Organizations

Center for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO)

This organization is a leading European documentation center on the activities of multinationals. The group's unparalleled system of information gathering serves as an alternative to industry sources of data.

The organization divides its work into four branches:

• Specific corporations. SOMO routinely collects financial information on 500 multinationals based in the U.S., Europe and Japan.
• Branches of industry. The group models its -records on statistics compiled by the Dutch government, and regularly updates its archives on 100 different branches of industry and agriculture.
• Country files. SOMO gathers data on political developments affecting foreign investment in over 100 First and Third world countries.
• Organizations. Staff members catalogue reports from 40 governmental and development agencies in the U.S. and Europe.

Much of the information SOMO collects is based on clippings from 100 business and financial journals the staff routinely scans.

SOMO hopes to develop a two-way flow of information across the Atlantic. It would like to receive regular reports from groups in North America, and welcomes requests for specific information.

Correspondence should be addressed to:

SOMO
Paulus Potterstraat 20
Amsterdam 1007
The Netherlands

The Investor Responsibility Research Center

IRRC provides detailed research on shareholder resolutions brought before U.S. corporations. Established seven years ago by a group of major U.S. institutional investors composed largely of universities, IRRC has in recent years devoted much of its resources to studies focusing on overseas corporate practices such as corporate investment in South Africa and Chile, infant formula marketing, agribusiness in the Third World, and foreign weapons sales. '

In the past year,' IRRC published 60 studies covering 85 shareholder resolutions. In addition, a special series of reports have been completed on U.S. corporate activity in South Africa, including a set of 50 profiles of companies with operations in South Africa, completed in January.

The subscription prices for IRRC's materials are quite steep. For the basic shareholder resolution service, which excludes a special South Africa Review Service, subscriptions start at $550 per year and increase with the size of the subscriber's portfolio. However, IRRC reports that many of the 60 universities and ten major foundations that subscribe now provide public access to their IRRC materials.

For information about local IRRC subscribers offering access to materials, call IRRC at (202) 833-3727, or write:

Investor Responsibility
Research Center
1522 K Street, N.W.
Washington, D C . 20005