Deere Listed Among America's 100 Best Corporate Citizens for Fourth Consecutive Year
MOLINE, Ill., April 7 -- Deere & Company has earned a spot among the top five percent of the 1,000 largest publicly traded companies in a ranking of corporate citizenship. The "100 Best Corporate Citizens" list is published in the Spring 2003 edition of Business Ethics magazine.
Deere has earned a position in the top 100 in each of the four years of the ranking. This year, Deere ranked higher than ever before at number 47 -- an improvement of 17 positions from a year ago. The ranking is based on quantitative measures of corporate service to seven stakeholder groups including shareholders, employees, customers, the community, the environment, non-U.S. stakeholders and women and minorities.
"It is important to Deere & Company to be an excellent corporate citizen and an active leader in improving our communities, protecting our environment and providing good jobs for a diverse group of employees," said Jim Collins, Deere & Company's Director of Community Relations.
Deere's highest scores came in its service to customers, employees, minorities and women and to the environment. These all are areas in which the magazine says positive company performance is required to earn a coveted spot in the 100 Best Corporate Citizens.
The magazine used ratings compiled by KLD Research & Analytics, Inc., Boston, Mass., which analyzed data from the Russell 1000, the 1,000 largest publicly traded companies. Only about half of the companies from a year ago earned a spot again this year. The magazine said each stakeholder group among the seven is treated as equally important in the overall ranking.
General Mills was ranked number one this year and the top ten included Intel, Procter & Gamble, IBM and Hewlett-Packard. More information on the rankings is available at the magazine's website located at www.business-ethics.com .
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