Ethics, Schmethics!

Sadly, while more people seem to be talking about ethics, there is precious little sign that any of the talk is turning into action, says Leon Ho at Lifehacks.

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December 4, 2006 Permalink Email this
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Corporations, Not Government Need to Take the Lead on Social Responsibility

Jeff Swartz, CEO of Timberland, says corporations need to take the lead rather than waiting for the government to legislate social responsibility.
“Jeff could have inherited an ice-making company or a coffee house and he’d still have wanted to see how it could be used for a broader social purpose,” said Dave Aznavorian, Timberland’s global brand manager.
Schwarz acknowledges that he also needs to deliver results to shareholders. He says that changes in fashion have led to a downturn in Timberland sales that could result in selling the company. He says he’d give up control for more power, but that he’d never sell and walk away like Ben & Jerry’s owners did. They sold the company and went home,” said Swartz. Swartz would have to be carried out with his [Timberland] boots on.

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Are Corporate Ethics Codes Bunk?

“We hear that [ethics] codes are useless – hypocritical window-dressing to mask continuing corruption. We hear that codes are great – a crucial step on the way to enhanced corporate productivity, credibility and profitability,” says Cornelius von Baeyer.
I’ve always wondered what you would need to teach honest people about ethics, and whether any code could make dishonest people more honest.
Building codes, health codes, fire codes have teeth. Violating them results in legal penalties. But nothing at all seems to happen to those who violate corporate or association codes of ethics, not even a slap on the wrist. If corporate ethics codes are to hold any meaning, they’ll need the force of law behind them. Otherwise. what’s the point?

October 28, 2006 Permalink Email this
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Corporate Responsibility Spurns New Businesses and Conferences

Corporate ethics crises have turned corporate responsibility into a big business. It’s got its own conference, and a directory of companies that provide services to corporate responsibility officers.
The first annual conference for Corporate Responsibility Officers will take place in New York City on November 1.
Featured speakers include: Vice Chair of Citigroup Lewis Kaden, Wall Street Journal Assistant Managing Editor Alan Murray, Bloomberg News Editor Marty Schenker, Def Jam Records and Comedy and Phat Farm Fashions founder Russell Simmons, and 20 other Corporate Responsibility officers telling their success stories.

October 18, 2006 Permalink Email this
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Business Ethics Gurus’ Business is Booming

It’s a hot time to be a business ethics expert says the Atlanta Journal Constitution. One sign: the Atlanta for the Society for Business Ethics’ annual conference workshops included their first-ever workshop for members on how to deal with the press. Other sessions included “Markets and Business Ethics,” “The Corporation and Moral Agency” and one titled simply “Wal-Mart.”
Need certified multilanguage translation of your company’s Code of Ethics? Phone Sloan Friedman at SRF Global Translations.

August 17, 2006 Permalink Email this
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Study: Two in Three Companies Don’t Provide Ethics Training to Employees

A recent global survey of over 1,800 communication professionals, conducted by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Research Foundation, found that an overwhelming 65 percent of respondents had not received any formal ethics training — such as seminars, continuing education or training workshops — from their employers.
Many respondents cited in the IABC survey, The Business of Truth: A Guide to Ethical Communication, noted that ethics was never given more than a cursory mention in their organizations, usually on the first day of employment when company policy manuals were distributed. Additionally, 70 percent of respondents reported studying ethics “not at all” or at a basic level, as part of the coursework for their highest earned degree.

July 28, 2006 Permalink Email this
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What if Enron Had Followed Pepsi’s Ethics?

Pepsi’s ethics are just, well, refreshing, says Doug Cunningham at the Times-Herald-Record in New York. He notes that when someone tried to sell Coke’s secret formula to PepsiCo’s headquarters in Purchase NY, Pepsi immediately turned the letter over to Coke and alerted the FBI.

“Clearly, PepsiCo has instilled a strong sense of business ethics.
Would that more companies had such a strong set of values. Any guesses …what would have happened if a similar letter landed at Enron headquarters in Houston?”

July 10, 2006 Permalink Email this
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Is Options Gate a McCarthy Era for Business Ethics?

Has Silicon Alley entered the McCarthy era for business ethics? A widening federal investigation into suspicious stock options allocations at least 57 companies, including 25 based in Silicon Valley is “rattling corporate boardrooms, entrepreneurs and rank-and-file workers alike,” according to the San Jose Mercury News
Red Herring reports that “Investors are hammering the stocks of many of the companies affected by the inquiries and are asking questions about how well these companies have been governed.”
The rush to judgment is “a shame” Michael Gray, a certified public accountant, wrote in a newsletter. “We may be killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.”

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July 4, 2006 Permalink Email this
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Moral Liability is Hidden Threat to Corporations: Fortune

Companies will pay a price if they fail to meet society’s expectation that they act ethically. Merely obeying the law, or following compliance guidelines to the letter is not enough, writes Marc Gunther in Fortune. Companies need to meet their “moral liability” or face bigger threats from customers than from government or courts.
Sometimes the price will be damage to a brand or reputation. Other times, the cost will be more concrete, in the form of lawsuits, damage awards or lost sale,” Gunther says. The good news is that “…all these social issues present opportunities as well as threats… the best way for business to avoid “moral liability” – become part of the solution instead of part of the problem.”

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June 29, 2006 Permalink Email this
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Japan’s Top Banker Embroiled in Ethics Scandal

Revelations that the Japanese central bank governor, Toshihiko Fukui, owned $90,000 of a stock fund accused in an insider trading scandal have raised an ethics issues for the bank and helped cause not only the biggest sell-off in Tokyo’s stock market since 9/11, but also a political firestorm, according to The New York Times.
A Bank of Japan spokesman, Takashi Yoshimura, denied that there is an ethics issue, saying that the bank’s ethics guidelines only required employees, including Mr. Fukui, to report internally any purchases or sales of stocks, and any profits, and did not limit where they could invest their money.
In the most understated comment of the year, Mr. Fukui apologized during a meeting of Cabinet members. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I have created a fuss.”

“At the very least, it is a warning that the bank needs to tighten its ethical standards,” said Naoki Iizuka, chief economist at the Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute.

June 15, 2006 Permalink Email this
digg it Tags: , Business_ethics_news, corporate_ethics, ethics_compliance_issues, Toshihiko_Fukui