LONDON, April 14 2005 - Leading thinkers on the role of business in modern society will gather in London for Ethical Corporation's annual conference on June 1-2.

The conference promises not to be all the usual suspects on show at most CSR conferences.

The theme for the event, now in its fourth year, and which is Europe's largest conference for senior corporate responsibility strategy managers and practitioners, is focused around core issues faced by large companies.

The full conference programme can be viewed at: www.ethicalcorp.com/europe2005.

On the theme of "Power" leading thinker John Kay will begin the event by discussing the correct role of companies' in lobbying governments.

Following this will be a top level discussion on the subject of how large a business can be before it becomes anti-competitive, and breakout sessions on fundamental issues such as water rights, fair trade, tax avoidance and supermarket supplier relations.

Under the theme of "Purpose", the conference will tackle issues such as the "business case" for corporate responsibility and looks at what happens when there's no money in doing the right thing? And asks "can the business case survive?"

Later in this session, Professor Mary Kaldor, Director of the Global Civil Society programme at the London School of Economics will address the issue of 'what else pushes business to act if not the business case?' and 'What is civil society, and how is it changing?'

In breakout groups under the same theme other vital issues will be debated, such as: 'Mainstreaming social and environmental risks in investment decisions', 'Emissions trading - a success in pricing-in external costs?', 'Pricing-in irreplaceable beauty and cultural pollution: the case of mass tourism', and 'Corruption and conflict: reassessing the business case for responsibility in weak governance zones'.

The second day of the conference will focus on both corporate "Personality" and "Performance".

Under these headings, the conference will debate the questions of 'what kind of corporate personality does the legal environment create?', and look at 'Middle aged men in black: women and the responsible company board'.

Following this are breakouts on internal ethics engagement and communication, implementing the Davos commitment on corruption, NGO engagement and advancing ethics in the business school curriculum.

Finally, under the heading of "Performance" the conference will cover issues like: 'Cracks in the credo - building culture that adapts and lasts' and features breakout sessions on:

'Aligning incentives with corporate virtue, from the board to the basement', 'Measuring the unmeasureable: how might the media sector measure their "Brain print"?', Crisis management, and how firms are preparing for the new UK Operating and Financial Review requirements in reporting.

Some of the speakers for the conference so far include:

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