The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a network of public and private standards institutes in 157 countries:

(Source: Mapserver)

Member institutions may be public, or private:

Hellenic Organization for Standardization	American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
Nigerian Organization for Standards	Instituto de Normas Técnicas de Costa Rica.

Some commmonly adhered standards:

Why is a Standard Important?

Organizations must provide products and services that satisfy the customer

Environmental concerns (see The Story of Stuff )

There is little agreement on what the term "social responsibility" means

There are high-level movements, such as the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights , the UN Global Compact , and the International Labour Organization (ILO) ; and individual-level efforts from individual organizations, such as Body Shop , Gap Project Red , and Intel.

Challenges of globalization

Growing awareness of abuses of human rights

Increase in poverty levels

Legislation:

• Justifiable
• Rarely the only method of dealing with the problem.
• Static
• Top down

Standardization

• Bottom up
• Dynamic
• Based on voluntary action, consensus and openness so it brings about positive commitment
• Leads to greater awareness and wider observance of existing legislation and regulation

ISO 26000: Social Responsibility

assist organizations in addressing their social responsibilities while respecting cultural, societal, environmental and legal differences and economic development conditions;

provide practical guidance related to operationalizing social responsibility, identifying and engaging with stakeholders, and enhancing credibility of reports and claims made about social responsibility;

emphasise performance results and improvement;

increase confidence and satisfaction in organizations among their customers and other stakeholders;

be consistent with and not in conflict with existing documents, international treaties and conventions and existing ISO standards;

not be intended to reduce government's authority to address the social responsibility of organizations;

promote common terminology in the social responsibility field; and

broaden awareness of social responsibility.