Business Ethics Magazine lists "100 Best Corporate Citizens" for 2006.(REQUIRED READING)

Business Ethics Magazine has released its annual survey of the "100 Best Corporate Citizens" in the Spring 2006 issue. The closely-watched survey has gained national recognition as an indicator of best practices in the area of corporate social responsibility.

This year's "100 Best" list is led by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters of Waterbury, Vermont, which was cited for its "meticulous attention to corporate social responsibility," including its pioneering work in the fair trade movement, which pays coffee growers stable, fair prices. Green Mountain has been among the top 10 companies on Business Ethics' list for four years running.

Now in its seventh year, the list for 2006 is striking because of the dominance of technology firms among the top 10. Hewlett-Packard is enjoying its seventh time in the top 10, while Advanced Micro Devices makes its first appearance on the list. Motorola is enjoying its third time in the top 10, and Agilent Technologies its second time.

Rounding out the top 10 this year are The Timberland Company, list newcomer Salesforce.com, Cisco Systems, Dell and Texas Instruments.

Why the strong showing by tech? "Surprisingly, it's not due to financial outperformance" said Marjorie Kelly, Editor of Business Ethics, "since none of the top tech companies ranked in the top 10 in financial returns." Instead, Kelly noted, most top tech companies do well on environmental issues. They also tend to be active in their communities and score high in employee relations, she said. "These firms know that to attract and retain talent, it pays to be socially enlightened. High-tech seems to be a genuinely socially responsible sector."

The list saw quite a bit of turnover from 2005, with 33 companies appearing for the first time. Newcomers Johnson & Johnson and McGraw-Hill Companies score particularly high in ...