Jay Whitehead of CRO Magazine: Corporate responsibility matters

In answer to those who ask “does corporate responsibility matter in an age where many companies are fighting for their lives?” CRO Magazine’s 100 Best Corporate Citizens List® answers a resounding “yes.”

Why such a List? Three reasons. First, CRO’s 10th annual 100 Best List (compiled by IW Financial and edited by CRO) is completely based on publicly available information. That means the list’s sources are public places accessible to anyone researching Russell 1000® companies—non-secure websites, government and regulatory sources, investment publications and NGO databases.

Second, the methodology used to compile this year’s 100 Best list was debated and voted on in open session by 27 leading corporate responsibility practitioners representing nine major industry segments October 2008 at the CRO Conference in Chicago.

And lastly, for the first time ever, each listed company was asked to review the underlying data in advance of this publication to make sure no publicly available citation was overlooked. Of the 1,011 data edit requests we got back from the listees, 28.3 percent were validated and resulted in data changes. The result? Our most transparent 100 Best list.

Over the past 9 years, companies on the 100 Best Corporate Citizens List® have out-paced the remainder of Russell 1000® companies by an average of 26% in 3-year total return.

In good times, checkbook citizenship can win the day. But in tough times, strong reputations and transparency pack as much punch as a strong balance sheet. In today’s deep recession, human capital and financial capital seek safety — and companies on the 100 Best Corporate Citizens List® are today’s safest harbors.