Paris Saint-Germain vs Girondins Bordeaux Live Stream, Live Scores August 22 2010
The French Ligue 1 football clash between Paris Saint-Germain vs Girondins Bordeaux kicks off at 21:00 CET live at Parc des Princes, Paris 22 August 2010.

Every summer an expectation builds around the performances of Paris Saint-Germain and almost invariably les Parisiens fall flat on their face, though victory against Bordeaux in Sunday night’s showcase encounter would certainly go some way to justifying the hype surrounding this vintage of the Parc des Prince’s finest.

Bordeaux haven’t had the opportunity to consider European football this term, still stinging from a miserable conclusion to last season that saw them fighting on four fronts only to crumble miserably on each. Les Girondins’ league form was the crucial facet of their campaign to suffer, and the club are still feeling the knock-on effects now.

Les Parisiens have a clean bill of health going into this encounter, assuming no knocks were picked up in the midweek meeting with Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Given Bordeaux’s problems, it’s hard to see them turning things around against a PSG side who looked confident and will be backed by a strong home following. Les Girondins’ slump isn’t terminal, but Sunday won’t be the day it’s broken. Expect a home success.

Watch Paris Saint-Germain vs Girondins Bordeaux Live Streaming

Paris Saint-Germain vs Girondins Bordeaux Live Betting

Verdict: PSG vs Bordeaux 2-1

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BEHIND EVERY GREAT MACCABI VOLUNTEER THERE IS A GREAT PARTNER

Picture L-R Craig, baby Ashley, Emma, baby Chloe, Sandra, Darren, Zoe, Elliot, Lauren and Barry

Picture by Nadine Saacks

BARRY SMORGON, CHAIRMAN, MACCABI AUSTRALIA

Barry Smorgon participated in his first Senior Carnival in Athletics as a 14 year old.  He competed for Maccabi Athletics from 1962 till 1970, winning many awards as Jewish Champion, and went on to the Maccabiah Games in Israel in 1969 as a member of the Athletics Team.  Barry also played Australian Rules Football for AJAX Football Club from 1970 to 1978, playing 100 games.  He served on the Committee of both clubs as Vice President, as well as on the Maccabi Victoria Executive.  Barry was Patron of MAIG’s in Sydney 2006 and will again be Patron in 2010.  He joined the Executive of Maccabi Australia in 2006, and created the Board of Governors in 2007, serving as Founding Chairman, as well as chairman of MAI.  He is a member of the Justification Committee for the Maccabiah Games 2009. Barry’s voluntary work does not stop there. Barry was Campaign Chairman for the JCA Appeal for over 10 years in Sydney. Barry’s wife, Sandra also shares Barry’s beliefs about Community and the essential need to “give back”. Barry continues to be heavily involved with JCA & AIJAC.

In business, Barry serves as Executive Chairman of the Jalco Group, employing over 600 people, and Sandbar Investments, a private investment company. He is a Director of DBR Corporation as well as several other private companies.

Odile Faludi candidly speaks to Sandra Smorgon and it was no surprise to find out the following:

Sandra is a woman in love. She respects not only Barry but respects the organisation he works so hard for being Maccabi. For Sandra, Maccabi has always been part of their life as long as she can remember. This week they celebrate 37 years as husband and wife. Sandra has many fond memories of watching Barry play football for AJAX in the freezing cold in Melbourne as a love struck girlfriend. She always knew Maccabi would be part of their life together and says openly, “I am incredibly proud of Barry and respectful of his voluntary work and accomplishments”.

Sandra believes in the philosophy of Maccabi and agrees that there is no better way to bring a community together but through the common love of sport. Barry’s sense of community has always attracted Sandra to him and she believes makes him an even greater role model to their children and now grandchildren.

Barry’s love of Maccabi is a commitment and does take a lot of his time but Sandra is convinced it is time well spent. Their three children, Darren, Emma and Lauren have always thought their Dad’s involvement was important and deserved their respect and admiration as well. Darren played Football for many years for Maccabi and Emma did Athletics as well as Netball together with Lauren. All three children attended Junior Carnivals and Maccabi was very much part of their childhood and throughout their teens. The Smorgons are very proud to admit that all three children have a very strong sense of community and this was definitely instilled by their wonderful upbringing.

We can only conclude that behind every Great Maccabi Volunteer there is a Great Partner. There’s no doubt about it … the community is very lucky to have Barry but Barry is very lucky to have Sandra!

ORDINARY PEOPLE WHO RISE ABOVE A TRAGEDY

As we all know the Maccabiah Bridge Collapse was the catastrophic failure of a pedestrian bridge over the Yarkon River in Tel Aviv, Israel on July 14, 1997. This resulted in the loss of Yetty Bennett, Warren Zines, Elizabeth Sawicki and Greg Small.

Suzanne and Rebecca Small share some intimate moments with Odile Faludi. With only weeks to Maccabiah World Games 2009 you can imagine their minds and hearts are spinning.

Picture L-R Rebecca, Suzanne & Josh Small

Suzanne’s thoughts in her words …

The year 2009 is a year of moving forward for the Small Family. In 1997, my husband, Greg and I went to participate in the Maccabiah Games, there was a tragic bridge collapse in which my husband died.

I survived, but now in 2009, 12 years later the Small Family is travelling back to the Maccabiah Games and it holds new highs for our family.

My son Joshua was 7 and my daughter, Rebecca, was only 5 in 1997.  At these Games myself and Rebecca will be standing proudly at the Opening Ceremony, up in the stands watching my son, Joshua, now 19 marching in with the Aussie team, he made it after much training and hard work.

I am thrilled for my son and very proud of him.  Josh is a Champ in his own right and trained long and hard to get selected for the team. As he wears the Aussie colours of Maccabi in Israel, he will wear them in honour of his Dad. Josh has a dream, maybe from a different angle and a different age, but the dream is the same as his Dad’s was. It is now my son’s time to shine. You try bowling 15 games straight with a 7  kilo ball, bowl after bowl.

Our family will catch up with many Maccabi members from all over the world, the experience will be amazing. I have not been able to do sport since 1997 due to injuries, but we are still very involved with Maccabi, we have Maccabi friends, who have become Maccabi family.  The tradition follows on … what an incredible year Josh at Maccabiah, the start of a dream and Rebecca completing High School the end of a chapter.

By Rebecca Small written in 2004 aged 12

Simply My Dad

I loved the way you held my hand, when I was afraid or scared.

I loved the way we played with sand, it showed how much you cared.

I loved it when you tucked me in at night, you always said “I love you”, you took your time to make it right, sweet dreams they’re always about you.

I love the fact that when we’re apart it feels like we’re together.

I love the way you’re in my heart, always and forever.

I hate the fact we’re always apart, but know you’re always in my heart.

RUNNING YOUR CLUB … IT’S YOUR BUSINESS!

Is your Club finding it hard to find a pulse? … over the coming months Maccabi News is going to give you useful ideas on how to kickstart your Club and reminders that like any business you need to give it the occasional health check! Considering we are suffering a Global Financial Crisis it may be a good time to discuss tips on obtaining Sponsorships for your Club:

Your important checklist is:

• Offer a win/win proposal NOT a problem;
• Target companies with the “right fit”;
• Offer rights that the company can exploit;
• Stand out from the clutter – make sure your proposal is addressed and delivered to the person who has the power to say “yes”;
• Be professional – always present your proposal in a professional manner and understand what is required of a commercial relationship;
• Be persistent, not a pest – following up a sponsorship request is necessary, but don’t become a pest! It takes time for the potential sponsor to come to grips with what you are offering and for a relationship to grow and develop. Open transparent communication is important at all times.

We hope these tips are helpful and if you would like to have further discussion about sponsorships always feel free to contact the editor Odile at odile@maccabi.com.au for further assistance.

MISSED OUT ON MACCABIAH FEELING BLUE?

MAIGS has got you covered!

With only weeks away till Maccabiah 2009 commencing in Israel you may be feeling depressed that you have missed out in competing in your favourite sport. Not to worry as MAIGS, Maccabi Australia International Games is around the corner and it’s in Sydney. Dates are December 26, 2010 to January 2, 2011. Countries who have registered their interest to date are: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, England, Europe, Israel, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Scotland, South Africa, USA and Venezuela.

MAIGS 2006 Opening Ceremony
L-R Elan Miller, Mike Galgut, Rozanne Green, Alex Berkowicz Back Row centre Gil Sher

Whatever your favourite sport is we have it covered. There are over 20 sports on offer.

This event is open to males and females in three categories: Youth born 1992/1993, Open and Masters.

Keep Saturday evening February 13th 2010 free for the Official launch of MAIGS. Heads of Delegations from some of the participating Countries will be here in Sydney and it should be a very interesting evening.

For all details contact Jeff Houseman on 0438-692-810 or register your interest atmaig2010@maccabi.com.au or if you want to contact Jeff directly at yorkstat@bigpond.com

Stay tuned NSW Maccabiah Team 2009 to be announced next week in a very special edition of Maccabi News – we are so proud of all participants! All participants have been invited to a formal farewell Reception being hosted by The Honourable Nathan Rees, MP on Monday 22nd June. Full report to follow next week.The 18th Maccabiah World Games will take place in Israel between July 13-23, 2009. Maccabi News will keep you up-to-date on all the highlights.

MACCABI JUNIOR SOCCER PROVIDES NEW INITIATIVE

Picture by Alan Charack
Alan Charack reports …

This year Maccabi Junior Soccer Club has launched its own Football Academy, for boys and girls looking to develop their skills that one step further.  The Academy is the brain child of Club President Danny Hochberg and is headed up by Coaching Director Andy Prentice who also coaches the men’s first grade.

Every Monday approximately 40 boys aged from 9 to 12 years and every Wednesday approximately 40 girls aged from 11 to 16 years assemble at Barracluff Park in Bondi for specialised sessions with professional coaches in addition to their regular team training session.  The focus is on developing the whole range of skills, from passing and dribbling to advanced ball control.  The Academy operates under lights and has continued to run over recent weeks through rain and shine!

One of the aims of the Academy is to bring kids up to a standard where they can compete at an elite level.  In particular many of the boys are looking to participate in the Maccabi-Hakoah Youth Development League teams which go from U13 to U18.  The girls also have occasions to participate at an elite level at tournaments organised by Football NSW and others, such as Champion of Champions, North Harbour, State Cup and Kanga Cup.

Whilst this is the first year that the Academy has been offered it is hoped that the Academy will grow and develop over coming years attracting the most committed and talented kids, developing their skills, providing enjoyment and fanning their passion for the game.

A PASSIONATE DAD

Picture by Norman Orly
Harry Rosen Maccabi Under 14A’s

Norman Orly is a Maccabi parent who just loves to watch his son, Josh play in the Under 14A’s so he can just snap away these amazing action shots!

Maccabi Soccer has unleashed the photographer within him! It has become his “passion”.

HERE COMES THE GIRLS …

Courtesy of Henry Benjamin Maccabiah Media

The Women’s Football team spent a weekend together in Melbourne … their third training retreat to prepare for the 18th Maccabiah World Games.
They travelled from Sydney and Perth to join their team-mates in Melbourne under the tutelage of coaches Martin Cohen and Robi Roth.

The highlight of the retreat was a friendly game against local side Cairnlea who hold top spot in Victoria’s Northern Region State League.

It was a wonderful confidence boosting finish with 5-0 triumph for the Maccabiah Team.

POWERGOLF QUEENSLAND CLASSIC – COOLUM AUGUST 19-23

We need to confirm rooms with the Hyatt Regency Coolum at the end of this week and also relinquish air tickets.  If you are still thinking of coming please contact Barry Zinn ASAP at  zinnee@bigpond.com

GAMES TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND

Sunday 21 June Reserve grade Maccabi Hakoah vs Roosters FC at ES Marks Field at 1.00pm

Sunday 21 June First grade Maccabi Hakoah vs Roosters FC at ES Marks Field at 3.00pm

ES Marks Field – Cnr Alison & Anzac Parade, Kensington enter through Boronia Street Gates.

SAVE THIS DATE – Saturday 27th June

The Rugby Club is putting on a “Ladies Day” promotion at it’s next home fixture, being Saturday, 27 June, 2009. The event starts from 1.30pm and is being held at the home ground, “Fortress Lyne Park”, New South Head Road, Rose Bay. The event co-incides with the match against arch-rivals, Dee Why, who beat us in the Grand Final last year. Kick-off is at 3.15pm. Our 2nd XV also has a game scheduled, with kick-off at 2pm.

HAKOAH THIS WEEK

Friday 19th June

11:55pm           LIVE: UEFA U21: Sweden  V  Italy

Saturday 20th June

5:30pm             LIVE: Union: New Zealand  V  France

7:30pm             LIVE: Union: Australia  V  Italy

Sunday 21st June

2:00pm             LIVE: AFL: Sydney  V  Collingwood

Monday 22nd June

6:45pm             LIVE: Monday Night Football

9:00pm             LIVE: WIMBLEDON – Day 1

Wednesday 24 June

8:00PM           LIVE: NSW Origin v QLD Origin

TWO GREAT SHOWS

Y-Love

Black Hasidic rapper Y-Love will be performing at Hakoah along with amazing Jewish support artists to promote love, unity and the ultimate in Peace!  This is the only night you will be able to connect to this amazing artist in an uplifting and “off the hook” atmosphere.

Saturday 20th June at 9.00pm. Tickets at the door $20.00

“KUGEL!”

If you enjoy larger-than-life characters like Shirley Valentine, Effie from “Acropolis Now” and Fran “The Nanny” Drescher, then this unique   production of  “KUGEL by South African satirist Illana Klevensky will make you screech with laughter!

2 Shows – Saturday 29th August 2009 at 8.00pm  – Sunday 30th August 2009 at 3.00pm

Tickets now on sale $35.00 at Hakoah Club – Ph:91303344

Hope you all enjoyed this week’s Newsletter!

Maccabi Greetings,

Mick Vasin, CEO, Maccabi NSW
Check out our website www.maccabi.com.au

Positive Affirmations can be utilized for helping you to create healthy relationships in your life.  What and how you think is that from which you source into your life.  Practicing the positive affirmations listed below will help you to source positive relationships into your life.

1.  I am loving, lovable and loved.

2.  I accept others for who they are and who they are not.

3.  I joyously forgive others and myself and I set myself free from the past.  I am at peace.

4.  I love and accept myself exactly as I am now.

5.  I love.  I am love.

6.  I respect and care about others.

7.  I am grateful for the people in my life.

8.  I deserve love in my life.

9.  I love everything about myself.

10.  I attract loving relationships into my life.

Most people seem to want to have a good relationship. But what does good mean? For one woman, a good relationship might be when her significant other stops beating her. For another, a good relationship might be that he comes home for dinner on time. One might be that she doesn’t berate him in front of his friends. And for another, it might mean that he tells her he loves her at least once a week. 

I want people to think beyond “good” and raise their expectations to having a “healthy” relationship. A healthy relationship is filled with love, respect, friendship, consideration, and caring. It’s a relationship where a man and a woman are truly best friends as well as lovers. 

Too often people settle into relationships that are sometimes destructive, often unhappy, and frequently indifferent. I believe fear keeps people from daring to have more.

Sometimes people are afraid to be alone.

Sometimes they’re afraid to make a change.

Sometimes they’re afraid to talk about the problems.

Sometimes they’re afraid they don’t deserve a better relationship.

The truth is that everyone deserves a healthy relationship, and it’s worth the risk to go for what you want. My goal for you is that you have the best relationship possible. I’ll do everything I can to help.

I want to help you take charge and begin to be the happy, magnificent woman you were put on this planet to be. If you’re interested in joining me, the first step is to read Men Made Easy because that is the foundation of everything I teach, and where I introduce the concept of Feminine Grace. And you can join my support group where other women, just like you, are struggling with the very same issues you are.

From my heart to yours,

The Single Most Important Skill You’ll Need

If you’ve ever wondered what the single most important skill is for creating a deeply loving, passionate relationship is, I would tell you, without a doubt – it’s the ability to use the power you already have, as a woman, over any man you want to influence.

That’s because the single most important ingredient of any successful relationship is… the power that is hidden within you right now. I call it Feminine Grace and I’ll teach you how to use it. Click Here.

If months were people, I’d say August is definitely the sexiest month. Sultry, indolent – August seductively purrs, “Come play. Skip that meeting. Cut out early on Friday. No one will notice.” As the days pass, August’s steamy breath more insistently whispers in your ear, “Time is running short. Party now — before serious September reminds you that the fun is over.”

That may be why it’s so hard to schedule a meeting in August. Getting more than two people to a table on the same date at the same time is a remarkable feat that should be worthy of an award in the Business Survival Hall of Fame. And it’s not just face-to-face meetings; phone message slips from missed calls litter desktops like so much oversized confetti.

While scheduling a meeting is like capturing the shiny brass ring, a poorly run meeting can tarnish your project and even your reputation. It’s fair to say that I’ve seen the worst of meetings — rambling and unstructured with an unclear purpose and outcome. And I’ve seen the best of meetings — focused and collaborative with participants coming away with a better understanding of issues and how the group will achieve a goal.

I credit Joseph Quagliata, President and CEO of South Nassau Communities Hospital, with stating the basics of running efficient meetings as clearly and simply as I have ever seen. Joe, who leads one of Long Island’s best-run hospitals, first offered me his “meeting rules” when the hospital became a client a number of years ago. It’s such a part of the no-nonsense culture at South Nassau that it’s even posted on the conference room wall. (I’ve added my comments to Joe’s seven rules.)

Arrive on Time – We all know those people who wander in late, Starbucks coffee in hand, mumbling something about a “traffic tie-up.” When an organization has a “no excuses” policy, the laggards will allow extra time to accommodate any unforeseen delay.

Agree on an Agenda – Distribute the agenda at least a day or two in advance to let others suggest modifications. Include the time the meeting is scheduled to end.

Conduct one meeting -- Do not meander into other issues that “need a fix” or conduct side conversations. Sticking to the agenda will keep a meeting productive and focused.

Do not interrupt -- Hold that thought until the speaker finishes. If someone takes more than their share of “air space,” the meeting organizer should step in and point out the need for completing the agenda in the time period.

Disagree without being disagreeable – Ah, so simple, yet so hard to achieve. Take a few, or more than a few, deep breaths, and practice saying, “That’s an interesting (stupid) thought, but I see it a different way.”

State your objections – Absence and silence are proxies for agreement. No, you don’t get off by just sitting by and hoping someone else will bring up the negative thought that is drumming inside your head. If you see that the Emperor has no clothes, you have a responsibility to state that in the meeting.

Leave with a clear sense of next steps and assignments – Start with follow up and end meetings with due dates. Every meeting should result in action items determining who is responsible for what task and a deadline for its completion. If minutes aren’t produced after a meeting, you have lost most of the value of a meeting.

Meetings have a bad rap, but a well-run meeting is the most successful way to get everyone working together toward a goal. So, try to schedule that meeting, despite the odds.

But, if you have tried and all else fails, take off that jacket, put “I’m out of the office and cannot check my phone messages” on your answering machine, stretch out on a sandy beach and succumb to August’s allure. Remember – what you do in August stays in August. September will never know.

 

 

Named one of Long Island’s “Top Influentials” for the past four years by the Long Island Business News, Katherine Heaviside, President of Epoch 5 Public Relations, has counseled corporate and not-for-profit enterprises through the changes that have swept over Long Island during the past 30 years. For more than 330 clients since 1979, she has forged relationships and spearheaded communications not only with the media, but also with other businesses, foundations, associations, and community and government leaders. From health care to real estate to energy, every Long Island industry has benefited from Katherine’s proactive representation and strategic counsel.

Email Katherine
Phone: 631-427-1713

AdHub Profile: Epoch 5 Public Relations
Company URL: http://www.epoch5.com

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Abstract: Activist groups and statist bureaucrats at the United Nations and around the world are seeking to impose corporate social responsibility (CSR) requirements on firms through the International Organization for Stan­dardization's proposed ISO 26000 standards, scheduled to be approved in Copenhagen in mid-May 2010. While CSR is promoted as a path to laudable social goals (such as health care, education, and infrastructure construction in developing countries), in practice it can devolve into a thinly disguised form of coercion requiring companies to transfer some of their profits to host government authori­ties or to organizations or people favored by them. For these and many other reasons, the U.S. government and the American business community should resist any efforts to make ISO 26000 standards mandatory.

Bad ideas rarely die a permanent death in the United Nations. The idea of behavioral norms for cor­porations gained some support in the U.N. in the 1970s, though no code was adopted. The idea has since developed and resurfaced as a part of the evolv­ing concept of "corporate social responsibility" (CSR). CSR's basic thrust is to "encourage" profitable multina­tionals to assume some of the costs for health care, education, or even infrastructure construction in developing countries. In reality, CSR has devolved into a thinly disguised corrupt practice in which compa­nies "purchase" the right to operate in a country by transferring some of their profits to host government authorities or to persons or organizations favored by them. This comes perilously close to "corrupt pay­ments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtain­ing or keeping business,"[1] which are outlawed by the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.[2]

Although some delegations at the U.N., particu­larly the U.S. delegation, have resisted the idea of U.N. standards for corporate behavior, many prom­inent corporations, guided more by their public relations departments than by their corporate boardrooms, have embraced the idea. That decision may be returning to haunt them through the Inter­national Organization for Standardization (ISO) in the form of the "voluntary" ISO 26000 standards on CSR, which are set to be adopted at an international conference in Copenhagen in mid-May 2010.

Many American companies, and the millions of people who own stock in them, are likely unaware of the extent and larger meaning of these pernicious CSR efforts. U.S. businesses report that ISO stan­dards have been the root cause of most "technical barriers to trade" cases brought before the World Trade Organization (WTO). The ISO 26000, which is a quixotic attempt to impose impractical and ulti­mately unworkable bureaucratic solutions on what are essentially political problems, will likely precip­itate a flood of new WTO cases that would harm U.S. companies and consumers.

CSR deviates dramatically from the primary pur­pose for which private companies exist, which is, as Milton Friedman argued, to maximize the returns on capital investment for their shareholders. Com­panies do perform vital public service by providing high-quality goods and services to consumers at the lowest cost with the highest possible profit. This is their main responsibility to society.

At the core of CSR, however, is the "socialist view that political mechanisms, not market mechanisms, are the appropriate way to determine the allocation of scarce resources to alternative uses."[3] This detracts from efficiency and wastes resources, and may even reduce the provision of the social goods championed by CSR advocates. When people pros­per because companies operate efficiently and enjoy economic freedom, they have more time, talent, and resources to help the less fortunate—and will do so much more efficiently than government can. The best way corporations can help people anywhere, and especially in developing countries, is to go about their business, trading and investing and cre­ating the sustainable jobs that improve livelihoods.

For these and many other reasons, the U.S. government and America's business community should resist any efforts to make ISO 26000 CSR standards mandatory.

The Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility

The modern concept of corporate social responsibility began to emerge in the United States in the late 1960s. CSR, as initially under­stood, was a combination of best corporate prac­tices—which amounted to little more than obeying the law—and commitments to respect internationally recognized human rights, even those not codified in national law.

Another aspect of early CSR efforts involved some oligopolistic U.S. corporations that sold polit­ically sensitive products, such as cigarettes and gasoline, and faced activist critics who targeted them with intrusive government regulations and increased taxes. To deflect the critics, the companies hired Madison Avenue firms to design public rela­tions campaigns to highlight their good works. Some oil and auto companies sponsored municipal arts and music events. Some tobacco firms made high-profile contributions to minority and women's organizations and sponsored high-visibility events such as professional tennis tournaments.

As it evolved over the years, the concept of good works was broadened to include funding for health care, education, or even infrastructure construction in poorer countries. The CSR concept was readily welcomed in Europe, where governments have always been more heavily involved with private businesses—in some cases as owners. While not traditionally the responsibility of the private sector, such CSR expenditures could sometimes be justi­fied on the corporate bottom line by their impact on workforce productivity.

For cash-strapped developing countries, the lure of a revenue-enhancing "principle" (as CSR was viewed) that allowed them to tap corporate coffers was irresistible. If the concept had stopped there, CSR would have been little more than an additional corporate tax. As such, it would certainly have had negative effects, including the possibility of compa­nies relocating to more business-friendly countries, though some additional revenues might have con­tinued to flow to government coffers. Activists, however, saw CSR as a chance to highlight the "evils" of corporations and capitalism and to attack the profit motive that drives their growth. As is often the case, these efforts found fertile ground at the United Nations.

The international campaign against multina­tional corporations began in earnest in 1974, with the creation of the U.N. Centre on Transnational Corporations (CTC). The centerpiece of the CTC's work program was promotion of a U.N. code of conduct for transnational corporations (TNCs). The code, ostensibly aimed at increasing the negotiating power of developing-country governments vis-à-vis transnational corporations and preventing alleged abuses, quickly devolved into a blatant attack on the free enterprise system. Not surprisingly, it became one of the most controversial items on the U.N. agenda and was never adopted.

Regrettably, some countries did adopt its anti-business ideas, with tragic results. As then-Heritage Foundation analyst Juliana Geran Pilon noted in 1987, "What is most serious is that the policies and actions of the CTC, as of those of many other U.N. organs, impede economic growth in developing countries. The CTC penalizes those nations and societies that are the globe's poorest."[4] While no one would argue against efforts to eliminate abusive labor standards, environmental damage, or actions that violate universally recognized fundamental human rights, the CTC had mutated into something else entirely, becoming a focal point in the ongoing struggle between capitalism and socialism. Although the inevitable negative economic effects should have been immediately obvious, U.N. bureaucrats only slowly realized that the CTC's anti-business activities were hurting the economic development of the very countries they were trying to help.

The CTC was eventually folded into the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), but the attack on corporations continued. The TNC code of conduct first mutated into Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with regard to Human Rights[5] and then into the U.N. Global Compact.[6]

The Global Compact

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan launched the U.N. Global Compact in 1999. As a number of scholars have noted, the 10 principles of the Global Compact[7] share many of the core elements of its predecessors, the code of conduct and the Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corpora­tions. All stress labor and environment themes that involve heavy state control or regulation, and all have a vaguely anti-private-sector, pro-big-govern­ment bias. Economist Daniel Drezner calls the Glo­bal Compact another one of the U.N.'s "grandiose initiatives that never quite live up to their billing."[8]

According to its Web site, the Global Compact is an attempt by the U.N. to persuade businesses to align "their operations and strategies with ten uni­versally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corrup­tion."[9] U.N. bureaucrats administering and promot­ing this Global Compact see themselves as facilitators among various stakeholders, including business, civil society, labor groups, and govern­ments. In this role, the U.N. Global Compact has assumed for itself a critical position in pushing busi­ness to act "responsibly" by "contributing to broad-based development and sustainable markets."[10] In practice, this means the Global Compact seeks to "encourage" profitable multinationals to assume some of the costs for health care, education, and infrastructure construction in developing countries.

Activists are increasingly dissatisfied with the compact's voluntary nature and are pushing to make the CSR standards in the Global Compact compulsory. Amnesty International, Greenpeace, Oxfam, and ActionAid have complained that the voluntary Global Compact lacks "teeth" and has "done little to improve companies' practices."[11] Aftab Alam Khan of ActionAid has called for "legally binding regulations to control corporate activities with respect to human rights."[12] Roberto Bissio of Social Watch believes that consumer protection requires mandatory supervision as well as manda­tory codes of conduct, and faults the Global Com­pact for not requiring them.[13] The latest effort in this campaign is an attempt to adopt international standards for CSR through the ISO. These standards are meant to be the vehicle for realizing the activist groups' goal of a mandatory Global Compact.

The International Organization for Standardization

The ISO is a nongovernmental organization (NGO) based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1947, it is composed of representatives from national standards organizations, and it has become a highly respected international body for setting standards. ISO industrial and commercial standards are often adopted as law by national governments or integrated into treaties governing commerce, invest­ment, and other economic activities.

The ISO 26000 benchmark guidelines on stan­dards for global corporate social responsibility are scheduled to receive final approval at the plenary meeting of the ISO's Social Responsibility Working Group in Copenhagen in mid-May 2010. The pro­cess to adopt the new guidelines has been underway for several years, pushed by the same activist groups with the same statist philosophy that were behind the earlier TNC code of conduct and the current Global Compact effort. The guidelines have moved to the Draft International Standards stage, the last step before adoption as full-fledged ISO standards.

In the United States, the creation, promulgation, and use of ISO standards is overseen by the Amer­ican National Standards Institute (ANSI), not the federal government. The group's Web site says that ANSI "empowers its members and constituents to strengthen the U.S. marketplace position in the global economy while helping to assure the safety and health of consumers and the protection of the environment."[14]

However, when confronted by the controversial ISO 26000, ANSI decided to dump this hot political potato into the lap of the American Society for Qual­ity,[15] which is most famous for its Six Sigma Black Belt quality-control certification program. The U.S. government is also represented on U.S. delegations to ISO conferences and has participated in meetings about the formulation of ISO 26000. Interestingly, the lead U.S. agency on ISO 26000 is the Environ­mental Protection Agency, one of the most activist regulatory agencies in the federal government.

ISO Standards for CSR: A Recipe for Trouble

The ISO 26000 standards on CSR run 100 pages, and its chapters cover a broad array of business-related topics, including organizational governance, human rights, labor practices, the environment, fair operating practices, consumer issues, and community involvement and develop­ment.[16] The blurry standards of ISO 26000 are in sharp contrast to previous industry-specific stan­dards put forth by the ISO that do not presume to mandate anything more revolutionary than, for example, a "voluntary consensus [on] sanitary standards and accepted practices for equipment and systems used to produce, process, and package food, beverages and pharmaceutical products."[17]

Moreover, the various sections of ISO 26000 are politically charged. Each chapter seems to recite anew a laundry list of grievances and daunting soci­etal problems facing impoverished, developing countries before establishing vague, all-encompass­ing, and impossible-to-meet responsibilities to be imposed on each multinational firm seeking to do business in any given country. The multinational business or corporation is expected to foot the sub­stantial bills for rectifying the seeming endless list of problems outlined in each ISO 26000 chapter.

Although ISO 26000 promoters insist that the "guidance standard will…be voluntary," and that it "will not include requirements and will thus not be a certification standard,"[18] the international civil servants and NGOs advocating a more compulsory approach to CSR standards clearly have a long-term game plan[19] to ensure that ISO 26000 is applied as forcefully and as widely as possible.

Once the ISO 26000 is approved, the govern­ments of many developing countries and some European welfare states will likely pass domestic legislation legally mandating the ISO 26000 stan­dards for any multinational company wishing to do business in their countries.

In developed countries, activist NGOs will likely launch a campaign to shame any corporation that is not ISO 26000-compliant. Indeed, enterprising lawyers and other professional contractors adept at fulfilling government regulations are already busy establishing "ISO 26000 Certification Programs" for corporations, even though nothing in the ISO 26000 is supposed to be mandatory. As Jim Kelly of Global Governance Watch has noted, NGOs dedi­cated to "fairer globalization"—such as London's New Economic Foundation through its "(un)Happy Planet Index"[20]—will be quick to mount public relations campaigns to pressure multinational cor­porations to become ISO 26000-certified or face negative public relations consequences from "envi­ronmentalists, organized labor, human rights advo­cates, and government officials."[21]

Moreover, many nations—particularly those in Europe and in the developing world—will likely implement ISO 26000 standards through domes­tic statutes requiring any company doing business in their countries to comply with the standards and assume all the associated costs of compliance. This could raise the cost of trade and business around the world. Moreover, according to Adam Greene of the U.S. Council on International Busi­ness, who is co-chair of the U.S. ISO 26000 Tech­nical Advisory Industry Sub-Group, ISO standards have been the root cause of most "tech­nical barriers to trade" cases brought before the WTO.[22] Greene adds that ISO 26000 is a quixotic attempt to find technical solutions to political problems, and will be fertile ground for future WTO cases.

What Businesses and the U.S. Government Should Do

The ISO Central Secretariat has already collected comments on the ISO 26000, but it is not too late to influence the contents and direction of the docu­ment before its scheduled mid-May 2010 adoption.

• Congress and the Obama Administration, sup­ported by the U.S. business community, should register their skepticism about the value of ISO 26000 and clearly announce that the U.S. will vigorously oppose any efforts to impose manda­tory standards on U.S. companies.

• U.S. businesses should exercise extreme caution in accepting vague standards of corporate social responsibility, such as the U.N. Global Compact and ISO 26000.

• U.S. businesses should focus on their primary purpose of providing high-quality goods and services to consumers at the lowest cost with the highest-possible profit for their shareholders. Corporations can best help people in developing countries by trading with them and investing in their countries, which will create sustainable pri­vate-sector jobs.

Conclusion

The current global economic recession has often been attributed to a lack of regulation on interna­tional finance, business, and investment. This is wrong and pernicious. As the Heritage Foundation's and Wall Street Journal's Index of Economic Freedom has long demonstrated, sustainable economic growth and prosperity requires free markets. Need­less regulation on business, even for a seemingly positive purpose such as corporate social responsi­bility, threatens the recovery sought by every nation.

Programs such as the U.N. Global Compact and ISO 26000 are emblematic of a growing trend toward increasing government regulation and inter­vention in business that threatens the free-market capitalism that has engendered prosperity in Amer­ica and around the world. The main purpose for the existence of private companies and corporations is to maximize the returns for their shareholders. They play a fundamental role in the efficient functioning of a market economy. This view contrasts sharply with the philosophy behind CSR—a "socialist view that political mechanisms, not market mechanisms, are the appropriate way to determine the allocation of scarce resources to alternative uses."[23]

Businesses should be wary of this trend, particu­larly when they are pressured through international organizations that often lack transparency and accountability. In reality, CSR has often devolved into naked coercion to compel companies to transfer some of their profits to host government authorities or to organizations favored by them in order to operate in the country.

As long as CSR initiatives are discrete, transpar­ent, and voluntary, they have the potential to make a positive contribution to employees, employers, consumers, and investors. Each business should assess the extent and value of CSR efforts based on their own situation. However, CSR advocates and governments that seek business financing for com­munity and national development programs are not satisfied with voluntary efforts. The business com­munity should unite against compulsory CSR stan­dards that would undermine the core mission of business: increasing profits and providing value to shareholders.

—James M. Roberts is Research Fellow for Economic Freedom and Growth in the Center for International Trade and Economics at The Heritage Foundation.