January 11, 2007 | Read Time: 3 minutes
Major American corporations have made strides in responding to the public’s calls for them to do more to become
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ALSO SEE: Table: Corporate Good Works: How They are Viewed by the Public |
“good corporate citizens” — through their philanthropy, employment practices, and general operations — a new survey suggests. But they still have a long way to go to meet Americans’ rising expectations, say officials at GolinHarris, the public-relations firm in Chicago that commissioned the survey.
Forty-one percent of survey respondents said that business is moving in the wrong direction for the future of corporate citizenship, down from 44 percent who felt that way last year.
More than two-thirds of the 5,000 people surveyed said they believe that businesses should put more time and money into practicing good corporate citizenship.
A majority also said that good citizenship should be “high priority” for business, and should be viewed as an investment that can provide a competitive advantage.
The survey, conducted annually since 2002, was based on interviews conducted via the Internet.
Treatment of Employees
Respondents were also asked to rank the importance of 12 corporate behaviors designed to build good will. Treating employees well and fairly was the most important behavior, followed by “ethical, honest, open” business practices. “Checkbook philanthropy” — when a company donates money to benefit others — ranked No. 8 in importance.
As in past years, the survey asked participants to rate dozens of corporations based on their citizenship practices. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream company was ranked the highest, moving up from the No. 2 spot it held in last year’s survey. The retail giant Target received the second highest marks this year, followed by the outdoor clothier Patagonia. Neither of those companies was ranked in the top 10 last year.
ExxonMobil, Phillip Morris, and Shell Oil received the lowest corporate-citizenship scores.
Word of mouth from family and friends was the most trusted way for survey respondents to learn about the actions companies took to benefit society, followed by hearing directly from individuals helped by the action. Learning about corporate citizenship from a nonprofit organization or government agency was a less trusted means of communication, and ranked seventh out of 10 options.
The report, “Corporate Citizenship Gets Down to Business: Doing Well by Doing Good 2006,” is available free at the GolinHarris Web site.
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CORPORATE GOOD WORKS: HOW THEY ARE VIEWED BY THE PUBLIC
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