Bonn, 12. April 2005. Pleon is organising a worldwide study of readers’ expectations towards corporate reports on social responsibility and sustainability in order to provide valuable information to companies about what the readers of these reports want to find out.

More than 12,000 global stakeholders -- including company employees, academics, politicians, NGOs, international organisations, journalists, consultants, students and consumers -- have been invited to participate and are currently contributing their opinions online*. The internet-based survey will also capture the opinion of the general public and is accessible between 12 April and 8 May 2005.

Today, most large – and an increasing number of medium sized – companies are producing an ever growing amount reports based on their economic, social and environmental performance. These include sustainability reports, CSR reports, corporate citizenship reports and triple bottom line reports.. However, there has been no mechanism to measure if these corporate reports fulfil the expectations of their readers and hence no way to improve CSR reporting and ensure that the public is receiving the information it wants. The Pleon study will address this need by asking participants who read these reports to contribute their thoughts and ideas, and to record the pros and cons of these documents.

The results will be published in an extended research report, and free copies will be available on request. To support the research findings there will also be a number of public presentations and workshops at various locations.

The survey is completely anonymous, and completing the online questionnaire takes between 15 – 30 minutes , depending on the speed of the Internet connection.

*The questionnaire is online 12 April to 8 May 2005. To access the questionnaire click here: ww3.umfragecenter.de/uc/pleon_gsr05

 
For more information please contact

Pleon Kohtes Klewes
Axel Klein
Tel. (+49-228) 91514-221
Fax (+49-228) 91514-177
axel.klein(at)pleon.com