Improving the state of the world through business’s engagement in partnerships that address key global societal challenges

Corporate Global Citizenship is anchored in the mission of the World Economic Forum.  We believe that corporate global citizenship is fundamentally in the enlightened self-interest of global corporations since their growth, prosperity and sustainability is dependent on the state of the global political, economic, environmental and social landscape.  The license to operate in a global market and to make profits entails a responsibility of being engaged in society.

How should a company engage in society?  And, what framework should guide that engagement?

The World Economic Forum and its leading partners have been working together to develop answers these pressing issues. 

Key Endeavors Include:

Professor Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman and Founder of the World Economic Forum, has developed a framework for engagement in order to bring clarity to the discussion on a corporation’s different means of societal involvement. 

Read a summary of Professor Schwab's article Working with Governments and Civil Society in Foreign Affairs journal, January 2008, which draws on the experiences of our Strategic Partner Community. 

In January 2008 the Global Corporate Citizenship Initiative Advisory Committee to the World Economic Forum, consisting of selected corporate heads of corporate citizenship as well as renowned experts, instigated a thought leadership workstream on Partnering to Strengthen Public Governance:  The Leadership Challenge for CEOs and Boards. The product of the workstream will be presented at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2008 in Davos.

The GCCI Advisory Committee member companies are: Ayala, Deloitte, Deutsche Bank, Diageo, Ernst & Young, KPMG, Merck, Microsoft, Pakistan State Oil Company Limited (PSO), PricewaterhouseCoopers, Tata, The Coca-Cola Company.

In January 2002, over 40 prominent CEO’s endorsed the statement Global Corporate Citizenship: The Leadership Challenge for CEOs and Boards (PDF, 206k, 16pg). The statement emphasized that leadership processes focusing on the company’s impact on society and its relationships with stakeholders are not ‘add-ons’ but are fundamental to core business operations.

In 1971, the World Economic Forum first identified the stakeholder concept—the idea that a company has a clear responsibility to the community beyond its shareholders. Two years later, at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, the stakeholder concept became the cornerstone of the Davos Declaration, which articulated the fundamental principles of a corporation’s social and environmental responsibility.

Access additional historical highlights and reports regarding the World Economic Forum’s endeavors regarding corporate global citizenship.

For further information, please contact:
gcci@weforum.org

See Corporate Global Citizenship in action at the World Economic Forum.