Setting Global Standards : Guidelines for Creating Codes of Conduct in Multinational Corporations

Praise for SETTING GLOBAL STANDARDS "While American investors, legislators, and corporations are mired in accounting fraud and other signs of eroding ethics, another important corporate responsibility issue is looming large.

The role of manufacturing and extractive multinational corporations in less developed countries is under due scrutiny.

Are they treating workers fairly and safely, and protecting human rights and dignities?

Are they protecting the environment as they would have to in their home countries?

These are the important issues that Dr. Sethi addresses in this provocative and stimulating book.

Not everyone will like his no-holds-barred' approach, but no one should go away unmoved by his perceptive analyses." Dr. David Lowry, Vice President, Social and Community Affairs and Human Rights Compliance Officer, Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold, Inc. "Sethi's hard-hitting analysis demonstrates that sweatshops and human rights abuses are not an inevitable price of economic growth in poorer countries or of profits for transnational corporations.

Instead, they destroy democratic values and harm free enterprise. Multinational corporations cannot earn public trust without comprehensive independent external monitoring and compliance verification of voluntary codes of conduct, as well as public disclosure of their findings." Timothy Smith, President, Social Investment Forum and former executive director, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) "Dr. Sethi's expertise has been a guiding force in the development of Mattel's Global Manufacturing Principles, as well as the transparent mechanism to publicly communicate both our successes and challenges.

I hope this book will encourage others to push the envelope in the pursuit of doing what is right in business." Robert A.

Eckert, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mattel, Inc. "Many other books express righteous anger' about the activities of multinational corporations in developing countries and typically dwell on egregious examples and give little attention to business considerations and realistic possibilities for improvement. By contrast, Sethi's work is based on long familiarity with the operations of many companies in many countries, and clearly recognizes the role and contribution of industrialization to economic development.

Rather than solely criticizing these policies, Sethi explores the opportunities for improvement through voluntary efforts by firms and industries.

Global Standards is an invaluable compilation of experience, analysis, and proposals for improvement by a recognized expert who is both critical and optimistic." Lee Preston, Professor Emeritus Robert H.

Smith School of Business, University of Maryland