March 11, 2009—Corporate Responsibility Officer (CRO) magazine has released its annual corporate responsibility ranking of Russell 1000 companies. The 100 Best Corporate Citizens List is based entirely on publicly available information and ranks the companies on their performance in seven key areas: environment, climate change, human rights, philanthropy, employee relations, financial and governance.
The top ten of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens for 2009 are:
- Bristol Myers-Squibb (Pharmaceuticals)
- General Mills, Inc. (Retail—Food)
- IBM Corp. (Computer Hardware)
- Merck & Co., Inc. (Pharmaceuticals)
- HP Co., L.P. (Computer Hardware)
- Cisco Systems, Inc. (Computer Hardware)
- Mattel, Inc. (Leisure Products)
- Abbott Laboratories (Pharmaceutical Manufacture and Sale)
- Kimberly-Clark Corp. (Personal Care Products Manufacturing)
- Entergy Corp. (Utilities—Electric)
- Exxon Mobil Corp. (Oil & Gas—Integrated)
Only three companies have made the list all ten years: Intel, Cisco, and Starbucks. Nearly 400 companies have appeared on the list over the past ten years, including some 48 that no longer exist. This year’s No. 1, Bristol-Myers Squibb, along with No. 5 HP, represent a great comeback story; although both have shown strong responsibility performance for years, they were listed in the “Penalty Box” for 2008, explains CRO.
CRO notes that in the nine years the list has been produced, the 100 Best Corporate Citizens have outpaced the remainder of Russell 1000 companies by an average 26 percent in three-year total financial return. “In tough times, strong reputations and transparency pack as much punch as a strong balance sheet,” CRO publisher Jay Whitehead said.
