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Corporate Citizenship

Good corporate citizenship at home and abroad, including respect for human rights, environmental stewardship and community investment, plays an essential role in enhancing public trust, attracting and retaining talented employees and reducing investor perceptions of risk.

  • The recognition that managers and directors must take into account the interests of many stakeholders in order to serve the interests of the company is expressed through terms that include corporate social responsibility, corporate citizenship, the "triple bottom line" and sustainable development. Each company must decide for itself how best to integrate its values with its business strategy.
  • Reputation has become the cornerstone of investor confidence and public trust. For good or ill, anything a company does anywhere in the world affects its reputation everywhere in the world. And reputation affects not just relationships with employees, customers, suppliers, governments and regulators, but also investor perceptions of risk. Good corporate citizenship is therefore a key element of corporate strategy.
  • As a starting point for a corporate culture based on the idea that doing the right thing is essential for the sustainable growth of shareholder value, companies should have a written code of ethics or conduct, one that is a condition of employment and that includes a means for employees to alert management and the board to potential misconduct without fear of retribution.
  • The extent to which companies demonstrate ethical behaviour and good corporate citizenship affects not only the reputation and competitiveness of individual enterprises, but also public trust in business leadership and in the free-enterprise system as a whole. In addition to their individual activities in communities, therefore, Canadian enterprises have a strong record of leadership in collective initiatives with respect to corporate responsibility. In particular, the CCCE has long been a supporter of the corporate citizenship framework established by Imagine Canada, formerly known as the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy.
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