Examination of the codes of ethics artefacts in top Taiwanese companies

This study examines the use of codes of ethics artefacts among top companies in Taiwan. This research reports on the responses of those top Taiwanese companies that possessed a code of ethics. The empirical findings are compared to the findings of previous research. Top Taiwanese companies appear not to be drastically different from top companies in other countries in terms of the areas examined. Several similarities have been revealed. This study provides valuable insights into a previously unexplored corporate territory in terms of codes of ethics artefacts. Furthermore, it provides a seed and guidance for further research in other corporate cultures worldwide. Two parts of interest to business practices may be distinguished in terms of corporate codes of ethics artefacts, namely a regulatory one and one that supports staff. It also provides a valuable point of reference to previous research of corporate codes of ethics artefacts.

Ethical structures and processes of corporations operating in Australia, Canada and Sweden : A longitudinal and cross-cultural study

Based on the ‘Partnership Model of Corporate Ethics’ (Wood, 2002), this study examines the ethical structures and processes that are put in place by organizations to enhance the ethical business behavior of staff. The study examines the use of these structures and processes amongst the top companies in the three countries of Australia, Canada, and Sweden over two time periods (2001–2002 and 2005–2006). Subsequently, a combined comparative and longitudinal approach is applied in the study, which we contend is a unique approach in the area of business ethics. The findings of the study indicate that corporations operating in Sweden have utilized ethical structures and processes differently than their Canadian and/or Australian counterparts, and that in each culture the way that companies fashion their approach to business ethics appears congruent with their national cultural values. There does, however, appear to be a convergence of views within the organizations of each culture, as the Swedish companies appear to have been more influenced in 2005–2006 by an Anglo-Saxon business paradigm than they have been in the past.

Ethical perspective on sustainable business practices

This paper considers contemporary business practice and its sustainable performance from the view of stakeholder value. Stakeholder value is a broad concept and implies that a company has responsibilities and commitments to many different internal and external stakeholders in the marketplace and society, not only to its investors and the owners of the company, but also to its employees, customers, suppliers, societies and the environment. This view underlines the need for organisations to, not only provide value, but do so in a sustainable and socially responsible manner.

In considering the stakeholder value perspective of contemporary business practice, the authors proffer that undertaking an ethical perspective in corporate business practices will result in long term sustainable and socially responsible performance that delivers superior stakeholder value. In order to operationalise this concept a model is developed based on five, separate but interconnected, elements: (i) Foundation, (ii) Communication, (iii) Guidance, (iv) Outcome, and (v) Reconnection. The authors emphasise that the model is iterative and acknowledge its elementary state, suggesting further development and refinement in the field of sustainable business practices from an ethical perspective.

Comparing codes of ethics among the top companies in Australia, Canada and the USA

In the twentieth century, industrialized economies around the world enacted legislation to protect free and fair trade. These legislative initiatives were often precipitated by exposure to unethical business practices. With the fairly recent corporate business scandals around the world, ethics is once again at the forefront of concerns about commercial exchanges. This situation has become more complex with the globalization of commercial trade. Subsequently, there have been various attempts by international organizations to regulate the conduct of global corporations. One key technique to try to regulate the conduct of corporation is the use of codes of ethics. This study examines corporate codes of ethics and the measures in place to communicate the ethos of the codes to both internal and external stakeholders in three countries. A questionnaire that was non-sponsored and unsolicited was sent to the top companies operating in the private sector within Australia, Canada and the USA. Nine key areas of corporate ethics are examined and they are divided into two categories as follows:

Regulation
Consequences for a Breach
Ethical Perfonnance Appraisal
Conduct Ethical Audits

Staff Support
Support of Whistle blowers
Guide to Strategic Planning
Ethics Committee
Ethics Training Committee
Staff Training
Ethics Ombudsman.

Cross-sector organisational engagement with ethics : a comparison between private sector companies and public sector entities of Sweden

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to describe and compare similarities as well as differences in the organizational engagement with ethics between private sector companies and public sector entities.

Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted in order to examine the organizational engagement with ethics in the largest private sector companies and the largest public sector entities in Sweden. Two adapted questionnaires were developed for each sector. The outcome of this research procedure is reported in this paper.

Findings – There are both minor and major differences between the private sector and public sectors, where the private sector companies overall tend to be more engaged with ethics than the public sector entities in areas such as: ethical bodies, ethical tools, internal and external ethical usage, and ethical support measures and ethical performance measures.

Research limitations/implications – This paper makes a contribution to theory as it outlines findings for the benefit of other researchers working in private and/or public sectors in the field. A suggestion for further research is to examine the organizational engagement with ethics in other countries/cultures that differ from the ones in this research effort performed in the private and public sectors of Sweden.

Practical implications – The research may be of managerial interest as it provides a grounded framework of areas to be considered in the examination of organizational engagement with ethics in both private sector companies and public sector entities. It may be used as a benchmark by either sector.

Originality/value – It reports a research effort to develop and describe a cross-sector comparison of the organizational engagement with ethics between private sector companies and public sector entities of Sweden. A framework is also introduced and illustrated. It also makes a contribution to theory and practice in the field as it is based upon a dual sample that provides insight into cross-sector organizational engagement with ethics.

Implementation, communication and benefits of public sector codes of ethics : a longitudinal study of Sweden

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the implementation, communication and benefits of codes of ethics in the public sector of Sweden.

Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on a longitudinal approach. It examines the ethos of codes of ethics in the largest public sector organizations of Sweden in 2001-2002 and 2005-2006.

Findings – Only a few of the largest public sector organizations in Sweden have indicated that they possess codes of ethics. This finding may be explained by the current judicial legislation that governs Swedish society. The public codes of ethics have been established both recently and, in part, years ago.

Research limitations/implications – A suggestion for further research would be to examine the implementation, communication and perceived benefits of public sector codes of ethics in other countries. Another area of further research would be to replicate the reported surveys in the future to examine the existence of potential trends.

Practical implications – When it comes to the perceived benefits of public sector codes of ethics there appears to be only minor acknowledgement of the code being used to resolve ethical problems in society. However, there is a strong conviction that the code of ethics positively influences the operations of public sector organizations.

Originality/value – The paper examines the ethical implementation, communication and benefits put in place by private companies to embed codes of ethics into their organizations.

Top versus leading journals in marketing : some challenging thoughts

Purpose – The objective of this paper is to discuss some criteria in order to distinguish between top versus leading journals in marketing. The aim is to stimulate the debate of the adequacy of those issues that dominate in the top marketing journals.

Design/methodology/approach – The authors discuss three groups of criteria, namely journal, article, and research. Each is discussed based on a set of dimensions: journal criteria – the editor, the editorial board, the editorial objective and the author affiliations; article criteria – research implication, practice implication, readability and originality; and research criteria – process, paradigm, representation, readership and contribution.

Findings – While the top journals in marketing are named, the analysis is meant to be of a more general nature rather than to question or lambaste a specific journal.

Research limitations/implications – There is an underlying quest for identifying and verifying the top academic journals in different research disciplines. As an extension to the discussion of top versus non-top journals, the authors raise another crucial issue, namely criteria to differentiate between top and leading journals in marketing.

Practical implications – These criteria are based on the authors' examination of the editorial descriptions and overall contents of six top journals in marketing. The criteria are also derived from a review of the literature on academic journals and academic publishing.

Originality/value – The discussion may stimulate and widen debate with respect to what constitutes a leading academic journal in marketing. The suggested list of criteria should be seen as a trigger for further discussion. It does not aspire to be complete, but a complement to the ongoing discussion of academic journals and academic publishing in marketing.

A model of business ethics

It appears that in the 30 years that business ethics has been a discipline in its own right a model of business ethics has not been proffered. No one appears to have tried to explain the phenomenon known as ‚business ethics’ and the ways that we as a society interact with the concept, therefore, the authors have addressed this gap in the literature by proposing a model of business ethics that the authors hope will stimulate debate. The business ethics model consists of three principal components (i.e. expectations, perceptions and evaluations) that are interconnected by five sub-components (i.e. society expects; organizational values, norms and beliefs; outcomes; society evaluates; and reconnection). The introduced model makes a contribution to the creation of a conceptual framework for business ethics. A few tentative conclusions may be drawn from the introduced model of business ethics. The model aspires to be highly dynamic. The ultimate outcome is dependent upon the evolution of time and contexts. It is also dependent upon and provides reference to the behaviours and perceptions of people. The model proposes business ethics to be a continuous and an iterative process. There is no actual end of the process, but a constant reconnection to the initiation of successive process iterations of the business ethics model. The principals and sub-components of the model construct the dynamics of this continuous process. They provide guidance on what and how to explore our common efforts to understand the phenomenon known as business ethics. The model provides opportunities for further research in the field of business ethics.

International standards of business conduct: framework and illustration

Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to describe the insights and a proposal into the structure of standards of business conduct and its intended applications.

Design/methodology/approach: – The case study is based upon an inductive content analysis of corporate ethics artefacts.

Findings: – It is concluded that the standards of business conduct may be highly prescriptive in world wide corporations, but that there should be an explicit commitment to a flexible and dynamic approach to the application of standards of business conduct.

Research limitations/implications: – An examination of the actual behaviour of a corporation's operations was beyond the scope of the present research, but such a study has potential for future research. This would open up the wider question of how corporations can minimise the gap between corporate intentions and actual outcomes in business operations across national and cultural boundaries.

Practical implications: – These diverse national and cultural contexts that world wide corporations encounter must be taken into consideration in the content of their standards of business conduct.

Originality/value: – The authors emphasise the concern of recognising that the contexts surrounding standards of business conduct are dynamic. Corporate codes of ethics should be regarded as dynamic artefacts. A framework of application is proposed.

A longitudinal study of the commitment to business ethics of corporate Australia

This paper compares the results of a longitudinal study of ten years, conducted at five yearly intervals, from 1995 to 2005. The aim of the study was to examine the commitment to business ethics of the top 500 Australian companies. Primary data was obtained via a self-administered mail questionnaire distributed to a census of the top 500 Australian companies. This paper examines those responses that indicated that their company possessed a code of ethics. The paper finds that business ethics has continued to evolve and that, in most cases, such evolution has been positive. It would seem that codes of ethics have moved beyond a regulatory requirement and are now considered an integral component of corporate culture and commercial practice in many of Australia's top companies.