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VERNON E. JORDAN, JR.

can ignore the importance of establishing a reputation founded

on socially responsible actions. Corporate social responsibility

does impact on a company’s bottom line, sometimes in very cru-

cial ways.

My friend George Weisman, who was the CEO of Philip

Morris, used to say that he was often asked how his company’s

contributions to arts and minority organizations helped the com-

pany. And he would answer that he knew those activities paid off

in higher sales and in a better public image, but that he could not put a dollar figure on them. And then he said that his company

also spent hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising�"but he

could not say with any precision how much that added to the

bottom line, either.

So while it is not possible to quantify the bottom-line impact

of corporate social responsibility, it is also not possible to do the same with other activities essential to the well-being of a business.

In the case of multinational corporations operating in the

United States, the intangible benefits of corporate social respon-

sibility take on an even greater dimension.

You know very well that the growing presence of foreign com-

panies in the United States is a source of political controversy. You know that Japanese companies have been the most visible foreign

investors for a number of reasons�"the trade deficit, the sheer size and rapid growth of Japanese investments, the severe dislocations

among American workers caused by foreign competition.

To effectively counter anti-Japanese sentiment, it is not

enough for you to condemn �śJapan-bashing” or to educate the