Ethisphere News and Commentary Blog

Conflict of Interest

Starbucks Takes Heat for Tip Sharing Policy

March 13th, 2008

Tipping is an activity so fervently argued and debated in the United States that entire books have been published on tipping etiquette. Those who have worked for tips argue for it, those that haven’t argue against it, and both sides tend to leave the debate unsettled and more angry than when they started. […]

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Former Maximus employee indicted for $32 million fraud…

August 16th, 2007

A federal grand jury has indicted a Alan B. Fabian, a Baltimore corporate executive, over allegedly running a scheme that made $32 million in false purchases of computer equipment.
According to prosecutors, Fabian’s alleged scheme defrauded his former employer, the government consulting company Maximus Inc., as well as an equipment leasing company called Solarcom.
Fabian has […]

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Commerce Bancorp CEO forced out by feds over insider dealing… and general ostentatiousness

July 31st, 2007

The CEO of Commerce Bancorp, Vernon W. Hill, is out of a job today.
Mr. Hill, founder of the company, was pushed out by the very same board of directors that he had hand-picked to serve over the years (we reviewed Commerce’s code of conduct in the last issue of Ethisphere Magazine by the way […]

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There are easier ways to get a good rating on your stock from analysts than increasing earnings

July 28th, 2007

As Financial Week is reporting, a new study is about to be released that links positive stock ratings by Wall Street analysts to the number of “favors” received by such analysts from the execs of the companies that they cover.
The upcoming study was co-authored by professors James Westphal of the University of Michigan and Michael […]

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TRACE International launches global anonymous bribery reporting tool

July 19th, 2007

TRACE International, a non-profit membership association (and important partner of the Ethisphere Council) that helps companies combat bribery, announced the creation of a new database that can help businesses track the prevalence of bribery attempts and requests.
This new online tool, called BRIBEline, is backed by many leading organizations and companies such as Wal-Mart, International Paper, […]

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Coke sues Danone, alleges South American “smear” campaign on the Internet

July 18th, 2007

According to media reports, the Coca-Cola Co. has filed a criminal complaint against executives of French food and drink maker Danone, as well as its PR firm Euro RSCG. In this complaint, the company accuses them of orchestrating a smear campaign against Coke’s Dasani water brand in the Argentinian market - a violation of […]

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