CORPORATE CODES OF CONDUCT FOR MULTINATIONALS: A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
At Baruch College, May 12 – 15, 2004
Baruch College’s
International Center for Corporate Accountability (ICCA) in
conjunction with the Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research
at the Wharton School, and the World Bank Institute jointly
present an international conference devoted to Voluntary
Codes of Conduct for Multinational Corporations,
May 12-15, 2004, at Baruch College. The conference will examine
the scope and impact of voluntary corporate codes of conduct
as well as their legal, ethical, and bottom-line ramifications
for economic development, world poverty, and corporate business
strategies. Press Coverage Invited.
As multinational corporations increasingly dominate a global
economy, voluntary codes of conduct have become critical instruments
of accountability for those concerned with the issues of performance,
resource allocation, and social justice that arise when corporations
seek profits by setting up extensive operations in the Third
World.
This conference will include the perspectives of all key constituencies
and stakeholders in the intensifying discussions of corporate
responsibility: company managers, NGOs, shareholders, academic
researchers and international human rights advocates. While
focusing on ways to extend these codes, participants will
address the many complex issues linked to creating an effective,
quantifiable framework: monitoring and compliance verification,
transparency, legal barriers, resource management, supply
chains, social expectations, corporate governance, labor standards
and free speech.
Executives from major companies including Citicorp,
Shell Oil, The Walt Disney Company, Mattel, Freeport-McMoRan,
PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ford Motor Company and Nike,
will detail their individual experiences with voluntary codes
of conduct and provide a broad corporate perspectives on the
obstacles and the benefits of developing such safeguards for
corporate behavior.
Several conference sessions will be regionally focused, notably
on the recent developments in India, South Africa, and, especially,
China, where the dramatic impact of “outsourcing”
in Guangdong province has made issues of fair labor standards,
workers’ rights, and environmental impact particularly
acute.
Conference presenters represent organizations as diverse as
The World Bank; The Center for Corporate Behavior, Tokyo,
Japan; the National University of Australia; the UN Global
Compact; the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, China;
the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington,
D.C.; the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development,
Basel, Switzerland, and a score of others.
This event has been organized by S. Prakash Sethi, University
Distinguished Professor at the Zicklin School of Business,
Baruch College and the staff of the ICCA. The entire Conference
takes place at the Newman Vertical Campus, 55 Lexington Ave, 14th
floor, New York City. For more information or to register:
(646) 312.2230; email: info@icca.corporateaccountability.org
Contact:
Zane Berzins 212.802.2881
Vince Passaro 212.802.2916
