Business Ethics & Corporate Social Responsibility
Code of Ethics
"What is required is a sense of global ethics, to provide people the means to assess, form, and direct their moral awareness of the world and their place within it, and how to interact with others. Global ethics properly attends to the rightness and wrongness, the justice or injustice, of global dynamics, as well as the social reality they constitute."
Source: K. Caruso, J. S. Collins, S. Schragle-Law, J. Thorpe. (2011). Teaching Ethical Business Practices in a Multicultural Classroom: Understanding Differences to Find a Common Ground. Paper presented at IBFR, Institute for Business and Finance Research, San Juan, Costa Rica, May 24-27, 2011
United Nations Global Compact
The United Nations Global Compact This link opens in a new window is an initiative composed of participants from corporations, associations, municipalities, academic institutions, and public sector organizations that endorse ten universally accepted principles in the areas below:
- Human Rights This link opens in a new windowThe idea of human rights is as simple as it is powerful: that people have a right to be treated with dignity. Human rights are inherent in all human beings, whatever their nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language or any other status. Every individual is entitled to enjoy human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.
- Labour This link opens in a new windowPromoting respect for labour rights is core to the work of the United Nations Global Compact. Respect for workers’ rights and compliance with labour standards are the foundation of decent work. Despite progress, decent work deficits remain alarmingly widespread. Advancing decent work and raising the living standards of all workers across operations and supply chains require all companies to adopt sustainable, responsible and inclusive workplace practices, and for companies with supply chains to use their leverage with suppliers to contribute to the realization of decent work globally.
- Environment This link opens in a new windowThe world today is facing unprecedented, interconnected environmental challenges in areas including climate change, clean water, ocean health and biodiversity. New corporate efforts are needed to increase stewardship of natural resources, implement innovative solutions, and contribute to sustainable development.
- Anti-Corruption This link opens in a new windowCorruption is a considerable obstacle to economic and social development around the world. It has negative impacts on sustainable development and particularly affects poor communities. For companies, corruption impedes business growth, escalates costs and poses serious legal and reputational risks. It also raises transaction costs, undermines fair competition, impedes long-term foreign and domestic investment, and distorts development priorities. Investors too understand that corruption can negatively impact value and pose financial, operational and reputational risks to their investments.