Feb 21 2008
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company was named one of the "100 Best Corporate Citizens" in the current issue of CRO (Corporate Responsibility Officer) magazine. Goodyear came in at No. 72, the first time the Akron, Ohio-based company made the list in nine years of ranking the top corporate citizens among U.S.-headquartered public companies.
In compiling its "100 Best," CRO, in partnership with IW Financial -- a Portland, Maine, research and consulting firm in environment, social and governance issues -- ranked the corporate responsibility efforts of large-cap companies in eight categories: climate change, employee relations, environment, financial, governance, human rights, lobbying and philanthropy. CRO determined the final ranking as a weighted average of the eight categories. Goodyear was the only tire company honored.
"We're certainly pleased to be included with a number of corporations whose excellent reputations are well known and regarded highly by the international business community," said Pat Gorbach, Goodyear's director of corporate compliance and ethics. "Transparency is an important component of corporate responsibility, and Goodyear welcomes the opportunity for anyone to review the data documenting improvements in our governance, compliance and sustainability performance."
IW Financial relies on publicly-available data from company financial disclosures, corporate responsibility reports, websites, EPA databases, and a number of other sources as part of its standardized research processes. All companies being evaluated are listed on the Russell 1000 index -- which includes companies that represent the largest impact on B2B and consumer markets.
"Some companies have good environmental policies," said Mark Bateman, IW Financial's director of research. "Some companies have great employee relations. Some companies have exemplary human rights records. CRO's '100 Best Corporate Citizens' list answers the question: which companies do best across a wide variety of citizenship issues?"
Business Ethics magazine first published the "100 Best Corporate Citizens" in 2000. CRO has continued the tradition after acquiring the publication in 2006. CRO will honor the "100 Best Corporate Citizens" in a special reception on March 27, 2008 at the Union League Club in New York, following the conclusion of its spring conference. For details about CRO's "100 Best Corporate Citizens 2008," the methodology and CRO magazine,