Improving the lives of consumers worldwide is about more than just great products. It's about corporate responsibility through positive contributions to environmental quality and to the communities in which we live and operate our businesses.

In establishing the corporation, society gave it certain rights to encourage its success and longevity. In return, we believe a corporation has certain responsibilities to society – to the governmental entities that authorize its existence, to our employees, our shareholders, our consumers, and the communities and nations where we operate.

Our most important responsibility, we believe, comes from the very purpose of a corporation – to create and build a successful business. When we're successful, we not only provide a return to our shareholders, but equally important, we provide long term employment and income for our employees, and for the many businesses that will develop and grow to support us. Fulfilling this primary responsibility is particularly important as we enter and begin growing our business in developing countries and those previously behind the Iron Curtain whose economies are undergoing fundamental change. There is a limit to what any one company can do to bring about the fundamental changes required to improve the lot of these societies, but we believe we can make the most meaningful contribution by serving as a role model for others to follow. In fact, the very presence of a successful American company helps educate the people and the government about the benefits of a free and democratic system.

Going hand-in-hand with our responsibility to build a successful business is, of course, our responsibility to abide by the laws and regulations of the countries and communities in which we do business; and we do this everywhere we operate. In fact, we often go beyond what is required by law in how we treat our employees, the environment, and the communities where we live. When we see things that need changing, we work within the system of established laws and regulations of the duly constituted government. We are a United States corporation, and because of that, where an issue involves relationships with a government outside the U.S., we take our guidance primarily from the policy of the U.S. government toward the other nation.