplace initiatives. Number of projects, number of workers involved, sure, but how does one quantify the impact of these programs to the workers, to the community? Anecdotal analysis is one thing, such as surveying before/after knowledge. However, establishing quantifiable metrics to compare success/impact of pr

What are the ways to measure effective training? Workers, suppliers, buying agents? What is the impact?

Stakeholder engagement is a critical component of delivering ongoing value to all participants in the supply chain. As we discussed during the call, the brand's responsibility does not stop at the doors to the factory. The brand has direct responsibility inside the factory and it should use management systems to drive continual improvement. But the brand must be aware of the leverage it has outside the factory and be creative in creating win-win situations that involve the factory management, th

Hi Beth. Good question.



Ultimately yes, I think a brand should be investing in building capacity of NGO's in the communities of their workers, but I see this as more of a long-term strategy.



Currently, I think the primary effort of the brand should be to educate and "sell the business case" of responsible management to factory owners (living wage, job security, safe working conditions, etc.). There still remains a lot of work in taking factories beyond the compliance ph

Should the investments be made to support NGOs to support the workers... or the local community that supports the company? I've always thought that we must observe the "impact streams" of our companies. Therefore, most consumer brands impact the health and well being of: consumers, employees, (local and global) community, and the environment. As a small business owner, I feel obligated to support the community that enables my success, as well as positively impact the lives of employees and consu

We are excited to continue this conversation online. Here's a follow up question to start us off:

Should a brand that's invested in bettering the lives of workers focus its efforts on capacity building of the NGOs in their local communities that will support the workers? How should a brand allocate its resources in doing so?