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29 Firms Make 100 Best Corporate Citizens List Five Years in a Row

29 Firms Make 100 Best Corporate Citizens List Five Years in a Row

Published 05-03-04

Submitted by Business Ethics

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - Now in its fifth year, the annual listing of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens for 2004 celebrates 29 firms that made the list five years in a row. The most consistent performer was Procter & Gamble, which this year ranked No. 2 and has been in the top five all five years. Hewlett-Packard has made the top ten all five years and placed No. 8 this year, according to Minneapolis-based Business Ethics magazine, which released the list today.

The ranking identifies companies among the Russell 1000 -- the largest publicly traded companies -- that excel at serving a variety of stakeholders well. The ranking is based on quantitative measures of corporate service to seven stakeholder groups: stockholders, employees, customers, the community, the environment, overseas stakeholders, and women and minorities.

The top four companies for 2004, in rank order, are Fannie Mae, Procter & Gamble, Intel, and St. Paul Companies -- all of which have made the list five years running.

Other five-year firms include Avon Products, Ecolab, Herman Miller, Modine Manufacturing, Pitney Bowes, Starbucks, Merck, Brady Corporation, and Sonoco.

The cutting-edge practices of these firms offer model business strategies in good corporate citizenship:

  • Fannie Mae in 2003 financed over $240 billion in home mortgages for 1.6 million minority first-time home buyers.

  • P&G has created technology that helps people in developing nations clean and disinfect water at low cost, at home.

  • Green Mountain Coffee pays Fair Trade prices for coffee beans from farmer cooperatives in Peru, Mexico, and Sumatra.

  • Kodak has cutting-edge anti-discrimination policies for gay, bisexual, and transgender employees.

  • At Deere & Company, since 1975 the company's lost-time injuries rate has dropped 94%.

    Statistical analysis for the list was done by Sandra Waddock and Samuel Graves of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Social ratings were provided by KLD Research & Analytics of Boston, a research firm serving socially responsible investors.

    The 100 Best Corporate Citizens story will appear in the spring issue of Business Ethics, which for 17 years has been the premier publication for the movement to bring greater social responsibility into business. Free sample issues and subscriptions can be obtained by calling 800/601-9010. For more information, plus the full list and story, see www.business-ethics.com/100best.htm.

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