6.21.2004 ET

(CSRwire) San Francisco - Before some of the world's leading CEOs meet to discuss progress on the United Nation's Global Compact with Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the new book Raising the Bar: Creating Value with the United Nations Global Compact is already generating much discussion.

The book edited by Aron Cramer, the incoming President and CEO of Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), along with Claude Fussler of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and Sebastian van der Vegt of the International Labour Organization (ILO), provides more than 250 tools and information resources to help companies make the Global Compact principles a reality.

A panel of distinguished thinkers in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) will mark the book's release Wednesday with a discussion of the challenge of implementing the UN Global Compact's principles. The panel includes Bertrand Collomb, Chairman of Lafarge and the WBCSD; John G. Ruggie, Director of the Center for Business and Government, Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and Former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations; and Göran Hultin, Executive Director, Employment, ILO.

The panel will be moderated by Aron Cramer, who noted that "This book will serve as an vital tool to help companies address the essential challenge laid down in the Compact - how to integrate its principles on human rights, labor rights and environmental protection into daily business operations. We believe that this book will be widely used by company staff who are the true champions of the Compact by translating its principles into action." Cramer also stated "the book shows that while these challenges are certainly not easy, those companies that execute on them well are already receiving tremendous reward - both in terms of competitiveness and financial value creation."

Raising the bar contains an inventory of more than 250 tools, case studies, and information resources, all organized around a basic performance model that embraces management concepts familiar to business.

The Global Compact Leaders Summit meeting to be held the following day at United Nations headquarters, is planned to be one of the largest gatherings of chief executive officers, government officials and leaders of civil society and labor on the topic of corporate responsibility. The Summit will convene these leaders to discuss the next steps for implementing the Compact's principles, which address labor, human rights and environmental principles derived from international agreements.

BSR's work on this book was made possible through the generous support of Calvert, Hewlett-Packard, Pfizer, and Unilever.

About BSR
Founded in 1992, Business for Social Responsibility is a global nonprofit organization that helps member companies to achieve success in ways that respect ethical values, people, communities and the environment. For more information, visit www.bsr.org.

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