The influence of the media on public opinion is significant. How responsible are the worldÃ??s major media groups in the way they handle their position of power in society? Do they observe ethical standards that go beyond sensationalist headlines and viewing figures? This was just one of the issues examined by the team of analysts from oekom research. In addition to social responsibility, their behavior toward employees and observance of environmental standards were also investigated as part of the Corporate Responsibility Rating. A total of 25 companies are analyzed according to social and ecological criteria, including global players like News Corporation (US), Time Warner (US) and Bertelsmann (Germany).
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The Financial Executives Institute has published on-line the results of a US survey of over 300 public companies, sharing insights on codes of conduct, board structure and audit committee practices. The survey, which was conducted in May 2002, reveals that 83% of companies have a code of conduct, but only 10% have a separate code for financial officers/managers.
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A printer should be fast and a fridge as quiet as possible. But how much power does my fast printer consume? And what coolants are used in my fridge? In a “Corporate Responsibility Rating”, the Munich-based rating agency oekom research has assessed the world’s top 16 manufacturers of office equipment and domestic appliances according to 200 environmental and social criteria. The study showed two Japanese companies leading the field: on a scale from A+ to D-, Ricoh and Toshiba achieved scores of B+ and B respectively. The Swedish manufacturer Electrolux took third place with a B-. Sanyo Electric from Japan came last, with a rating of D+.
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Following on from a similar study conducted in 2000, international reputation analysis firm Echo Research has examined how CSR has progressed as an influence on corporate behaviour and how the challenges it faces will change in the future.
Echo Research’s CEO, Sandra Macleod, commented “In a year when September 11, the collapse of Enron and the expansion of the UN Global Compact all provoked global business and political leaders to put CSR top of mind, our research shows increased effort to manage CSR effectively and a greater and more positive profile in the media as a result.”
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-> Russian, Chinese, Taiwanese and S. Korean companies widely seen using bribes in developing countries
-> High propensity to bribe overseas also seen for companies from Italy, Hong Kong, Malaysia, United States, Japan, France and Spain
-> Construction and arms industries top sectors of heaviest bribery
Transparency International (TI), the global anti-corruption organisation, today released its Bribe Payers Index (BPI) 2002, showing very high levels of bribery in developing countries by corporations from Russia, China, Taiwan and South Korea, as well as numerous leading industrial nations, all of which now have laws making corrupt payments to foreign officials a crime. -The laws are not being properly enforced. Our new survey leaves no doubt that large numbers of multinational corporations from the richest nations are pursuing a criminal course to win contracts in the leading emerging market economies of the world,” said TI Chairman Peter Eigen.
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The European business community has called for a constructive debate on corporate social responsibility in an open letter to Commission President, Romano Prodi.
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“Reporting without verification is like blood without haemoglobin” [John Elkington, Chair, Sustainability Ltd, previously member of AccountAbility’s Council]
Social, environmental and Sustainability reporting has grown dramatically in recent years, led by large corporations, particularly those with high public profiles and brands. The practice is also rapidly extending to other parts of international business community, and to public and private non-profit organisations.
Whits this is welcome, there are emerging concerns about the quality of
disclosure. There are increasing calls from influential stakeholders for more systematic disclosure of social and sustaianbility performance and greater assurance about the reliability of the information.
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Today the website www.Sustainability-Reports has been lauched. This sustainability reporting service is offering both reporting companies as the stakeholders many sophisticated features.
The website is an initiative of Van der Molen Environmental Internet Services. This company is managing The International Corporate Environmental Reporting Site (www.enviroreporting.com) since 1997. This site is grown out to the most popular international site in the field of environmental, social and sustainability reporting. Based on the good experience with itÃ??s Dutch reporting service website, www.milieujaarverslag.com, Van der Molen E.I.S. started now such a service for multinational companies: www.Sustainability-Reports.Com This site has much more features than some other initiatives.
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The ABI (Association of British Insurers) today issued new investment guidelines to improve disclosure by Britain’s companies of their approach to corporate social responsibility. The guidelines respond to the widespread and growing interest in corporate social responsibility amongst the public and investors.
The guidelines will encourage companies to adopt best practice when responding to external social, ethical and environmental risks. By setting out what institutional investors will expect to see disclosed in the annual reports of companies in which they hold stakes, the guidelines will increase transparency without imposing unnecessary new burdens.
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To Harold Geneen, it would have seemed the business world had taken leave of its senses. As chairman and chief executive of International Telephone and Telegraph, the 1970s conglomerate that turned “multinational” into a dirty word, he would have been dumbfounded by the notion that companies should accompany the pursuit of profit with good citizenship.
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Today a group of large institutional investors with significant assets wrote to the 500 largest quoted companies in the world by market capitalisation asking for the disclosure of investment-relevant information concerning their greenhouse gas emissions.
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Corporate social responsibility: half of Europe’s small and medium-sized enterprises engage in socially beneficial activities, says new Commission report
Half of Europe’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) already engage in socially responsible activities that benefit the local community, such as sponsoring sport, culture, health and welfare, says a new European Commission report published under the “Observatory of European SMEs 2002” (see IP/02/687). This report, the first to give EU-wide comparative data on the social and environmental activities of SMEs, makes an important contribution to a debate that has so far mainly focused on large enterprises. The report’s findings will supplement responses to last year’s Green Paper on CSR and help shape the forthcoming Communication on the subject expected this summer. The findings of the report, based on a survey of over 7,600 small and medium-sized enterprises in 19 European countries, were presented to an audience including national experts, small business organisations, members of EU institutions and other specialists in Brussels on 29 May.
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