USA and Corporate Responsibility

I read an article today in a Denmark news website which is called Copenhagen Post. The article was talking about how Denmark is chosen to be the World's second leading nation for corporate social responsibility. Copenhagen Post reports this national reward as below:

" A well-balanced mix of capitalism and social integrity have helped make
Denmark the world’s second leading nation for corporate social responsibility,
according to a study completed for the United Nations’ Global Compact Leaders
Summit, which ended Sunday.

The study, conducted biannually by London-based think-tank
AccountAbility, rated Denmark second-best in its 2007 Responsible
Competitiveness Index, which determines how effectively a country’s companies
are carrying out responsible business practices."

I did a little research on where US of A stands in this silent competition. I was not all that surprised when I found out pretty much nothing. This "Corporate Social Responsibility" term was not a new term for me however, I had no idea that there was an index called Responsible Competitiveness Index. I was embarrassed to not to know anything about this dilemma thus I started educating myself first by looking up for the definition of the "Corporate Social Responsibility". Here is Wikipedia's definition:

"Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a company's obligation to be
accountable to all of its stakeholders in all its operations and activities with
the aim of achieving sustainable development not only in the economical
dimension but also in the social and environmental dimensions. "

Since this definition was quite predictable and a little cliche, I needed more information on what this "Responsible Competitiveness Index" was to further clarify the joy of Danish media. After a quick Google search here is what I found:

"The Responsible Competitiveness Index: an investigation of the
relationship between corporate responsibility and competitiveness. It reveals
which countries are achieving sustainable economic growth based on responsible
business practices.

The National Corporate Responsibility Index: the world's first
assessment of the state of corporate responsibility internationally. The index
assesses over 80 countries on criteria including corruption, civic freedom,
corporate governance and environmental management to establish a global
ranking."

Now I was getting a better perspective of this issue. Then I went back to searching for where US stood in this ranking of 80 countries. Finally I was able to find this information. Here is the answer: US ranking in responsible competitiveness index is ....... 18.

Looks like it is not that bad. However clearly it is. How can US can settle for being 18th in such an ethically significant issue where even United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the 29th. I guess it was an indicator of our failure in this issue, that during my search for US and its ranking, I came across many documents and research studies for the "Competitive Index" in USA, however it was like searching for a needle in a hayloft when I looked for documents regarding "Responsible Competitive Index".

Being the 18th most responsible country meant to me (with a simple calculation) that 22.5% of the 80 countries are doing better than USA. I understand that the first challange for many US companies is to work towards the sustainable growth. Then the second challenge shows up as the necessity to do this task via responsible and ethical practices. When I thought about this again, I realized that the situation was not as bad as I thought it was. "At least", I said, "There's hope". US in 2008 definitely has a much better chance in this ranking game while UAE on the other hand will probably go further down on the list. Many thanks to Halliburton's decision to move their headquarters to Dubai (UAE).