ABOUT BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE

Our Contribution to the Economy and Society
Business Roundtable (www.businessroundtable.org) is an association of chief executive officers of leading U.S. companies with $4.5 trillion in annual revenues and more than 10 million employees. Member companies comprise nearly a third of the total value of the U.S. stock markets and represent over 40 percent of all corporate income taxes paid. Collectively, they returned $112 billion in dividends to shareholders and the economy in 2005.

Roundtable companies give more than $7 billion a year in combined charitable contributions, representing nearly 60 percent of total corporate giving. They are technology innovation leaders, with $90 billion in annual research and development spending – nearly half of the total private R&D spending in the U.S.

Our Goals and Objectives
The Roundtable is committed to advocating public policies that ensure vigorous economic growth, a dynamic global economy, and the well-trained and productive U.S. workforce essential for future competitiveness. Business Roundtable believes that its potential for effectiveness is based on the fact that it draws on CEOs directly and personally, and presents government with reasoned alternatives and positive suggestions.

The Roundtable believes that the basic interests of business closely parallel the interests of the American people, who are directly involved as consumers, employees, shareholders, and suppliers. Only through sustainable, non-inflationary, long-term growth in the U.S. economy will American companies be able to remain competitive around the world and thus provide the technology and jobs that will continue to improve our standard of living and extend the benefits of that standard to all Americans. Thus, CEOs, although they speak as individuals, have responsibilities that relate to many factors - including jobs, products, services, and return on investment - that affect the economic well-being of all Americans.

In general, the Roundtable focuses on issues it believes will have an effect on the economic well-being of the nation. The chief executives work on task forces on specific issues that direct research, supervise preparation of position papers, recommend policy, and lobby Congress and the Administration on select issues. The Roundtable seeks to identify issues early and tries to understand the problems faced by government as well as business. It has served as a catalyst in working with other groups to form coalitions and in stimulating individual business leaders to be more active in the public policy arena.