The World’s Most Ethical Companies designation recognizes companies that truly go beyond making statements about doing business “ethically” and translate those words into action. WME honorees demonstrate real and sustained ethical leadership within their industries, putting into real business practice the Institute’s credo of “Good. Smart. Business. Profit.”

There is no set number of companies that make the list each year. Rather, the World’s Most Ethical Company designation is awarded to those companies that have leading ethics and compliance programs, particularly as compared to their industry peers. This year, there are 110 World’s Most Ethical Companies. Of these companies, 36 are new to the list in 2011 and 26 companies dropped off from the 2010 list. These “drop offs” generally occurred because of litigation and ethics violations, as well as increased competition from within their industry.

IT CAN PAY TO BE ETHICAL

Investing in ethics is beneficial for any company, even in a recession. The below graph compares the “WME Index,” or all publicly traded 2011 World’s Most Ethical Company honorees, against the S&P 500 since the initial World’s Most Ethical Companies recognition from 2007.

You can find more in-depth information on the methodology for 2011’s World’s Most Ethical Companies here.

2011 WORLD’S MOST ETHICAL COMPANIES:

Aerospace Indra Sistemas Rockwell Collins Inc. The Aerospace Corporation	ApparelAdidas Comme Il Faut Gap Patagonia Timberland
AuctionseBay	AutomotiveCummins Denso Ford Motor Company Johnson Controls
BankingAustralia and New Zealand Banking Group National Australia Bank Rabobank Standard Chartered Bank The Westpac Group	Business ServicesAccenture Dun & Bradstreet Noblis
ChemicalsEcolab JM Huber	Computer HardwareHitachi Data Systems
Computer SoftwareAdobe Systems Microsoft Salesforce.com Symantec Corporation Teradata Corporation	Construction and EngineeringCRH Granite Construction Parsons Corporation
Consumer ElectronicsElectrolux Ricoh Xerox	Consumer ProductsColgate-Palmolive Company Henkel AG Kao Corporation
Diversified IndustriesGeneral Electric Co.	Electronics and SemiconductorsFreescale Semiconductor Premier Farnell Texas Instruments
Energy and UtilitiesEncana Statoil NextEra Energy, Inc. Northumbrian Water Vestas Wind Wisconsin Energy Corporation	Engineering and DesignAECOM Technology Corporation CH2M Hill Fluor Corporation
Environmental ServicesWaste Management	Financial ServicesAmerican Express Housing Development Finance Corp NYSE Euronext The Hartford Financial Services Group
Food and BeverageGeneral Mills PepsiCo Solae Stonyfield Farm	Food StoresKesko The Co-Operative Group Wegmans Whole Food Market
Forestry, Paper and PackagingInternational Paper Stora Enso Oyj SCA	Health and BeautyNatura Cosmeticos
Healthcare ServicesBaptist Health South Florida Hospital Corporation of America Premier	Hotels, Travel and HospitalityKimpton Hotels Marriott International The Rezidor Hotel Group Wyndham Worldwide
Industrial ManufacturingCaterpillar Deere & Company Eaton Corporation Milliken & Company Schneider Electric	InsuranceAflac Incorporated Sompo Japan Insurance Swiss Re Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Co.
InternetZappos	Media, Publishing and EntertainmentThomson Reuters
Medical DevicesBecton Dickinson Royal Phillips	MetalsUmicore
Real EstateBritish Land plc Jones Lang LaSalle Unibail-Rodamco	Restaurants and CafesStarbucks Coffee Company
Specialty PharmaMedicis	Specialty RetailBest Buy Co. Hennes & Mauritz Sonae Target Ten Thousand Villages
StaffingManpower	Telecom HardwareAvaya Inc. Cisco Systems Juniper Networks
Telecom ServicesSingapore Telecom Swisscom T-Mobile USA	Transportation and LogisticsAutoridad del Canal de Panama East Japan Railway Company Nippon Yusen Kabushi Kaisha UPS