"The advantage to mankind of being able to trust one another penetrates into every crevice and cranny of human life: the economical is perhaps the smallest part of it, yet even this is incalculable." John Stuart Mill (1848) [ref]
In our first post we proposed a universal business ethics principle:“A basic duty of every organization is to earn stakeholder trust.”
The death toll following the huge explosions and chemical fires at the storage centre in Tianjin port in China last week has now exceeded 100, including dozens of fire fighters, and hundreds more seriously injured.
Toxic chemicals and gasses have necessitated an evacuation of the area and the clean up will be a long process.
In an interview with Tayfun Zaman, Secretary General at TEID , Ethics and Reputation Society, and Founder and Director of Turkish Integrity Center of Excellence, Mr Zaman talks about his own professional experience of launching and participating in a Collective Action initiative for custom brokers in Turkey. This article first appeared this summer in the Basel Institute Institute on Governance Annual Report 2014.
In Québec, construction is a major industry, with investments in 2014 of nearly $48 billion (CAN$), or 13% of the province’s GDP. Québec construction association (Association de la construction du Québec or ACQ) represents more than 60% of the province’s builders. But Canada’s second largest province has been through a major crisis of confidence after investigative journalists uncovered corruption and collusion in public construction contracts. This led authorities to launch a public Inquiry in 2011.
This piece was originally published in TRACE Trends, a version of which was originally published by Alexandra Wrage in The Compliance & Ethics Blog.
A version of this blog post initially appeared in the Summer 2015 edition of Ethical Boardroom Magazine.
This summer will mark two years since the ICCA Conference, Collective Action: Going Further Together to Counter Corruption.
Much has been said and written about the business case for countering corruption. That is to say, about the long-term benefits of a clean business environment, not only for the economic development of countries but also for individual companies who profit from transparent and reliable business practices.
While this is undoubtedly true, it’s also true that withstanding corruption can be a challenge for companies.
The High Level Reporting Mechanism (HLRM) has received increased attention in recent months, making it worthwhile to take stock of developments surrounding the tool as well as supporting items for their implementation.
The private sector’s role in combating and preventing corruption continues to be essential and is widely recognized by government, civil society and companies themselves, with the spread of corporate anti-corruption compliance programs in recent years presenting a clear response to the acknowledged responsibility of the private sector. Whilst this is a positive development it is not enough to tackle corruption in particularly challenging markets and sectors.