In Fortune magazine's March 1, 2012 online take-outs from its annual "most admired" issue, Ursula Burns answered several questions, including this one about CSR and reputation:

Do philanthropic and social responsibility initiatives really help burnish a company's reputation among customers and partners? What company stands out as a role model?

Ms. Burns reply:

Can I pat Xerox on the back for this one? In our industry, we stand out as the company that has long acted on the belief that doing good is good business. I inherited this value system and it continues to be one of the points of pride for our people and very much for me. I certainly spend a lot of time and dedicate a fair share of resources to understanding the greater good our company is doing for our society.

And I do business with my heart as much as I do with my head, both personally and professionally. Frankly, those companies that dismiss citizenship as a necessary evil don't get my time, attention, or business — unless they're looking to benchmark us as an example of decades-long, values-based leadership.

Procter & Gamble (PG) gets it. And, I really respect their purpose-driven approach to running their business. It permeates their entire operation. For example, we recently worked with P&G (No. 9) to manage their global fleet of printers, multifunction systems, etc. We saved them a lot of money, but P&G was just as focused on reducing their own carbon footprint — and gave us clear marching orders on the need to digitize their business. But they were also quite collaborative in the approach. Eight million fewer pages later and a 30% energy reduction really prove the business case of social responsibility.

I'm less concerned about whether being a good corporate citizen burnishes a company's reputation. That's just an added benefit. I believe it's a responsibility, and there is no negotiating on responsibilities.