There is no single code or standard, no panacea that will lead to corporate responsibility (CR). Yet, now, more than ever before, corporations are waking up to the fact that they must adopt codes and implement standards to satisfy the growing demands of an ever-wider and ever-less-trustful spectrum of stakeholders. So, where do companies start?

Information overload is nowhere more apparent than in the field of CR. There are millions of pages and web pages written on codes and standards, but most of it is spin: organisations punting to sell their code or standard. The reality is that CR is an emerging field, a new terrain for which maps are much needed, but often imprecise. Each company is different, each with its own challenges, corporate culture, unique set of stakeholders, and management systems. Corporate responsibility is a journey for which, today, there is no single map but a multitude of codes and standards that can be combined in new ways for different journeys. In her many lectures around the world, CSR consultant Deborah Leipziger has been asked the same question over and over again: 'What are the best standards for companies seeking to be socially responsible?' Over the course of more than a decade, she has analysed hundreds of codes of conduct and standards to answer that question. This indispensable resource is the result.

The Corporate Responsibility Code Book is a guide for companies trying to understand the landscape of corporate responsibility and searching for their own, unique route towards satisfying diverse stakeholders. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. A company may face quite different challenges if it operates in more than part of the world. And yet stakeholders, especially consumers and investors, are keen for some degree of comparability with which they can evaluate corporate performance. There are countervailing forces at work within corporate responsibility: on the one hand is the need for convergence in order to simplify the large numbers of codes and standards; and, on the other hand, the need to foster diversity and innovation.

Many of the best codes of conduct and standards are not well known while some CR instruments that are well disseminated are not terribly effective. Some comprehensive codes of conduct achieve nothing, while other quite vague codes of conduct become well embedded into the organisation and foster innovation and change. The book explains some of the best CR instruments available, and distils their most valuable elements.

The goal of the book is to help companies select, develop and implement social and environmental codes of conduct. It demonstrates how the world's leading companies are implementing global codes of conduct, including the United Nations Global Compact, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, Social Accountability 8000 (SA 8000) and AccountAbility 1000 (AA 1000). The codes in this book cover a wide range of issues, including human rights, labour rights, environmental management, corruption and corporate governance. The book also includes how-to (or process) codes focusing on reporting, stakeholder engagement and assurance.

This book is based on interviews with the standard-setters, the implementers of standards, academics, activists and other key stakeholders from around the world; and in many cases includes the full text of the code profiled. Each of the standards and codes described has been shared with the promulgators of the instrument to ensure that the information is as up to date as possible.

The Corporate Responsibility Code Book will be an invaluable tool for companies developing their own code, but will also be a key tool for companies with a strong track record in CR, seeking to understand the interrelationships among codes and standards to create their own corporate vision. It will be the key reference text on corporate codes of conduct for many years to come.

In this intelligent and comprehensive analysis of today's bewildering variety of codes and standards intended to enhance the practice of corporate responsibility, Deborah Leipziger has provided an invaluable practical guide which will be useful not only to the corporate world, but to all concerned with this issue.
Sir Geoffrey Chandler, Founder Chair, Amnesty International UK Business Group 1991-2001, and former Director of Shell International

It's a confusing world out there for anyone interested in corporate responsibility — with codes, standards, guidelines, principles and declarations all tumbling over each other, clamouring for attention. Deborah Leipziger's book will steer you through this tumult of new initiatives, providing both the baseline information about what's going on as well as some invaluable 'quality control'. This is confusion-busting guidance at its best.
Jonathon Porritt, Forum for the Future

This is a mammoth piece of work that fills the need for a comprehensive analysis of the array of corporate responsibility-related standards out there. I am sure companies and others who operate within this complex field will find it very useful.
Deborah Smith, EQ Management Ltd

I speak as a ‘godparent’ for several voluntary codes. They are a crucial element in emerging governance patterns. But I am also uneasy about the current code-mania. There will be a shake-out. Deborah’s timely guide spotlights likely survivors.
John Elkington, Chair, SustainAbility; author, Cannibals with Forks

This excellent review provides more clarity and greater understanding for all interested parties about the current state of play in codes of conduct. This book will serve not only businesses but also readers interested in better grasping the current debate about codes of conduct, their effectiveness and credibility.
Dominique Bé, European Commission

A much-needed guide covering everything from individual corporate codes of conduct, through the various standards applicable to different industries, to the measurement indicators of the Global Reporting Initiative.
Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman, Anglo American plc; former Chairman, Royal Dutch/Shell Group

The Corporate Responsibility Code Book will become the key reference guide for executives and boards of directors seeking to become socially responsible. An antidote to prevent corporate scandals, this book provides clear guidance to companies on corporate governance, human rights, labour, environment and sustainability. Ms Leipziger has written a book which fosters convergence between the many codes and standards in the field of social responsibility. Every executive should have it close to hand.
Alice Tepper Marlin, President and CEO, Social Accountability International

The Corporate Responsibility Code Book promises to make a contribution to rectifying one of the most vexing problems facing business and its stakeholders: bringing order, understanding and value to the complex landscape of principles, norms, standards and guidelines.
Allen L. White, Co-Founder and Special Advisor, Global Reporting Initiative; Vice President, Tellus Institute

This book is timely, as the debate has progressed from the ‘Why should we report on these issues?’ to the ‘How should we?’ ... The task Deborah has undertaken is extremely valuable ... she has a deep understanding of the practical challenges of corporate responsibility reporting as well as far-reaching experience in the development of codes and standards that are appropriate to the companies concerned. This is crucial to her analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of current standards.
Keith Jones, Chief Executive, Morley Fund Management

A well-written and powerful book for anybody who is serious about corporate social responsibility. Deborah Leipziger has succeeded in presenting a comprehensive guide that will enable a company to bring its efforts up to standard in a way that suits its business and ambitions.
Arco ten Klooster, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sustainability Solutions, the Netherlands

Looking at corporate responsibility and sustainable behaviour, a common understanding has emerged: the business of business is more than just business. Together with a highly developed market-driven approach, this has given businesses an institutional role in society parallel to public institutions and civil-society organisations. In order not only to meet the obligations of this role but also to benefit from them, companies need well-established corporate governance systems and maximum transparency.The Corporate Responsibility Code Book offers not only excellent tools in the field but also challenging perspectives on ways ahead consolidating the thousands of codes and guidelines.
Jens Erik Lund, Operational Director, OECD LEED Trento Centre; formerly inaugural director of The Copenhagen Centre

Codes of conduct are just a tool; how you use them is what really matters. This book will help you determine the right approach for your company and how to roll out a program that brings results.
Amy Hall, Manager, Social Accountability, Eileen Fisher, Inc.

Companies wanting to embrace the tenets of corporate responsibility more deeply into their business model and behaviours are faced with a bewildering array of codes, standards and guidelines. transparency.The Corporate Responsibility Code Book provides a timely review of what’s out there and how to decide what is most relevant and helpful. The starting point, though, for each company is to be clear about their own values and core purpose and then to use the codes as a stimulous for thinking and as benchmarks to judge their own performance and track progress. Without this starting point companies will be rudderless in a sea of conflicting demands and expectations.
Mark Wade, Shell Learning—Leadership Development

In the corporate codes of conduct jungle a route map is a must.The Corporate Responsibility Code Book is exactly that, clarifying the issues and charting a path to good corporate citizenship.
Neil Kearney, General Secretary, International Garment, Textile and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF)

A brilliantly conceived and clearly written description of the 32 major CSR codes, compacts, agreements, protocols, standards, and bench-marking guides from the most globally overarching to labour rights, environmental sustainability, corruption, and corporate governance, plus accountability and transparency implementation steps. In a word, everything you could possibly want to know about CSR goals and what they ask of business. It should be on the desk of every corporate CEO and in the library of all the world’s business schools.

Beyond its sheer informative profiles lies a further significance. In toto, you have here the evolving moral nexus of what CSR means, expressed in operational terms as a true pragmatic guide to desired — even imperatively needed — socially and globally responsible corporate policies, strategies, and decisions. As such, Leipziger’s compilation is not only the most practically useful, but also the most inspirational, of all the books discussed here.
William C. Frederick, Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh

Occasionally, a book comes along and you know this is going to used again and again ... What can one say about this book? Nothing really: it is simply a great book of reference and will save us all buckets full of work.
Social and Environmental Accounting Journal 1 (2004)

... indispensable for anyone seeking to grasp the complex landscape of the multitudinous tools that measure corporate social responsibility. The Corporate Responsibility Code Book is not a light read, neither in the sense of its physical heft nor in terms of the import of its contents. The book weighs so much because it reprints the complete texts of 32 of the most important corporate social responsibility (CSR) principles, codes, norms, and standards. For those who work in the CSR field, having those texts in one place is reason enough to buy the book.
Ethical Corporation , 16 April 2004

This is a guide for companies trying to understand the landscape of corporate responsibility and managing their way through the jungle of sustainability, human rights and CSR standards. The most useful part of the book is the summary, description and text of the most relevant codes of conducts, standards and norms that exist to guide sustainable corporate behaviour. A key reference book for all corporate responsibility professionals.
Sustainability Radar, December 2003

Corporate Responsibility has become a minefield of issues, with a wide range of stakeholders, all of whom need to be satisfied. Tracking these and the many Code options and guides that are available is a time consuming and, sometimes, frustrating exercise. Deborah Leipziger’s book is a welcome relief for those who are desperate for a ‘one stop shop’ reference to provide the basic information of adherence and compliance in the field
Eagle Bulletin , May 2004

this is a valuable and timely book for a growing number of people in many sectors who need to engage with these principles, standards and codes, but who need guidance on which ones to concentrate on.
The Corporate Citizen 4.1 (2004)

Corporate social responsibility has come a long way in the past few years, and a multitude of codes, standards and practices have now emerged. For those who are setting off down the CSR path, the choices today can be bewildering.

Deborah Leipziger’s The Corporate Responsibility Code Book is aimed at companies and individuals who are trying to establish which approach to adopt to CSR. She has picked out the 32 key codes and practices covering human rights, labour rights, along with the trio of environment, corruption and sustainability, and analysed their strengths, weaknesses and applications.

The book is a useful reference tool, bringing together a wealth of information on CSR. It is well laid out and easy to follow, with a chapter on each code, and the codes grouped under eight themes. When we at BT set out to establish our ‘Sourcing with Human Dignity’ initiative, which was the overall winner at the CIPS Supply Management Awards 2003, no such reference book existed. We had to spend months searching the Internet and talking with special interest groups to find out which were the relevant codes and standards.This book would have saved a huge amount of effort, and would have given us a real head start.

Of course, organisations also need to develop and execute an action plan to make their aspirations live. As well as reviewing CSR performance standards and defining acceptable norms for companies, Leipziger analyses implementation processes and tools.

The final section of the book is a comprehensive ‘how to’ guide, covering stakeholder engagement, reporting, assurance and accreditation standards.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has to implement a CSR programme.

For those of us in purchasing, we have to step up to the responsibility of ensuring ethical practices throughout our supply chains. Consumers are no longer prepared to allow organisations (especially large companies) to make profits at the expense of those less fortunate.

Ensuring socially responsible supply chain practices is a must, and for those just beginning to get to grips with what that entails, Deborah Leipziger's book could be invaluable.
Meryl Bushell, Chief Procurement Officer, BT Group, www.supplymanagement.com, 1 April 2004

A guide to more than two dozen codes of responsibility, covering environmental and social concerns. Provides the complete text of the codes themselves along with the author’s commentary and analysis for each. This is an essential tool for any company pondering which, if any, codes it should adopt. Leipziger’s insights about each code’s strengths and weaknesses offers curious companies a valuable shortcut to decision making.
GreenBiz.com

I consider Ms Leipziger’s book to be quite a valuable asset, not just for experts on the subject but also for beginners. Indeed, ‘corporate responsibility is a jouney for which there is no single map but hundreds of guides’ (p 19). All passengers should consider putting this book in their travelling case.
European Business Organization Law Review 6.2 (2005)

... The analysis is both objective in relation to each code, and subjective in seeing each standard's strengths and weaknesses within its own unique context — the different challenges, corporate cultures, stakeholders and management systems. The excellence of this book lies in its balanced and perceptive approach.
Development and Change, May 2006

Part 1: Global initiatives Part 2: Human rights Part 3: Labour rights Part 4: From environment to sustainability Part 5: Combating corruption Part 6: Corporate governance Part 7: Company codes of conduct Part 8: Framework, sectoral and regional agreements Part 9: Implementation Part 10: Visions for the future

Deborah Leipziger is a consultant in the field of corporate social responsibility, and advises companies on the development and implementation of codes of conduct and standards. Her clients have included the UN’s Global Compact, Warwick University and Social Accountability International. She is an adviser to Morley Fund Management, assisting them on their approach to socially responsible investment. Deborah played a key role in the development of the Social Accountability 8000 standard and its Guidance Document. She is the author of SA8000: The Definitive Guide to the New Social Standard (FT Prentice Hall, 2001), and the co-author of Living Corporate Citizenship (FT, 2002) and Corporate Citizenship: Successful Strategies of Responsible Companies (FT, 1998). Deborah resides in The Hague, with her husband and three daughters.