Ethical Corporation
The Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College and the US Chamber of Commerce Center for Corporate Citizenship, with support from the Hitachi Foundation, surveyed 515 business leaders from companies of various sizes and from a broad range of industries to examine the executives’ perceptions of the state of corporate citizenship in the US.

The State of Corporate Citizenship in the US: A View from Inside” concludes that regardless of company size, business executives see corporate citizenship as a fundamental part of business and central to good business practice.

Eighty-two per cent of respondents say good corporate citizenship helped the bottom line and 59% feel these practices improve company image and reputation.

Fifty-three per cent report corporate citizenship is important to their customers.

More than half of the executives surveyed say corporate citizenship is part of their business strategy. The vast majority say corporate citizenship should be completely voluntary and not dictated by law.

The survey’s results indicate that business leaders consider their obligation as citizens to be broader than the classic definition of good business practice – returning profit to shareholders, paying taxes and obeying the law. Most US companies say good corporate citizenship also includes meeting ethical, environmental and social objectives.

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