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Saying You're Green Doesn't Make it So

So you are looking for ways to grow your Brand, increase sales and raise revenues. Green and sustainable seems like a good way to go. Stop! Listen! And proceed cautiously. Saying you're green doesn't make it so and telling little (or big) white lies can, and likely will, do more harm than good.

Clients and customers deserve and want special handling. They don't want anything but the truth, the whole truth and nothing else. Their is one thing certain about your brand image: It is built firmly on trust and credibility. Not products and services. Not management of messages? Not on what you say but what you do.

To get other's thoughts on the subject, I used LinkedIn to ask the following question:

Sustainability is Hot! Are you? What does it mean to have a Sustainable Brand and/or be a green company? Do today's businesses, some of whom are rushing to be labeled green, get it? Is authenticity key or can a company use marketing to get consumers to see they are green?

Here are excerpts from some really smart folks:

Mark StClair wrote: Sustainability is about planning ahead and choosing to use materials that reduce the impact on the environment and can be re-used over and over. In our business, we urge our clients to build sustainable interior environments, with modular products that can promote change without demolition and trips to the landfill. Links: http://www.dirtt.net

Don Carli wrote: Greenwash can fool some people for a while but not forever. Sustainability endures. Links: http://www.terrachoice.com/Home/Greenwashing/The%20Six%20Sins

Jacqueline Boesinger wrote: My personal reason for starting a business that focused on an organic, fair trade product was not about the hype. I wanted a business model I could be proud of...one that had a mission that included environmental responsibility. I also felt with the right product and strategy, I could turn non believers into more discriminating consumers. It never was about the quick buck and sometimes I felt a little ticked off at the phonies - those who would call the Jolly Green Giant "Daddy" if it made them a profit. Long term I believe consumers will be able to figure out which companies do this because it is their personal passion vs. those for whom GREEN ultimately means the color of money.

Tom Napier wrote: The 4 R's in their least to most important priority are; Recycle, Reuse, Reduce and the most important is... RETHINK. Wal-Mart is doing a great job of the rethink and reduce. They have reduced the amount of water they sell in their products and have been the driving force in this initiative, so they get a big fat A+ for sustainability. They have also like many other companies been rethinking their SCM/N with excellent results. Yes, profit is a factor but if there is a choice between the same old things and the newer philosophy, then most of these companies are going with the new strategy. I think it's very important to consider all aspects of sustainability and greening the supply chain.

Ellen Ornato wrote: Sustainability is all about transparency and authenticity. It's thinking about personal and corporate processes and practices from the viewpoint of their impacts on the environment (both inside and outside) and then taking smart, thoughtful actions.to reduce those impacts. Sustainability is not about re-packaging a brand to look green or about doing one or two things that are environmentally sensitive and then proclaiming to the universe that you've become "green." So many companies have gotten in trouble because of "greenwashing" and the virtual community is ruthless with these individuals and companies. Being a "green" company means having an awareness of all business practices that impact the planet and working consistently to either mitigate or eliminate those impacts. Whether it's sourcing goods closer to us to lessen shipping costs or doing carbon offsets in the office (such as recycling all the paper, plastic and other items, to the highest extent possible) or through our supply chain, our responsibility is to be "socially responsible" for the outcomes. Links: http://www.ecobags.com, http://www.consciouslivingtv.com, http://www.coopamerica.org

Gerard Lee wrote: Obviously marketing can make any company appear green. It's whether the consumer buys the idea that the company became green overnight. Considering most people believe anything they see in short 15 seconds bursts on a flat screen, I would say the odds are in their favor. However for some companies being green is not a trend or fad. When it's popularity dies down, many of us will still be running our businesses as environmentally friendly as possible and churning out our green products or in our case designs.

Bob Glaza wrote: The organizations that see sustainability short term don't get it. They may see short term profit or revenue increase. Then they'll jump on the next "hot" thing. Chances are at least some of them even question the urgency of consuming less while producing more. The organization that truly believes in sustainability is probably already clear on the concept and doesn't realize it. Being nimble enough to recognize it is one thing. Marketing it to customers is the challenge.

Earon Davis wrote: I think that we have wonderful imaginations about what is "green" and what will help prevent global climate change. The positive intentions are often authentic, but the results may be tiny and incremental and some will even have unintended consequences. So, the marketplace is the marketplace and people need to grow their businesses and earn a living, etc. Links: http://www.storyofstuff.com

So, there you have it. Lots of opinions to chew on. Jump in. What's your opinion regarding the question: What does it mean to have a Sustainable Brand and/or be a green company? Do today's businesses, some of whom are rushing to be labeled green, get it? Is authenticity key or can a company use marketing to get consumers to see they are green?

A Personal Brand Story

I am a big believer in story-telling as a means to capture an audience’s attention and build brand or increase sales. Of course, the story has to be true, authentic and relevant to the brand. It should also have a human interest angle and a lesson learned. The following is a brand story.

Brand is about people's perception. Therefore, we must first understand how we are perceived. If the perception is accurate, we must live with the results or change if we are not achieving success. However, if people's perceptions are non-existent or inaccurate, we need to get the real story told and get other's to spread that story for us. Such was the case when my brand image was misperceived by the woman I wanted desperately to be my future wife. My brand lacked trust and credibility as well as value.

I fell in love with a beautiful woman I met at the University of Florida, but my love went unreciprocated. At first she ignored me. She wasn’t impressed with my long hair and raggedy cut-off jeans. To combat first impressions, I launched an integrated sales and marketing campaign to boost my brand by telling my story and getting the word out about who I was, where I came from, what I had to offer and why she should care.

Kay, with the long, straight brown-hair, was the woman I wanted to be my wife. But she thought I lacked the substance necessary necessary for her to have a happy and prosperous future. My campaign began with some historical information to put my appearance in context. The story went like this: Smart kid in school, got kicked out of college for poor behavior, spent 7+ years in military, traveled with a rock band, went to community college part time while in the Air Force and while traveling with the band, and then enrolled at the University of Florida, where the Dean's List was not unknown to me. At Florida, I was holding down two jobs--as a newspaper writer and as an RA in the graduate dorm. I still managed to party more than most. I spread word of mouth through the influentials. It worked almost immediately.

The brand image changed: Instead of being seen as the long-haired hippie, Kay began perceiving an experienced older man, who was smart, served his country, loved rock 'n roll and both studied and partied hard. I went from not much future to: "This guy could be interesting, exciting and make me happy. Maybe I should give him a test drive."

Next step in the marketing process—create great customer experiences, because in the early '70s, the product—me—could be purchased easily on most any college campus, as veterans were returning from the war and entering college on the G.I. Bill.

Like most veterans, I was monetarily poor. My cutoffs were a necessity not a choice, and I was without car or spending money. All my cash, a few hundred dollars a month, went into my business, which was getting the best education possible and then a good job. However, I was rich in others ways, including experience, motivation, inspiration, desire, productivity, loyalty and spirit. I wasn't selling price; I was selling value.

We began dating—free concerts, days at the beach, dorm parties, and tons of campus activities, from an anti-war demonstration featuring Jane Fonda, to William F. Buckley debating the war, to the arts, sports and just hangin' out. We even had a business plan for success, though an unspoken and unwritten one—all play was structured around classes and studying and my jobs as an RA and a sports stringer and her job, which was finishing her Master's thesis.

Neither of us slept much.

Unsurprisingly, the integrated marketing plan worked, as well-thought out and executed plans should. Thirty-five years later, we often laugh at my plan to get Kay to see the value, the potential, the values and the future that existed behind the poorly designed logo. The most important lesson learned, and the one that allowed me to achieve my dream—I told a true story to build my personal brand that Kay purchased. My story was premised on putting people ahead of current profits and revenues. In doing so, our lives together have flourished.

By the way, we are both entrepreneurs who operate on the same business model that I launched more than three decades ago. People count more than profits, values matter, we sell happiness, and our businesses and our lives have flourished. Hmm, maybe this model is a good one for life and for work.

Politicians Take on Bottled Water

Apparently, according to local TV news, at least some Connecticut politicians have tired of spending  hundreds of thousands of dollars on bottled water from Maine. Especially since several millions of dollars are spent to make tap water safe in Connecticut. As a result, they want to eliminate the budget for bottled water in government buildings.

To do so without causing a mini-revolution, a taste test was held. Four cups of water were offered, some tap, some bottled. Tasters failed miserably when asked to identify which cups held tap water and which ones held bottled water. Sounds to me as if bottled water needs to go. That's good for taxpayers and good for the planet, which doesn't need more plastic in its life. Oh, and by the way, why do we buy water for government employees anyway?I can't imagine business buying bottled water for its employees, except on rare occasions.

But wait. The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) is peeved over the taste test. That's right: The IBWA doesn't want consumers to be educated apparently unless they are doing the educating, called marketing by most of us. Here is what the IBWA says about taste testing:

"Any actions that discourage the use of this healthy beverage choice are not in the public interest."

Oh? How is taste testing not in the public interest? And how is testing that learns most tap water is just as healthy as bottled water not in the public interest? What am I missing here?

Bottom line: Don't spend tax dollars on bottled water.

U.S. Business Once Resembled Today's China

In the late 1850s, a burgeoning economic superpower was known, feared ad disrespected around the world because it often sacrificed safety and quality to profit. That power was the United States. And much like today's fast-growing industries in China, U.S. factories covered the atmosphere and the cities below with unbreathable air and turned out poisonous foods and mislabeled products.

Despite a duel major in journalism and American history, I had forgotten much of this. But my most recent post, Made in China Label Torn, Can we trust products and services with the made in China label?, drew readers from around the world, including Chinese, which prompted me to spend my Sunday morning doing a little research to better understand what causes us humans to sacrifice our values to greed.

In the Boston Sunday Globe, an article entitled A Nation of Outlaws says that we should think of this kind of greed-driven, safety-sacrificing commerce as not "an expression of national character, but a phase in the country's development" that can be called "adolescent capitalism".

To understand the article's point, we need to look back 165 years at the U.S. When Charles Dickens arrived for a visit in 1842, he was chagrined and more than a little angry that Boston's bookstores were selling pirated copies of his and other foreign writer's books. I suspect he felt much the same as today's American entertainment and arts industries do about the pirating of CDs, DVDs and literary works.

Furthermore, during the 19th and 20th centuries, American food products were tainted by dangerous additives to create an attractive image, more appealing color and more favorable odor. Milk was watered-down and then filled up with chalk and sheep's brains; custard powders showed evidence of lead; sugar and flour contained plaster of Paris; and 100-pound bags of coffee were 67 percent dried beans and 20 percent chicory--not exactly Starbucks quality.

Other examples of commercial skulduggery are evidenced, as we rushed to economic world power. Read  Upton Sinclair, author of The Jungle (1906), about the U.S. meat packing industry that eventually led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act in 1906, or Sinclair Lewis who once said, "Advertising is a valuable economic factor because it is the cheapest way of selling goods, particularly if the goods are worthless."

By 1905, business executives began to recognize that consumer trust and credibility created bigger profits than bad PR resulting from tainted products. Maybe China's leaders are entering that phase in 2007. As the Globe says, Chinese entrepreneurs and industrialists "may eventually recognize that to get rich while bowing to international standards may be... even more profitable."

Your thoughts? Guesses? Analysis? Is this just a phase that China is going through? Will the world be better off or worse off if China institutes high quality standards and becomes the world's economic superpower?

How Goes Microsoft? Is Office 2007 An Improvement?

Growing out of the "How Do You Feel About...?" series, I am changing it up by introducing a new series  on  customer experiences and perceptions. The first one is called, "What Do You Think of Microsoft?"

I know the vacation bug is in its last throes before the kids go back to school, so let's see if I can inspire some comments with my most recent experience.

This week I reluctantly upgraded to Office Small Business 2007. I say reluctantly because no upgrade has ever gone well for me, and this was no exception. It started with the order, wherein I wanted the Small Business version. But I was upgrading from Office Pro 2003. Won't work. Didn't know that. Don't remember reading it in the requirements. Off to Tech Support.

Not much of a hold but had to get through a filter before getting the person who could help me. Nice guy. Only a few language problems. Nothing significant. But he did want to share with me more than I needed to know. Within 10 minutes, however, I learned in order for my upgrade to work, I would first have to download the trial version of Small Business 2007, then remove 2003, and then upgrade using my discs. Another morning shot.

Upgrade worked, sort of. Office 2007 is slow beyond comprehension. To speed it up I removed the Business Contact Manager, which I wanted to use for my business. Had to do the same thing with 2003. I was hoping for an improvement over the past four years. Yes, lots of new bells and whistles but if you can't use them, so what?

Once the Contact Manager was removed, speed improved but Office continued to crash. Turned off Auto Preview. That seems to help.

My analysis: The software should be rated average to poor at best. Tech support good. The files are too big, upgrade instructions to long and cumbersome to read, and too much bundling, which causes the e-mail function to working poorly, especially with Contact Manager loaded.

In this series, I am looking to discuss customer experiences and brand image. Here are some questions to get the conversation started:

1. If you are a customer, what do you think of your experiences with Microsoft products and their customer services?
2. If you were a customer, why did you switch?
3. If you aren't a customer, why have you chosen other computing products and services?
   In general, what are your impressions of Microsoft?
4. What is your experience with Office?
5. What are Microsoft's greatest strengths?
6. What are its greatest weaknesses?
7. Would you recommend Microsoft products and services to others? If yes, why? If no, why not?
8. Would you miss Microsoft if it want away?

P.S. Check out Matt Dickman's look at  Microsoft's innovative new visual search tool called Tafiti. Also check out Seth's post where he shares: "Obsessing about the last inch of follow through ensures that the important parts of what you do get just as much (if not more) commitment." I wonder where Microsoft's commitment is. Is it to the end user or to the software engineer.

Why Do You Shop at...?

Later today, my Selling to Small Businesses series continues on the subject of differentiation, or what I  prefer to call specialness. Meanwhile, as I sip my morning Starbucks, brewed fresh in my kitchen, I began wondering why I prefer Starbucks to Duncan Donuts.

When I am on the road and unable to make my own cup of java, I first ask if a Starbucks in nearby. If one isn't, then I visit any cafe that carries coffee beans and makes fresh coffee from well-sourced beans. The message seems to be that, while I prefer Starbucks, good coffee is what I seek, and it can come from any number of brands.

So getting back to my original musings, why do I prefer Starbucks? Or Stop & Shop to Shaw's? Or REI to Eddie Bauer? Or any variety store to Wal-Mart? What drives our shopping preferences? Do we choose based on perception, emotions, psychology, quality, price? Or does something deeper, something embedded in a business's messaging or in the way we process that messaging that drives our decisions about where to buy?

As marketers, we are always looking for the best ways to identify our client's best customers. But are we very good at it? Does Market Research ask the right questions and give us the right answers? Are we looking in the right places for those answers? At the end of the day, what is it that we should most look at to understand what motivates us as shoppers and consumers?

How Do You Feel About Amazon.com?

This is the sixth in a series of articles that ask you how you feel about certain companies. Today, we  look at Amazon.com. When we evaluate online retailers, three areas stand out: 1) cost of product, 2) delivery reliability, cost and time, and 3) the overall purchasing experience, including ease of usability.

Brand is not what a company says or even does, it is how you and I perceive what a company says and does and how they meet our expectations. Nothing else matters but your perception. Whatever you believe about a business is their brand image to you. And you matter because businesses depend upon your purchasing power and your loyalty for profitability.

So what do you think and feel about Amazon.com? Do they live up to the following, which describes how they think of themselves. And what sorts of experiences have you had online with the company? Links for the information below are provided.

Amazon.com was incorporated in 1994 in Washington state and reincorporated in 1996 in Delaware. The Company's principal corporate offices are located in Seattle, Washington. Amazon.com completed its initial public offering in May 1997, and its common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol AMZN.

Vision Statement

Our vision is to be earth's most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.

A Message to Our Shareowners

As we stated in our 1997 Letter to Shareholders, "A fundamental measure of our success will be the shareholder value we create over the long term." From the very beginning, our emphasis has been on the long term and as a result, we may make decisions and weigh tradeoffs differently than some other companies. Accordingly, it is important for you, our shareholders, to understand our fundamental management and decision-making approach so that you may ensure that it is consistent with your own investment philosophy. We will continue to:

• Focus relentlessly on our customers. Make bold investment decisions in light of long-term leadership considerations rather than short-term profitability considerations. There is more innovation ahead of us than behind us, and to that end, we are committed to extending our leadership in e-commerce in a way that benefits customers and therefore, inherently, investors -- you can't do one without the other. Some of these bold investments will pay off, others will not, but we will have learned a valuable lesson in either case.
• Focus on cash. When forced to choose between optimizing the appearance of our GAAP accounting and maximizing the present value of future cash flows, we'll take the cash flows.
• Work hard to spend wisely and maintain our lean culture. We understand the importance of continually reinforcing a cost-conscious culture.
• Focus on hiring and retaining versatile and talented employees, and weight their compensation to significant stock ownership rather than cash. We know our success will be largely affected by our ability to attract and retain a motivated employee base, each of whom must think like, and therefore must actually be, an owner.

We are firm believers that the long-term interests of shareholders are tightly linked to the interests of our customers. If we do our jobs right, today's customers will buy more tomorrow, we'll add more customers in the process, and it will all add up to more cash flow and more long-term value for our shareholders.

As Amazonians, we thank you, our owners, for your support, your encouragement, and for joining us on this adventure. If you're a customer, we thank you again!

P.S. Every Thursday I turn this space over to you, meaning that except for acknowledging your comments with a person e-mail, I seldom join in the comments.

Automobile Manufacturers Continue Cost Cutting: Is that the answer to their problems?

When businesses swim in red ink, costs must be cut. It remains to be seen how well the exercise works for Ford and Chevy, but often cuts tear deeply into the fabric of a business. And since cutting costs is usually the primary strategy, and sometimes the only one, the business ends up worse off than before the cutting began. I fear that may be the case with Ford and Chevy. Here's why.

Their problems began during the '70s, when the Japanese car invasion began in earnest, which coincided with a gas shortage, rationing and a spike in gas prices.

Seemed like a clear message being sent by the marketplace. Oil is imported from unstable places and people were beginning to move to more energy efficient cars. Detroit mostly ignored the signs. Today, American automobiles (defined as those produced by American corporations) represent a minority of cars on our highways. And yet as recently as 2006, Ford and Chevy depended upon the sale of pickup trucks and SUVs for much of their revenues. To me, there appears a disconnect between American Automobile Manufacturers and meeting customers wants and needs.

How can cutting costs change that? Is their a future for Ford and Chevy? Do their marketing strategies seem relevant with their automobile manufacturing strategies? What do they have to do to regain market share from Honda and Toyota?

P.S. Seth recently wrote this: The interesting lesson for marketers is this: if iguanas had had predators and competition while this was going on, they never would have survived. Would this have been the story of American automobile manufacturers if Honda and Toyota et al had been around 70 years ago?

How Do You Feel About Best Buy?

This is the fourth in a series of articles that ask you how you feel about certain companies. Today, we   look at Best Buy. When we evaluate a retail environment, I think two areas stand out: Ease of level of experience and customer service.

Brand is not what a company says or even does, it is how you and I perceive what a company says and does and how they meet our expectations. Nothing else matters but your perception. Whatever you believe about a business is their brand image to you. And you matter because businesses depend upon your purchasing power and your loyalty for profitability. So what do you think and feel about Best Buy? Do they live up to the following, which describes how they think of themselves:

Best Buy, an innovative and growing Fortune 100 company, strives to make life fun and easy for millions of people across North America. Our mission is to give our customers great experiences – whether they are shopping for consumer electronics, home-office products, entertainment software and appliances, or using those products and related-services in their homes and offices.

• Best Buy is growing its business by:
  • Converting more stores to the customer-centric operating model.
• Adding new stores to better serve existing and new markets.
• Expanding and strengthening service offerings.
• Boosting employee retention in order to deliver better customer experiences while increasing productivity.
• Adding individualized marketing capabilities to our skills in mass marketing.
• Simplifying our internal processes so they respond better to
  changing customers’ needs.

Best Buy is part of where you live. That's why we go to great lengths to give back to all the communities that have been so generous to us.

In addition to donating 1.5% of our pre-tax earnings to local and national giving programs, our community-related activities include volunteerism, scholarships, partnerships, recycling opportunities and other programs designed to improve quality of life for us all.

• Best Buy was named a Fortune Blue Ribbon Company for being recognized on the publication’s Fortune 500 (No. 76), Global 500 (No. 191), Most Admired (No. 2 in Specialty Retailer category) and Global Most Admired (No. 2 in Specialty Retailer category) lists.
• Best Buy ranked fifth in Forbes list of Most Charitable Companies by donating $18.8 million in 2004, 1.1 percent of the previous year’s income (November 14, 2005).
• Best Buy ranked ninth in customer service in a survey sponsored by the National Retailer Federation and American Express (November 2005).
• Best Buy held the No. 1 position on the Stores ranking of the Top 100 Specialty Retailers (August 2005).

P.S. In each installment of this series, I will share how a business wants to see itself and how they want you to perceive them. What we need from you is your honest observations and feelings about how you perceive that company. The only way to have your voice heard is to express your opinions, whether or not you want change or want a business to be the way it used to be or want a business to stay just as it is or want a business just to go away. I assure you the businesses I feature will hear you loud and clear.

I seldom posts my replies to your comments in this series, although I will respond to you via email. Instead, I turn this weekly post over to you.

How Do You Feel About McDonald's?

This is the third in a series of articles that ask you how you feel about certain companies. Today, we  look at McDonald's.

Brand is not what a company says or even does, it is how you and I perceive what a company says and does and how they meet our expectations. Nothing else matters but your perception. Whatever you believe about a business is their brand image to you. And you matter because businesses depend upon your purchasing power and your loyalty for profitability.

In each installment of this series, I will share how a business wants to see itself and how they want you to perceive them. What we need from you is your honest observations and feelings about how you perceive that company. The only way to have your voice heard is to express your opinions, whether or not you want change or want a business to be the way it used to be or want a business to stay just as it is or want a business just to go away. I assure you the businesses I feature will hear you loud and clear.

Following is how McDonald's sees itself. How do you see the brand?

As I  was doing my research for this post, a friend of mine, Matt, alerted me to McDonald's Blog, called McDonald's Corporate Responsibility Blog. Having a blog that is open for discussion and for comments is a good sign, assuming McDonald's listens. Even if they aren't great listeners, the blog offers each of us an opportunity to speak out. Here is what McDonald's wants you to know:

Food Quality

• McDonald’s serves 100% beef, 100% chicken, and Grade A eggs
• McDonald’s food comes only from certified suppliers who are audited and inspected on a regular basis
• Many of the foods McDonald’s serves are from the same trusted brands consumers purchase at the grocery store to enjoy at home – Dannon, Kraft, Nestlé, Tyson, Dasani, Newman’s Own, Heinz, Minute Maid and many others

Food Safety

• More than 2,000 safety, quality and inspection checks surround McDonald’s food as it moves from the farms to our restaurants
• McDonald’s requires that 72 safety protocols are conducted every single day in McDonald’s restaurants
• McDonald’s works closely with independent experts on science, health and food to help McDonald’s develop the most stringent safety protocols

Nutrition

• For 30 years, McDonald’s has provided comprehensive nutrition information -- the first in the QSR industry to do so; this year, nutrition information is on packaging, putting it right in the hands of customers
• McDonald’s serves premium salads, chicken, yogurt, bottled water, fruit & more
• A McDonald’s hamburger is 260 calories and 9 grams of fat, and is the same size as it was when
  introduced in 1955 Jobs & Opportunity

McDonald's Facts

• 20 of top 50 management started in McDonald’s restaurants, including our CEO, Jim Skinner
• 67,000 McDonald’s restaurant managers and assistant managers started as restaurant staff
• McDonald’s is the only restaurant organization to receive credit recommendations from the American Council on Education (ACE)

Our People

• “Best Place to Work for Minorities” – Fortune Magazine 2005
• McDonald’s invests more than $1 billion annually in training
• Hamburger University® has more than 275,000 graduates worldwide & with training, eligible for college credits
• “One out of 5 Best Places to Work in Latin American” – America Economic Magazine 2005

Community Commitment

• McDonald’s local owners are “Moms & Pops” too
• Ronald McDonald Houses® are homes away from homes for families with seriously ill children in more than 259 local communities around the world
• Ronald McDonald Care Mobile™ program is a fleet of state-of-the-art vehicles that deliver cost-effective medical, dental and education services directly to underserved children in their own neighborhoods

Awards For Good Corporate Citizenship

• In the past 10 years, McDonald’s has received more than 60 awards for corporate responsibility
  and environmental leadership.
• International Employment Recognition and Awards include:
  o Canada: Among 50 Best Employers (2006) – Hewitt Associates
  o Latin America: Among the Best 25 Places to Work (2005) – Great Place to Work
  o Brazil: Best Employer (2004) – Expansion
  o Malaysia: Most Caring Employer (2004) in – Ministry of Human Resources
  o New Zealand: Human Resources Initiative of the Year (2004)
  o Hong Kong: Employer of the Year (2004) – JobsDB.com
  o Australia: Most Outstanding Company in Management Development (2003) in Australia – Japan
  Management Association

Environmental Awards include:

• Climate Protection Award (2005) – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Environmental Leadership Award (2001) – Audubon Society
• Recycling Works Recognition Award (2001) – National Recycling Coalition
• WasteWise Partner of the Year (2000) – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Vision For America Award (1999) – Keep America Beautiful
• Green Lights Retail Partner of the Year (1998) – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Queen Mother's Award for Environmental Improvement (1997)
• Corporate Conservation Leadership Award (1995) – Conservation International
• In 2005, McDonald’s was added to Dow Jones Worldwide Sustainability Index (DJSI), a highly-selective list of industry leaders in corporate responsibility limited to just 300 global companies, and one of the most prestigious stock listings for socially responsible investors.
• McDonald’s chosen for commitment to improving environmental and social performance,
  responsiveness to stakeholders and CSR reporting. McDonald’s was cited for great strides in energy efficiency, food supply