Accountability in action: community relationships in Corrales, New Mexico Here, where Intel established its first community advisory panel, we have worked with community members to address concerns about water use and air emissions at our local facility. In 2002, we increased our efforts by joining a 13-member task force established to monitor a year-long air quality study conducted by the New Mexico Environmental Department. In addition to Intel, the task force includes members of the regulatory agency as well as local business and community leaders. What trace levels of chemicals or pollutants are in the air? How do those levels compare with published standards and reported levels in other communities? Do potential health hazards exist? How significant are they? The study will help answer these and other questions and determine, as a community, what steps to take next. For more information, click here.

Beyond asking, we engage. Most Intel sites have formal, facilitated community advisory panels (CAPs), and many hold open houses to discuss the company's environmental efforts, health and safety record, and development plans. In addition to the CAPs, our neighbors and citizens in general can find a direct link to local site information as well as provide feedback or ask questions through our Intel in the Community web pages at www.intel.com/community.

Intel shareholders
Intel shareholders care about more than financial performance. Increasingly, they also want to know about our social responsibility efforts. To keep them informed, we hold a series of outreach meetings each year. In 2002, we met with groups in California, Massachusetts, New York, Washington, D.C. and London. Harris Bretall, Citibank, Neuberger Berman, ISIS Asset Management, Trillium Asset Management, KLD, IRRC, Innovest, Morley, Calvert Group and the Presbyterian Church USA were among those we met with. We also held discussions by teleconference and responded to surveys from Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Oekom, EIRIS, KLD, IRRC, Innovest, ISS, Ethibel, the Carbon Disclosure Project and others. We value our shareholders' insights, ideas and scrutiny.

Intel customers
Customer satisfaction has always been a focus for Intel. For more than 15 years, we have collected customer feedback to gauge and improve our customer satisfaction levels through a program we've called Vendor of Choice (VOC).

When we established VOC, we set a goal to have at least 90% of our customers in each channel (OEM, distributor and dealer) rate Intel as their preferred supplier. Each quarter, we measured satisfaction levels from some 500 customers from all four of our sales geographies: Americas, Asia-Pacific, Japan and Europe/Middle East/Africa. We collected this data through face-to-face interviews with procurement and quality managers, prioritizing the issues they raised and then responding to them with resolution plans.

In 2002, our VOC performance exceeded our goals: We achieved a 94% VOC rating in the first half of the year. In the second half, we received a 95% VOC rating.

This past year was significant in another way, too: After reviewing customer satisfaction programs industry-wide, we redesigned our own. Superseding VOC, our new Intel Customer Excellence program went into effect in the first half of 2003.

Intel suppliers
On Intel Supplier Days, individuals representing hundreds of firms come together to discuss what we expect, and what we're focused on achieving, in the coming year. Supplier Day, an annual event since 1993, has grown out of our belief that the best way to promote excellence in our suppliers is to select the best and then work with them to raise performance even higher. We expect our suppliers to conduct themselves ethically and responsibly. One of the ways we monitor how well they're doing is through a supplier assessment process that we helped develop for industry-wide use. Working with members of Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), Intel helped to incorporate our assessment criteria into a Standardized Supplier Quality Assessment tool. To review the criteria and use the process, click here.

After performing more than 500 assessments worldwide, we have made an important observation about our global supply chain: The expectations we set for our suppliers are often as comprehensive as our customers set for us.

Government officials
Our worldwide government affairs organization fosters a supportive public policy environment. We maintain ongoing dialogues with government officials and leaders on matters of global citizenship, especially within the high-tech sector, and engage directly on the many initiatives relating to corporate responsibility. We also work with government officials worldwide on other policy issues, including benefits and workforce development, trade issues, digital rights management, broadband deployment, privacy, education, and energy and environmental policy.