Belgium’s Bekaert — Engaging Home Page
August 25, 2009
Corporate websites continue to improve their ability to capture the attention of visitors. You might think that the best are those that offer consumer products. Well, I found a corporate website that –
is a global market leader in drawn steel wire products and applications and a technological leader in its two core competences: advanced metal transformation and advanced materials and coatings.
The company is Bekaert and it has been in business since 1880: a remarkable achievement.
The company must have realized that the above description might need a little expansion, so they also said –
You might know us for example as a supplier of steel cord products for tire reinforcement – one in every four tires in the world runs on Bekaert steel cord. Or maybe you know our Dramix® steel fibers, used to reinforce over five million cubic meters of concrete every year. But we also offer significant added value for various businesses in all kinds of markets, from automotive to construction and from utilities to the heavy equipment sector.
Somebody is on the ball, offering an informal translation. OK, on to the Home Page –
Bekaert goes right to the task. Information about the company is readily available.
1., 2. On the upper left is Bekaert in a nutshell; click on More About Us to obtain a well done summary of what the company does.
3. The Annual Report is prominently displayed. Click on the image and you get a easy to navigate online version. No PDFs here.
4. The company provides a search capability to find out more about their offerings. This is useful to a number of stakeholders, including potential customers, investors and the media.
5. Continuing on the theme in #4, the company offers stakeholders a more focused approach to match their products to industries.
6. News and share price and no need to go to Investors and more clicks unless you need more information.
7. Bekaert provides visitors with an easy to navigate map of the global locations. Click on the map and the home page shows the map in place of the Annual Report.
Another good feature is this graphic on pages that you navigate to from the Home Page (see right) –
An example of effective use of a corporate website for stakeholder communications. Bekaert’s website is a good example of using the Home Page for quick visitor communications.
Corporate Reporting Exemplar — Premier Farnell plc
March 17, 2009
Corporate Reporting is becoming increasingly important to stakeholders. So what is Corporate Reporting? Here is a definition from Price Waterhouse Coopers –
The exact definition of corporate reporting differs depending on who you speak to. However, throughout this web site we use the term ‘corporate reporting’ to relate to the presentation and disclosure aspects – as distinct from accounting/measurement – of the following areas of reporting:
- Financial reporting
- Corporate governance
- Executive remuneration
- Corporate responsibility
- Narrative reporting
Most of these topics are well known. But perhaps, to most, Narrative Reporting is less well known. Yet it is becoming increasingly important. There are a number of definitions for Narrative Reporting, however, simply put, it is going beyond the static financial numbers and telling the story behind the numbers. It involves proving the qualitative context and “connecting the dots” so that stakeholders are better able to understand the broader perspective of corporate performance.
There are many benefits associated with good Narrative Reporting –
Source– Strategy and Action Plan to Enhance Corporate Financial Reporting in Bosnia Herzegovina
Now for an example of good practices. There is Premier Farnell plc, a global, business-to-business, small order, high service distributor of electronic components and industrial products. They not only present their Annual Report, their senior management provide videos within it, in bite-size chunks, to explain the company and their strategy –
Note also the comprehensive navigation on the left and the summary showing “how we’ve performed”. The company also provides an Interactive Guide to the company. This allows prospective investors to learn more about the company. Well done!
Since Narrative Reporting is becoming increasingly important, especially in the current financial milieu, my next post will contain more examples.
TNT Corporate Governance
January 22, 2009
Some companies fully embrace good Corporate Governance and show it clearly on the website; and that, of course, is what we’re interested in.
One such company is Amsterdam based TNT.
TNT aims to be a trustworthy, values-based company with a reputation for integrity, transparency and compliance. To enhance that vision TNT has developed and implemented the TNT Integrity Programme and the TNT Business Principles and related policies and procedures.
TNT doesn’t just state this lofty statement, they implement it in daily practices, integrating these principles in strategic and operational practices. TNT uses an integrity due diligence process in merger and acquisitions, and also require employees to fully understand their Business Principles.
In its Our Business section, TNT displays a clear and transparent description of its business and strategic intent.
Note the comprehensive menu to navigate to more details about TNT’s business. Click on Strategy and you get an extended menu –
This information is crucial for existing and prospective investors.
Next navigate the Corporate Governance section and see a well designed display of relevant information. Noteworthy is the list of Acquisitions and Divestments. This is rarely seen on Corporate Governance websites.
Finally TNT indicates their commitment to Integrity: it seems they are serious about this – they have a Group Director Integrity executive position.
TNT stands out as a company that realizes the importance of effective Corporate Governance.
The Best is Understated
June 23, 2008
The 1968 comedy caper “Hot Millions” is something of an unsung movie.
The plot is relatively straightforward. On his release from prison a convicted embezzler joins a huge multinational conglomerate, where he proceeds to hack the computer and embezzle still more money.
This makes it the first movie to feature computer hacking and to this day it remains one of the best. It also makes embezzlement pretty exciting to watch, no easy feat given the slow drip-drip process the crime usually involves.
However, no matter how much enjoyable it is to see an emotionless box of logic circuits being taken for a ride, the film’s real star is the embezzler himself: Peter Ustinov.
Here is a great British actor at the height of his talents, indulging himself shamelessly in the casual, almost careless throwaway understatement which remained his trademark throughout his career.
The website of Johnson Matthey, the only Chemicals company in the FTSE 100, is reminiscent of Peter Ustinov. Initially understated it hides a talent which is truly exciting once fully revealed.
Read more
Techniques for enticing the green investor
October 15, 2007
How can you persuade the green investor to invest in your company, if your environmental credentials are looking rather weak?
Some industries, by their very nature, are going to do more harm to the environment than others. Companies working in consumer services rather than in basic materials are bound to find it easier to ‘go green’, and to target the green investor.
But how picky should the green investor be?
Is it better for the green money to go to the company who is already performing well, and for whom the percentage improvement possible is relatively tiny, or to go to the company who has performed badly in the past, but who is making huge improvements?
Wouldn’t it better for us all, in the long run, to support those companies in the more harmful – but essential – sectors who are doing the most to improve?
Improving the performance of those companies who currently do the most damage to the environment, and rewarding those who manage to make the most improvement each year, will surely make a bigger difference, overall, than rewarding those whose industry has a relatively light footprint in the first place.
We need assessment techniques that show us not only how good/bad each company’s performance is on a number of different measures, but also how much that performance has changed over time. We need to see the trend for each company, and, ideally, to be able to compare this to the performance of other companies.
Some companies make it easy to see how their performance in this area has changed over time, such as BP, who provide 5-year data for visitors to review. It would be great if we could see the same measures on other sites for comparison purposes.
How is CSR performance measured?
There are several major CSR indices, awards, and other methods of assessing a company’s CSR performance, including:
- Dow Jones sustainability index
- FTSE4Good index
- Global Reporting Index (GRI)
- BiTC award
- CSR Network’s Accountability Rating.
All these are wonderful tools and techniques for reporting and rewarding companies who work hard at CSR. Many companies are signed up to one or more, and some have won awards.
If your company hasn’t considered any of the above – why not think about it now? There are resources available to help on each of the sites above.
However, some companies are excluded by their very nature from some of the above. The FTSE4Good Index, for instance, excludes tobacco companies, weapons companies, and those working in the nuclear industry.
What can be done to support these companies in their efforts to improve?
What can be done to encourage those companies who have no interest in it to improve their performances in CSR?
What are the benefits in CSR – and in green investment?
There are definite benefits to engaging in CSR activities, and these have been outlined many times (see CSR Network for a summary of the argument for CSR), including:
- reduced cost
- improved productivity and quality
- increased sales
- increased profits
- enhanced reputation
- improved employee recruitment and retention.
These are the arguments that must be used to persuade companies that it is in their own interests to work on CSR.
Once that’s done, though, how can green-inclined investors be persuaded to invest in companies that are currently not-very-green?
I suggest that the answer is explaining:
- that engaging in CSR activity results in enhanced financial performance for the company
- that improvements in CSR in currently poorly performing companies (in CSR terms) could achieve big results environmentally
- that investing in a company with a long way to go in CSR terms but which wishes to improve will therefore achieve big results environmentally (thus benefiting the world) – and, probably, financially as well (thus benefiting the investor).
Crucially, of course, the company must be persuaded into a CSR programme before this will work – but once it has agreed, getting the green investors on board will surely add momentum.
This post is part of Blog Action Day, in which bloggers around the world are discussing environmental issues.
Get our updates
 |