There are various reports about the most ethical firms in the world. One of the most comprehensive such reports is compiled by the Ethisphere® Institute.
According to its Web site:
“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. We have a deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character. Ethisphere believes integrity and transparency impact the public trust and the bottom line of any organization. The World’s Most Ethical Companies is a distinction that honors superior achievements in transparency, integrity, ethics and compliance.”
“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. Honorees not only promote ethical business standards and practices internally, they exceed legal compliance minimums and shape future industry standards by introducing best practices today. In 2015, 132 honorees were named spanning 21 countries and five continents and representing over 50 industries. In its ninth year, the list includes 15 nine-time honorees and 11 first-time honorees.”
Of the 132 honorees for 2015, 100 are U.S.-based companies!
Click here to see the 2015 honorees, designated by industry as well as alphabetically.
I was surprised to see that out of the 132 honorees, 100 were US based companies. GO USA! it looks like we are pretty ethical people which I didn’t really expect to be the case overall. I thought it was funny that National Grid was on the list. I didn’t really imagine them being a very ethical business. Congrats to all the ethical businesses in the US.
Very interesting to see who the most ethical companies in each industry were. I wasn’t surprised to see that the United States were a part of most of the industries on that list. It reflects how we are as a nation, and why we are one of the most strongest, affluent in the world. I was shocked to see that Gap was the most ethical industry in apparel because in my opinion, Gap doesn’t seem to be very attractive to the consumer, but I guess they are the most ethical as a business overall. Being ethical is very important in business and I’m happy to see that the U.S. is the most ethical out of most other nations, if not all of them.
I am not very surprised that a majority of the companies on the list are from the united states. Over the last few years, having an ethical reputation with consumers has been a great focus for many industry leaders. Walmart has joined the ethical bandwagon as well, by phasing out GMO and chemically treated food products from their stores and phasing in organic, all natural substitutes. Having such a reputation will increase your popularity with consumers, especially within the United States markets.
I was very surprised to see that many of the top companies were US based companies. I would have thought that many foreign companies would have been a more dominant feature. One reason that US companies are more ethical is because in the US it is unethical and illegal to bribe officials and other companies. However, overseas it is just another business expense that a company can write off. The US prides themselves as being ethical and fair, and the list shows that they actually are.
Being ethical is clearly very important especially in today’s business environment. However, I must be skeptical about this list since it is not clear what is meant by best practices and how exactly the companies on the list were rated. It is highly unlikely that every company in the entire world (large, medium, or small) was rated. That is unfeasible. Also, the list is full of companies from developed nations like the United States and European countries. However, companies from the emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China, Mexico, Nigeria, and Turkey are barely on the list. Although I am very skeptical of this list, it is still a very helpful tool for other companies. They can use the companies on the list as a benchmark for what they should be doing to be considered an ethical company.