"The business of business is business" - or at least it used to be! It was not too long ago when companies single-mindedly pursuing "the bottom line" and "shareholder value" were considered morally justified in their own right. How times have changed. With the entrance of the "stakeholder society": transparency, corporate governance, accountability, public rights - these are the new maxims of today. According to the 1999 Millennium Poll on Corporate Social Responsibility, by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which …showed first 75 words of 1578 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1578 total…to "stakeholders". Regardless of short-term shareholder value organizations are increasingly being asked to do the "right thing" by the environment and society. However, in order to be useful, much work still needs to be done toward establishing standardized, consistent measurement and reporting methods. Moreover, verification of the information by independent third parties is also needed. The time has come for companies claiming to be responsible to move beyond 'green-wash' towards true sustainability and social responsibility.