Corporate and Citizenship Governance
Cisco is committed to rigorously and diligently exercising our oversight responsibilities throughout the company, managing our affairs consistent with the highest principles of business ethics, and exceeding the corporate governance requirements of both U.S. federal law and the NASDAQ.
Cisco is managed by a Board of Directors. The charters of our Board committees clearly establish their respective roles and responsibilities. The majority of our Board members are independent of Cisco and its management. All members of our Audit Committee, the Compensation and Management Development Committee, and the Nomination and Governance Committee are completely independent of Cisco management. Our internal audit control function maintains critical oversight over the key areas of our business and financial processes and controls, and reports directly to our Audit Committee.
Full details of our corporate governance policies are provided on the Investor Relations Website
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Citizenship Council
Cisco's responsible business practices are managed by the Citizenship Council (view charter). The Council engages with business units, advocates citizenship issues among them, and responds to feedback from our customers, employees, investors, and partners. It prioritizes issues and helps develop strategies to address them.
The Council monitors Cisco's corporate responsibility programs on an ongoing basis. It advises on the disclosure and transparency of information relating to Cisco's corporate responsibility, and monitors the status and progress of our corporate responsibility programs.
Progress in FY2004 and FY2005
In FY2004, the Citizenship Council launched a three-year plan to integrate corporate citizenship throughout Cisco's business units.
The Citizenship Council, which was initiated in 2003, started by establishing a global citizenship strategy. This involved setting priorities for our business units, developing an internal communications plan, and conducting an internal assessment of our citizenship policies and measurement procedures. This included:
- Collecting and assessing internal performance to enable a deeper understanding of potential enhancements to Cisco's corporate social responsibility initiatives
- Benchmarking Cisco's corporate social responsibility practices and policies against those of our peers, customers, and partners, as well as established and emerging industry standards and guidelines where appropriate
- Identifying appropriate indicators and performance measurements
The Citizenship Council began integrating the citizenship strategy into our business units in FY2005. This involved implementing the communications plan, overseeing a global training program on citizenship issues, and integrating reporting and measurement procedures across the company's business units. Citizenship program development at Cisco is decentralized. Emerging issues are addressed through issue-specific subcouncils that come together to address new issues and integrate and embed responsibility for ongoing management of those issues into the appropriate business functions. Today, we have several citizenship advocates that lead cross-functional teams and subcouncils that focus on the following areas:
- The integration of product stewardship strategies to help ensure compliance with European directives on hazardous substances and electronic waste
- The integration of climate change activities related to product energy efficiency, lab energy management, and renewable energy sourcing
- Advancing and supporting supplier responsibility and ethical sourcing policies
- Advancing and supporting supplier diversity
- Improving collection of program and performance data for future citizenship reports
