Kimberly-Clark Corporation: The Environmental Sustainability Challenge

On being ranked No.1 from among 16 companies in the personal products category, Thomas Falk (Falk), Chairman and CEO, K-C, said, "We are proud of our rankings in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index. We recognize that only companies that build sustainability into the way they do business will have enduring success, and to that end, we are advancing sustainability throughout Kimberly-Clark."⁵ The company obtained high rankings in the areas of environmental policy/management, standards for suppliers, customer relationship management, corporate citizenship/philanthropy, strategy for emerging markets, and risk and crisis management (Refer to Exhibit I for more about DJSI).

The company had been focusing on sustainability and environmental friendly business practices as a key to the successful functioning of its business. K-C said it followed procurement practices which emphasized procurement of fiber from suppliers who followed sustainable practices and that it aimed to procure 100 % of fiber from certified suppliers in the future. It also focused on afforestation, to regrow forests that it had utilized for manufacturing its products.

K-C was considered as one of the pioneers of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) even before the term CSR came into popular use...