Subscribers
There are now 72
corporate and associate subscribers to the Institute and 70 individual subscribers.
The corporate subscribers represent the following sectors
Financial 28%
Services 17%
Industrials 13%
Consultancies 14%
Construction 4%
Utilities 10%
Pharmaceuticals
5%
Retail 14%
Associates 4% Activities
A Corporate Subscriber Events
i. The
Business Ethics Net (BEN)
Three meetings have been held. In July a joint
meeting was held with EBEN (European Business Ethics Network). A whole day event
which included discussions on the ethical foundation of Corporate Responsibility
and the EU paper on CSR. In October we reflected on lessons learnt so far from
the Enron case, the main one being you can have a code but unless it is embedded
in the culture of the company with leadership from the top, you may fail. In December,
the group played two ethical board games, one supplied by KPMG and the other by
Gerard International. ii. Round Tables
In July, the topic of
Corporate Gifts and Entertainment were discussed, looking at policies and practice.
In September, Stephenson Harwood led a discussion on Ethical Due Diligence. In
June we reported that following a Roundtable on Facilitatation payments, the Institute
has been in contact with the Foreign Office and Attorney General's office to ascertain
a definition of a facilitation payments and how this aspect of the new Anti Terrorism
Act will be interpreted. We understood there was to be a review of these provisions
in December. From information gained this review is due before December 2003. B
Subscriber/Open events
There have been 4 such events over the last six
months: FTSE4Good - one year on - given by Jayn Harding, FTSE
The Public Opinion of Business - given by Stewart Lewis, MORI
Forge
II and the Financial Services Sector - given by Anthony Sampson, Aviva
Caux Round Table - given by Lord Brennan, Steve Young Attendances
have been good and our speakers have provoked interesting debates in each instance.
It is intended there will be some follow up with some of these topics to explore
them in more depth, such as ethics by industry sector. C Publications
In July, Demonstrating Corporate Values, written by Deborah
Smith of EQ Management and sponsored by BAT was published. This publication seeks
to compare and contrast the main standards such as AA1000, SA8000, GRI Guidelines
etc. that companies might use in social reporting. Sales have been good and we
have been pleased with press comment received. D Research
Work
on 'Does Ethics Pay?' continues. It is a piece seeking to replicate in the UK,
research carried out in the USA, into the link between a company's financial performance
and a public commitment by its management to follow an ethical corporate conduct
policy. We will publish the results of this research before
Easter 2003. E Training
In September
our one-day course on Introduction to Business Ethics was attended by 9 participants.
A fourth session was run in December with 12 attendees. Forthcoming sessions will
be on 6 February; 10 April; 19 June and 23 October 2003. The training sessions
tend to be lively as issues get aired. The content, and its format in using 'cameos'
to tease out discussion of ethical issues is used as the basis for our in-house
training programmes that can be tailored for our corporate subscribers. A number
of such programmes are in hand and ongoing. F Consultancy
The
Institute continues to assist companies with the development or revision of their
codes of conduct. This work is always on going but we note more interest from
companies just now, particularly following the Sarbanes Oxley Act in the US and
the requirement for non-US companies, registered with the SEC and for the NYSE
to comply.
G Future Events
Please see the timetable of dates for 2003 included with this review.
H
Ethics in the Workplace
Sir Nigel Wicks, Chairman of the Committee on
Standards in Public Life launched our lecture series in September in able fashion,
with a discussion on ethics in public life. Colin Cramphorn, Chief Constable of
West Yorkshire, spoke in November on a policeman's reflections on ethics. We look
forward to John Monks speaking on March 3rd, 2003. This will take place at 6pm
on Thursday September 19th at 24 Greencoat Place. If in reading this news
update, any ideas for research or event topics should come to mind, or you have
any questions, or comments regarding the work of the IBE, do please contact me
on 020 7798 6042 or by email: pfb@ibe.org.uk.
We thank you for your
continuing support
Philippa Foster Back
Director
December 2002
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