At Cisco, we engage with a wide range of stakeholders, including our employees, customers, investors, governments, and communities. Much of this engagement takes place as part of normal business practice, but we also solicit important feedback from stakeholders specifically on issues around our corporate citizenship activities. Cisco consults with our stakeholders when we want to consider their views and involvement in making and implementing a business decision. This process also provides significant opportunities to further align our business practices with societal needs and expectations to help drive long-term sustainability and shareholder value.
Dialogue with our external and internal stakeholders improves our understanding of how Cisco is perceived, helps us evaluate stakeholder satisfaction, strengthens our citizenship programs, and allows us to identify important issues to address.
Through these engagements, Cisco aims to gain perspective and insight regarding our corporate citizenship performance, specifically:
To learn more about how Cisco’s current corporate citizenship is perceived and where the company could be more transparent or change current practice
To get forward-looking information from stakeholders with particular subject-matter expertise, industry knowledge, or insight into our lines of business and specified growth areas
To provide Cisco leadership with a chance to listen to different perspectives and build ongoing relationships with key influencers
The feedback from recent stakeholder engagements indicates that our stakeholders believe Cisco has made progress in areas of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Stakeholders view Cisco as a leader in CSR, as evidenced by our participation in Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), for example. In addition, stakeholders view Cisco as transparent, accessible, and a strong performer, and they feel our participation in external groups is wide ranging.
For the future, our stakeholders look to Cisco to provide more nuanced data and metrics in support of our CSR activities, as well as to anticipate trends and continue to play a leadership role in addressing emerging CSR issues.
Cisco’s Commitment to Stakeholders
Cisco engages with a diverse range of stakeholders:
Communities and civil society: Through our operations and corporate and employee contributions, we strive to enhance the quality of life in the communities where we live and work, and upon which we depend.
Customers and consumers: Our company consistently strives to treat customers and consumers fairly and honestly, maintain product quality and integrity, engage in responsible marketing and consumer information practices, and address social and health issues related to our products.
Employees: We are committed to fostering workplaces that are safe and professional and that promote teamwork, diversity, personal development, and trust.
Environment: We are committed to reducing the environmental impact of our activities and promoting the sustainable use of the natural resources on which we depend, while providing quality products that meet the needs of our customers and consumers.
Governments: We are firmly committed to conducting business in compliance with the letter and spirit of the law, regulatory requirements, and other accepted standards of business conduct, and to working with legislators and government officials.
Shareholders: We seek to create shareholder value by working hard and responsibly to achieve superior financial results, and through our commitment to transparency and integrity in our financial reporting.
Suppliers/business partners: In all our business dealings, Cisco strives to be honest and fair. We seek to establish and maintain productive relationships with our business partners. In our markets, we will compete vigorously but fairly, complying with all laws protecting competition and the integrity of the marketplace.
Cisco actively collaborates and engages with the following stakeholder organizations:
The Carbon Disclosure Project, an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a lasting relationship between shareholders and corporations regarding the implications for shareholder value and commercial operations presented by climate change.
Climate Leaders, an EPA industry-government partnership that works with companies to develop comprehensive climate change strategies.
The Clinton Global Initiative, a nonpartisan community of global leaders from various backgrounds whose goal is to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
CSR Europe, the leading European business network for corporate social responsibility, whose mission is to support member companies in integrating CSR into their day-to-day business activities.
International Telecommunication Union, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing access to telecommunications technology on a global scale, to improving lives, and to safeguarding human rights.
Global eSustanability Initiative, an organization dedicated to the creation of an open and global forum for the improvement and promotion of products, services, and access to ICT for the benefit of human development and sustainable development.
The Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition, whose goal is to create a comprehensive set of tools and methods that support credible implementation of the Code of Conduct throughout the electronics and information and communications technology supply chain.
The Climate Group, an independent, nonprofit international organization dedicated to advancing business and government leadership on climate change.
Environmental Defense Fund, a leading national nonprofit organization that links science, economics, and law to create innovative, equitable, and cost-effective solutions to society's most urgent environmental problems.
The World Economic Forum, an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional, and industry agendas.
Cisco engages with the following stakeholder organizations in a monitoring or educational capacity:
, an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a lasting relationship between shareholders and corporations regarding the implications for shareholder value and commercial operations presented by climate change.