And when an environmental organization demands operational transparency from corporations, it should do likewise opening its doors to similar scrutiny. The third challenge in this manifesto is movement toward more open, free market societies. Global corporations exist first and foremost as profit-making ventures. Our job is not to create governments but to create wealth, and we value human capital above all else because ideas are the hard currency of the Information Age. Having said that, we see that one of the by-products of economic globalization is the movement toward more open societies that value the power of the individual.
China is a good example.
Honeywell has been trading in China for more than 60 years. Like most Western companies, we brought our values, principles and global operating standards with us when we set up shop. Thanks to engagement of American companies, our Chinese employees have seen vast improvements in safety, working conditions and their quality of life. For example, during one my earliest trips to mainland China, I met a young woman who couldn't wait to tell me how proud she was to work for an American company. So proud that she was willing to ride her bicycle 10 miles each way to work.