NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Ethisphere Institute, a leading international organization dedicated to the creation, advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, anti-corruption and sustainability, announced today the selection of the 2013 World’s Most Ethical Companies, a recognition of 138 organizations that show leadership in setting ethical business standards.
“The World’s Most Ethical Companies are leaders of their respective industries when it comes to key ethical criteria such as tone from the top, employee well-being, CSR, compliance programs, and other important areas,” said Alex Brigham, Executive Director of the Ethisphere Institute. “Every year we are impressed to learn some of the new ethics initiatives that these companies have developed and we are pleased to see the bar raised higher year after year. These companies also understand that a strong culture of ethics is also key to helping drive financial performance.”
This year’s list covers more than three-dozen industries, and boasts more than 40 recognized companies with headquarters located outside of the U.S.
“SCA is committed to ethical business practices and strong environmental conduct and we’ve seen this positively impact the company’s performance,” said Jan Johansson, President and CEO of Sweden-headquartered hygiene and forest products company SCA. “Our customers, consumers, employees and investors trust us because of the high level of transparency we demand at all levels of our business. We see this as a competitive advantage and true business differentiator. We are honored to be recognized by Ethisphere a sixth time.”
“Visa’s business depends on trust,” said Ellen Richey, Chief Enterprise Risk Officer for Visa Inc. “Trust is critical to our business of enabling electronic commerce and this recognition reflects the commitment of Visa’s employees worldwide to the highest levels of ethical business practices.”
Ethisphere’s methodology process involved reviewing codes of ethics, litigation and regulatory infraction histories; evaluating the investment in innovation and sustainable business practices; looking at activities designed to improve corporate citizenship; and studying nominations from senior executives, industry peers, suppliers and customers.
“We live in a world of increased and appropriate expectations related to the accountability companies have to operate as good corporate citizens,” said Dan Bross, senior director, Corporate Citizenship at Microsoft. “For the third year in a row, we are proud to be named as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute. We offer our sincere congratulations to the other companies featured on the list. We are honored to be among them.”
Each year, more companies nominate themselves for this prestigious designation, hoping to separate themselves from competitors. In fact, for the 2013 award, thousands of companies were evaluated, making it the most competitive year yet.
The full list of the 2013 World’s Most Ethical Companies can be found at www.ethisphere.com.