Executive Summary

A Naive Idea Takes Hold!

Robert W. MacGregor
President of the Minnesota Center for Corporate Responsibility

October 1996

A world standard of ethical business behavior accepted by our competitors and applied across cultures around the globe? What a naive idea! It won't work! That was the advice we heard.

What are the results? The Minnesota Center for Corporate Responsibility developed, with the leadership of global firms headquartered in Minnesota, a set of global business principles. Subsequently, they were adopted by a group of senior business leaders from Japan, Europe, and the United States called the Caux Round Table in Switzerland. We added another idea given to us by the Chairman of Canon, called kyosei - living and working together for the common good and sharing prosperity plus concepts from Europe utilizing the British Institute of Business Ethics.

Since then, The Caux Round Table Principles for Business have become the most widely circulated in the world. They have been translated into seven major languages and distributed around the globe. We have participated in the distribution of some 100,000 copies. Recently we gave permission to The Hong Kong Ethics Development Centre to distribute 5,000 copies to their members. We've given permission to business schools, associations and others to copy and distribute the Principles widely to thousands more. The Japanese and European partners are also circulating the same Principles. The Principles have been presented at meetings in Beijing, Tokyo, Istanbul, Geneva, Copenhagen, Berlin, Johannesburg, Guadalajara, Hong Kong,, various cities in the United Kingdom, Egypt, Russia, China, Lebanon, the Netherlands, France, etc. They have been featured in major newspapers, magazines, books, television, and radio around the world. Presentations have been made on the Principles to national and international student groups and to the United Nations headquarters in New York. They have been delivered to major United Nations conferences such as the World Social Summit in Copenhagen and the World Business Forum with Habitat II in Istanbul.

We keep hearing of examples of how the Principles are utilized around the world. Firms in Malaysia and Australia registered the Principles as part of their Charters. The Acting Dean of a South African Law School utilized the Principles to inaugurate an ethics course. An international consulting organization based in Europe uses it as the basic set of business standards for their practice. The Bank of America used the Principles as a benchmark to compare and revitalize theirs. A large European engineering firm used the Principles at a board meeting to solve an ethical problem. A Denver group is utilizing the material as a primary source to develop a performance system. A Boston firm uses the Principles as part of a company-wide ethics program. An Idaho business group uses the Principles in training programs. A group in Florida utilizes the Principles in evaluating companies to honor for corporate citizenship. The Principles have been presented to the two top business leadership groups in Japan. The Principles are used in classes and conferences at universities such as Stanford, Harvard, Carlson School of Management (University of Minnesota), University of Wisconsin, Thunderbird, Marquette, Boston College, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Bentley, University of St. Thomas plus many other schools. They have become the recognized premier global code of conduct by academics and business leaders. The Principles have been distributed to the CEOs of the Fortune 1000 companies and all have been asked to consider reflecting the Principles' values in their own internal codes of conduct. Many other fine principles and codes are touted by various groups, but our Principles for Business are distinguished by being the first to be accepted by a senior Japanese, European and U.S. business leadership group with concepts that can be practiced across cultures. They are business-driven, they cover the whole set of business issues, including the environment, fairness, corruption, responsibilities of companies to all their stakeholders. They challenge firms to begin with themselves by putting their own house in order. They call on firms moving jobs around the world to raise working and safety standards wherever jobs are created. They recognize the market system works best when it rests on a moral foundation.

More and more firms competing around the world are beginning to understand the business case for following the same set of principles wherever they create jobs. In our inner-connected world, many companies recognize the value of our global principles. Honest, responsible practices enable businesses to work more efficiently and eliminate unproductive practices associated with corruption. Up front, world class environmental standards save companies and countries high cleanup costs down the line. Treating employees decently and uplifting standards wherever jobs are moved result in more productivity and better products and a superior company reputation that is essential to the maintenance of customer loyalty.

Here's one naive idea that works, and the positive results are still coming in!

Center for Ethical Business Cultures

1000 LaSalle Avenue, TMH 331 ▪ Minneapolis, MN 55403-2005 ▪ USA

Phone: 651 962 4120 or 800 328 6819 Ext. 2-4120 ▪ Facsimile: 651 962 4042

Email: mail@cebcglobal.org

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