Hewlett-Packard heads a corporate social responsibility rating of the world’s seven largest computer companies.
The US firm was the best performer in an analysis by Munich-based oekom research that used 200 environmental and social criteria. Apple, Dell, Fujitsu, IBM, NEC and Sun Microsystems were also rated.
Hewlett-Packard was rated B– on a twelve-point scale from A+ down to D, putting it just ahead of Apple (US), which also scored B–. The Japanese company NEC was in third place with a C+ rating.
Overall standards of social responsibility among computer manufacturers ‘remain low’, however, according to oekom research. One ‘major shortcoming’ was the lack of monitoring of suppliers’ social performance, even though most of the companies it studied ‘are increasingly outsourcing production and obtaining components from firms in low-wage countries.’
The industry’s record on social inclusion was better, with several companies donating computers to poorer organizations and individuals to help bridge the ‘digital divide’.