Month: March 2017

New Ethical Culture Tool Uses Big Data, Allows Companies to See How They Measure Up Against the World’s Most Ethical Companies

New York, NY – March 29, 2017 – Ethisphere, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, unveiled today the Ethical Culture Diagnostic Tool, which enables corporate ethics leaders across the world to benchmark how they are communicating and measuring culture against information collected from the World’s Most Ethical Companies® dataset.

The new, innovative assessment platform spans between 6-16 substantive questions covering areas that compliance officers often struggle to measure including empowering leadership, communicating ethics and measuring culture. Once completed, participants will receive a Diagnostic Scorecard enabling them to benchmark their results against Ethisphere’s 2017 World’s Most Ethical Companies honorees.

“Smart companies understand that a strong ethical culture will help them outperform their competition yet compliance officers still have a difficult time building the business case — and obtaining budget dollars — to identify ethical challenges and create solutions based on best practices,” said Erica Salmon Byrne, Ethisphere EVP & Executive Director of Business Ethics Leadership Alliance. “Our new culture diagnostic tool provides these solutions by putting comparative information in the hands of compliance officers so that they can build their plans to convince the C-Suite that company ethics and reputation matter as much as the products they sell.”

Each year Ethisphere surveys companies across the globe to create the World’s Most Ethical Companies list, which is announced annually in March. In 2017, 124 companies had what it took to make the coveted list. Ethisphere’s notion that the financial value and ethics are inexorably tied together has been explained through an analysis of how the stock price of publicly-traded 2017 honorees compare to the S&P 500 over the last two years. The analysis demonstrates a 6.4% premium Ethisphere refers to as the ‘ethics premium.’

Methodology
The Culture Diagnostic is based upon Ethisphere’s  Ethics Quotient® (EQ) framework which offers a quantitative way to assess a company’s performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies, rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics.

About Ethisphere
The Ethisphere® Institute is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that fuel corporate character, marketplace trust and business success. Ethisphere has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World’s Most Ethical Companies recognition program, provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA) and showcases trends and best practices in ethics with Ethisphere Magazine. Ethisphere is also the leading provider of independent verification of corporate ethics and compliance programs that include: Ethics Inside® Certification and Compliance Leader Verification™. More information about Ethisphere can be found at https://ethisphere.com.

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Media Contact
Clea Nabozny
1 (480) 397-2658
[email protected]

For the eleventh year, honorees sharpen their focus on long term-ism as a sustainable business advantage and harness integrity to impact change.

New York, NY – March 13, 2017 – Ethisphere, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, today announced 124 companies spanning five continents, 19 countries and 52 industry sectors as the 2017 World’s Most Ethical Companies^® honorees.

Since 2007, Ethisphere has honored those companies who recognize their role in society to influence and drive positive change in the business community and societies around the world. These companies also consider the impact of their actions on their employees, investors, customers and other key stakeholders and leverage values and a culture of integrity as the underpinnings to the decisions they make each day.

“Over the last eleven years we have seen an impressive shift in societal expectations, aggressive emergence of new laws and regulation and geopolitical swings that can further disrupt the balance. We have also seen how companies honored as the World’s Most Ethical respond to these challenges. They invest in their local communities around the world, embrace strategies of diversity and inclusion and focus on long term-ism as a sustainable business advantage. In short, these companies are transformative, not just out of need, but because they recognize that integrity is the key to their advancement,” explained Ethisphere CEO, Timothy Erblich. “Congratulations to all of the 2017 honorees.”

Ethisphere’s notion that the financial value and ethics are inexorably tied together has been explained through an analysis of how the stock price of publicly-traded 2017 honorees compare to the S&P 500 over the last two years. The analysis demonstrates a 6.4% premium Ethisphere refers to as an ‘ethics premium.’

Among the 2017 list of companies are 13 eleven-time honorees and 8 first-time honorees. 2017 also marks the first-time appearance of a Mexico-based company.

“We are honored to be recognized as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for 11 consecutive years,” said Kao Corporation President and CEO, Michitaka Sawada. “For 130 years, we have upheld the value of Integrity passed down from Kao’s founder. As a core value, we positioned integrity as the foundation of the Kao Group Mid-term Plan 2020 (K20), which started from this year. This Integrity continues to be embraced as K20 guides the group’s daily business activities.”

“We’ve always been committed to demonstrating the highest level of integrity, ethical business practices and social responsibility in everything we do,” said Petco CEO, Brad Weston. “It’s an honor to continue receiving this distinguished recognition and a direct reflection of our commitment to doing the right thing for people and pets.”

“Companies are the bricks of modern society. In order to make positive change happen throughout the world, ethics must be a core of private enterprise,” said illycaffe S.p.A. Chairman, Andrea Illy. “Ethisphere’s work is inspiring and helping companies prioritize meaningful investments that push them to be the best.”

“Singtel is honoured to again be recognised as a World’s Most Ethical Company for our longstanding commitment to transparency and the highest level of corporate governance. I’m especially proud of our more than 25,000 employees who bring our core values to life every day. We believe our long-term success depends not just on our financial performance, but how we maintain the highest standards of corporate governance and create positive change in society,” expressed Singtel Group CEO, Ms. Chua Sock Koong.

Methodology
The World’s Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon Ethisphere’s Ethics Quotient^® (EQ) framework which offers a quantitative way to assess a company’s performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies, rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics.

The methodology is weighted into five key categories: ethics and compliance program (35%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (20%), culture of ethics (20%), governance (15%) and leadership, innovation and reputation (10%).

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Honorees

The full list of the 2017 World’s Most Ethical Companies can be found at http://worldsmostethicalcompanies.ethisphere.com/honorees/.

Best practices and insights from the 2017 honorees will be released in a series of infographics and research throughout the year. Download the 2017 executive summary here. Organizations interested in how they compare to the World’s Most Ethical Companies are invited to participate in the Ethics Quotient.

About Ethisphere
The Ethisphere^® Institute is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that fuel corporate character, marketplace trust and business success. Ethisphere has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World’s Most Ethical Companies recognition program, provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA) and showcases trends and best practices in ethics with the publication of Ethisphere Magazine. More information about Ethisphere can be found at: https://ethisphere.com.

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Media Contact
Clea Nabozny
1 (480) 397-2658
[email protected]

Top Business Leaders Sound Off About What It Takes To Be An Ethical Company 

New York, NY– March 1, 2017– Ethisphere, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices is gearing up for its 9^th Annual Global Ethics Summit, to be held on March 15-16 at the Grand Hyatt in New York City. As a preview to the main event, Ethisphere conducted informative interviews with leading faculty promoting their roles and expectations as panelists, and has publicized them in the form of short and insightful podcasts called “Ethicasts”.

“At the Global Ethics Summit I plan on discussing the shareholder value proposition,” Melissa Nandi, Vice President, Law, and Chief Compliance Officer, Rockwell Automation, said in her recent podcast. “Ethisphere does an amazing job at compiling and using data to show that companies with a strong commitment to ethics and a sustainable culture really do outperform their peers. Ethics are important but without shareholder value, the company will fail, so the two concepts must work hand-in-hand.”

The two-day event will feature business and compliance leaders from the US and abroad connecting for close to two days of content-rich conversation and shared best practices. A multidisciplinary faculty will be on display among 200 different companies and organizations taking a forward-thinking approach to issues that largely impact global business and integrity today. The “Ethicast” series of podcasts will preview some of the topics that will be addressed throughout the Summit from organizations such as Nokia, Ingredion, Rockwell Automation, Parsons, Nardello & Co., Kroll and more.

On day one of the Global Ethics Summit, Melissa Nandi and leaders from PepsiCo and Nokia will examine “The ROI of Compliance: How to Transform Compliance into Competitive Advantage.” Listen to Nandi’s exclusive podcast here: http://insights.ethisphere.com/rockwell-automation/

In addition to business advantage and ethical value, experts will discuss a variety of issues including company culture, corporate governance, third party risk, human rights and more. The Summit is also enriched by peer-to-peer connection for leaders to benchmark, share practices and learn from one another.

“While I am a panelist, I am also looking forward to coming to the Summit and attending panels that touch on culture and how to build the business case for making ethics a focus of your company culture,” said Lucy Fato, General Counsel, Managing Director and Head of the Americas at Nardello & Co. “Ultimately, I am looking forward to learning more about employee engagement, education, and responding to hotline issues. This is a great opportunity to learn from the best.”

On day one of the Global Ethics Summit, Lucy Fato is joined by leaders from GE and L’Oréal as they discuss “Company Culture: Measuring the Integrity of Your Organization.” Her exclusive podcast highlights culture and measuring the integrity of an organization in light of a new administration here: http://insights.ethisphere.com/nardello/.

Other Summit speakers and participating companies featured on the new “Ethicast” series include:

• Christine Castellano, Senior Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer at Ingredion Incorporated on “A Closer Look at Ingredion’s E+C Program”
• Jeffrey Eglash, Vice President, Ethics and Compliance at Nokia, on “Building a Culture of Leadership and Accountability”
• Joe Spinelli, Senior Managing Director at Kroll, on “The Current State of Anti-Bribery and Corruption”
• Avis Russell, Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer at Parsons Corporation, on “Inside the 2017 Global Ethics Summit: Information Governance”

“Ethisphere is committed to working with companies worldwide to shine a spotlight on best practices in business integrity and performance,” said Kevin McCormack, Ethisphere’s Vice President of Global Thought Leadership and Programs. “What this Summit, and the leadership involved, does is take a concept such as ethics, which is often considered amorphous, and puts structure, metrics and real world examples behind it. Heading into its ninth year, this Summit continues to be a transformative event for all that attend, inspiring companies who understand that integrity has a measurable value and an enormous impact not just for the companies themselves, but for the multitude of stakeholders and communities they serve around the globe.”

Connect with some of the most respected influencers in business today and share in the culture conversations at the Global Ethics Summit on March 15-16, 2017 at the Grand Hyatt New York in New York City: https://globalethicssummit2017.com/. On Tuesday, March 14, Ethisphere will celebrate World’s Most Ethical Companies® at our annual Gala Dinner: https://wmegala.com. Registration is still open for both events.

About Ethisphere
The Ethisphere® Institute is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that fuel corporate character, marketplace trust and business success. Ethisphere has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World’s Most Ethical Companies® recognition program, provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA) and showcases trends and best practices in ethics with “Ethisphere Magazine“. Ethisphere is also the leading provider of independent verification of corporate ethics and compliance programs that include: Ethics Inside® Certification and Compliance Leader Verification™. More information about Ethisphere can be found at: https://ethisphere.com.

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Media Contact
Clea Nabozny
480.397.2658
[email protected]