April 11, 2005- Ranking of best corporate citizens announced by Business Ethics By Lisa Roner, Ethical Corp Business Ethics magazine has released its annual survey of the 100 best corporate citizens This year’s list is led by Cummins, an Indiana-based engine maker considered a leader in emissions reduction. The company has been included on the list each of the six years it has been compiled. According to the magazine, the ranking recognises Russell 1000 firms that serve a variety of stakeholders with excellence and integrity. Cummins spends more than half of its in-house research and development dollars on emissionreduction technologies. Tim Solso, Cummins’ chief executive, says the company has reduced diesel engine emissions by 90% and believes within 10 years its products will be close to or at zero emissions. According to Business Ethics, Cummins’ posted a 34% increase in sales and tripled earnings to $545 million in 2004. One of Cummins’ greatest strengths, according to reviewers, is its employees, who enjoy perks such as employee ownership and profit-sharing. The magazine also notes that Cummins publishes a sustainability report, underwrites school development in China and India, has purchased biodiverse forest land in Mexico and funds architecture in its local community. Rounding out the top ten Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, praised as a “pioneer” in helping coffee growers by paying them fair trade prices, took second place on the list. Green Mountain also supports micro-loans to growers to underwrite business ventures that diversify agricultural economies. Third place on this year’s list went to St. Paul Travelers Companies, which was cited for community service. St Paul focuses on education funding as a way to aid community development. The company funds financial literacy programmes in low-income areas to help consumers realise the dream of home ownership and its executives serve on boards of local non-profits. Fannie Mae, which took the top slot on the list in 2004, was removed due to ongoing investigations of accounting irregularities. According to Business Ethics, a total of 10 companies were pulled for financial and social misdeeds. Cummins and St. Paul Travelers, as well as three others from the top ten – Intel, Hewlett-Packard and Procter & Gamble – have all made the “100 Best” list each of its six years of publication. HP and Procter & Gamble have been among the top ten all six years. The rest of the top ten for 2005 includes Nuveen Instruments, Wells Fargo, Novell and Xerox.
Notable comebacks Xerox returned to the list after this year after accounting scandals resulted in a fine for misconduct by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2002. Xerox is well known for its social leave programme, which allow employee to take a paid year’s leave to work for a community non-profit. The company also garners praise from organisations such as the National Association for Female Executives for its treatment of female executives. According to the group, one-third of Xerox’ work force is female, as is one-third of its managers. Nike, once plagued by sweatshop controversies, made its debut to the list this year at number 31. Thirty-three companies are new to the list this year. Governance added to categories The survey is based on a database maintained by KLD Research & Analytics. All companies listed on the Russell 1000 Index are considered. KLD’s data is statistically analysed by Sandra Waddock and Samuel Graves of Boston College and companies are ranked in eight categories: total return to stockholders, community, governance, diversity, employees, environment, human rights and product. Governance is a new category for this year’s listing. It marks companies negatively for issues such as accounting restatements and excessive chief executive pay and positively, for example, for paying chiefs less than $500,000 per year.