WHY ETHICAL BUSINESS PRACTISES?

Business ethics is here to stay; it is the megatrend for the new
millenium. In the long term, a company that is committed to
ethical values is the winner. It will be in control of its business
activities and not to be at the mercy of outside activist groups,
nor even of ruthless competitors trying to spread misinformation
about the company´s conduct. With ethical conduct and commit-
ment in place, the corporation can concentrate on what it is best
at, its business operations, making a profit and maintaining a
healthy bottom line.

The consumer movement and human rights activists have become
increasingly empowered, and they actively publicize news of un-
ethical conduct of companies, very effectively using various
strategies to do this, one of which is the Internet. Operations
of many multinational corporations in developing countries have
been put under international scrutiny by these groups. They
demand the companies to have appropriate codes of conduct;
to end the use of child or slave labor; or to establish fair wage
policies for local employees. It is a positive sign that, despite
the absence of pressure from international human rights activist
or consumer groups, many global companies have been proactive and realized the value of ethical codes of conduct. The better
the companies are prepared by having their ethical codes in place; the more the company personnel is truly committed to them; the easier it will be for the companies to defend themselves from outside attacks.

Ethical codes of conduct are the company´s written guidelines
for all employees; specifically the company´s policy on how it
expects the employees to conduct their duties and tasks and
what the company`s stand is both on domestic issues and issues that will have to be dealt with in the company´s international
business operations in a foreign cultural setting. The managers
who are sent abroad need proper training on how to run a com-
pany in another culture. The ethical codes of the parent company provide the manager the necessary administrative support for
his day-to-day decision making. An increasing number of business
leaders see ethical codes of conduct beneficial to the company
and to its bottom line. Integrity and solid moral values are an
integral part of good business management, just as they are
in all other walks of life.

Anti-Corruption Rationale
Corruption is one of the greatest challenges of the contemporary world. It undermines good government, fundamentally distorts public policy, leads to the misallocation of resources, harms the private sector and private sector development and particularly hurts the poor. Controlling it is only possible with the co-operation of a wide range of stakeholders in the integrity system, including most importantly the state, civil society, and the private sector. There is also a crucial role to be played by international institutions. Corruption most hurts the poorest because they are deprived of opportunities for basic health services, education and equal treatment within the legal system.

Berlin-based Transparency International, TI, is the only global organization that works solely against corruption and bribery. TI has developed a Corruption Perceptions Index, CPI, capturing the degrees of corruption perceived by international and domestic business communities. According to CPI, Finland is the least corrupted country in the world. However, Finns must be aware of the many faces of corruption to keep it from spreading. Espcially Finnish companies that operate globally must be extremely wary of the different forms of corruption and bribery to avoid being drawn into it. Commitment to transparency at all levels of life as well as consistent training and dissemination of information about corruption and bribery are necessary to reach that goal.

LINKS TO SITES PROMOTING ETHICAL BUSINESS PRACTICES AND
HUMAN RIGHTS

Amnesty International
www.amnesty.org
Amnesty International, Finnish Section
www.amnesty.fi
ASU International
www.asuinternational.com
Business for Social Responsibility
www.bsr.org
Center for the Study of Human Rights, Columbia University
www.columbia.edu/cu/humanrights
ECS2000 Ethics Compliance, Management System Standard
ECS2000.reitaku-u.ac.jp
Ethical Trading Initiative
www.ethicaltrade.org
FairTrade Labelling Organization FLO
www.fairtrade.org
Finnish Business and Society
www.businessandsociety.net
Human Rights Watch
www.hrw.org
Reilu Kauppa
www.reilukauppa.fi
Social Accountability International
www.cepaa.org
Transparency International
www.transparency.org
UN Global Compact Initiative
www.unglobalcompact.org
University of Iowa, Center for Human Rights
www.uichr.org

Disclaimer: The information contained in these sites is not controlled
by Mustanoja Consulting Oy. The information provided in the links
is solely the responsibility of the organizations that present it.