here - Institute of Business Ethics

1
c e l e b r a t i n g
25 years

Contents
Introduction
Introduction by Philippa Foster Back OBE 1
Lord Mayor of the City of London 2010-2011 2
Sir Robert Worcester KBE DL 4
Chris Moorhouse 5
Dr Neville Bain 6
Mallen Baker 7
Sir Cyril Chantler 8
Bernard Claude 9
Andrew Crane 10
John Cridland 11
Keith Darcy 12
Joan Dubinsky 13
Kathleen Edmond 14
Elizabeth Filkin 15
Professor David Grayson CBE 16
Lord Brian Griffiths of Fforestfach 17
Sir Christopher Kelly 18
Rushworth Kidder 19
Emmanuel Lulin 20
Alison Maitland 21
Lord Robert May of Oxford, OM AC FRS 22
Dick Olver 23
Sir John Parker 24
Sir Martin Sorrell 25
Toby Webb 26
Patrick Zurstrassen 27
IBE Timeline 28
The Institute of Business Ethics was founded in
1986 by businesses concerned that, following
the deregulation of the City of London, ‘one’s
word would no longer be one’s bond’. The Big
Bang radically changed the way the London
Stock Exchange operated, doing away with
much of what was seen by critics as ‘the old
boys’ network’ and internationalising London’s
financial markets.
25 years later and much has changed. London’s
role as the world’s leading financial centre
consolidated; technology is integrated into all of
our lives; global communication has torn down
barriers. All these elements and more have
created new ethical challenges. We have also
seen the effects that a lack of ethics can have
on businesses and the world economy. Enron,
WorldCom, Barings, the financial crisis of the
21st century – these scandals and many more
have their root in poor ethical judgement and
behaviours, primarily a placing of profit above all
else, including people.
As part of our celebrations of our 25th year,
the IBE has asked 25 thought leaders from
business, academia, politics and the ethics
arena for their views on what the next 25 years
have in store for business, and business ethics.
What are the challenges? And how can they best
be met?
Their opinions are many and varied and make
interesting reading. But one thing is clear:
in the next 25 years, the IBE will still have a
place in helping organisations achieve a deeply
embedded culture of integrity, and therefore
excellence and reward.
Philippa Foster Back, OBE
Director, Institute of Business Ethics
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
2 1

“
The Institute of Business Ethics has worked tirelessly
since 1986 when it was launched at the Mansion
House with support from the then Lord Mayor, to
encourage the highest business standards based on
sound ethical values.
In those 25 years much has changed. We have
experienced economic turmoil, unprecedented
growth, increased regulation, the expanding impact
of the EU.
But whatever the changes, it has always been of
critical importance to maintain the highest standards
of ethics and values in businesses of every sort.
Alderman Michael Bear
Lord Mayor of the City of London
2010 - 2011
That is as true today as it ever was. As Lord Mayor
of the City of London, I was especially conscious of
this, representing as I did the UK financial services
industry at home and overseas - an industry which
inevitably suffered its share of reputational damage
because of the banking crisis three years ago.
That is why I launched my own initiative to examine
ways of building confidence and trust in the City,
an initiative in which I was delighted that the IBE
participated.
Our aim has been to examine current best practice
and to find new ways of embedding the right
behaviours and culture in every organisation and
individual connected with the City.
That is clearly important in itself. But if we can
embed the right values more widely, we will build
levels of trust with customers and clients and also
sharpen the City’s competitive advantage as a global
financial centre. And the same principle holds good
for wider industry too.
Our long term success also depends upon attracting
and retaining talented people from around the world,
people who want to take pride in their jobs and
respect the culture in which they work.
Trust and values therefore are critical to all our
stakeholders, whether in the City or elsewhere, in
supporting economic growth for this country.
‘My word is my bond’ remains a powerful magnet
for attracting business from around the world and, in
the City, we are determined to continue to set the
bar high in terms of integrity
I thank the IBE for all it has achieved in its first 25
years. I wish the Institute every success for the future,
as it works to embed high standards of integrity in
our wider business culture and, in so doing, enhances
our national reputation as the partner of choice for
the benefit of all.
“
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
2 3

“
Over the next 25 years businesses will be facing a
balancing act: balancing ethical values against human
greed, balancing economic development against
environmental sustainability, balancing government
regulation against freedom of the individual, and
balancing both governmental and business intrusion
against personal privacy.
Sir Robert Worcester KBE DL
President, Institute of Business
Ethics and Founder of MORI
Businesses want less not more Government “I
regulation. Fewer than one in three people in
Britain say they trust business leaders to tell the
truth. This has hardly changed over the past twentyfive
years. Business ethics have not curbed human
greed in the minds of the public and this makes
business and its leaders easy targets for journalists and
politicians.
The battle between economic development opening
up the green belt for houses and wind farms threaten
the nation’s environmental sustainability. Examples
are in the media every day of restrictions on business
from health and safety enforcements. Universities
and business alike believe that the application of
rules on immigration is too restrictive. People worry
about not just governmental intrusion but now
the intrusion of business generally, given advances
in databases and ‘cookies’ intrusions. These are all
illustrative of items which will be on boards’ agenda
over the next 25 years.
“
believe that a general improvement in trust would
be greatly beneficial to business.
Where trust is missing, in business as elsewhere,
the result is friction, inefficiency, anxiety and
additional cost. Perhaps I look back through
rose-tinted spectacles, but my recollection of
trading real cargoes of crude oil in the early 80’s
was that business was done differently then. It was
a time when ‘my word was my bond’ and ‘a deal
was a deal’. Mostly by telephone, then confirmed
by telex, complex negotiations led to cargoes
worth many millions of dollars changing hands.
With regret, I now consider the more appropriate
aphorism to be ‘just because you’re paranoid
doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you’.
How to rebuild trust is a difficult matter. When
someone or a business or institution commits
to do something for us and does it, our trust in
them starts to be built. Consistent delivery of
commitments is essential. Where failure occurs,
transparency and rapid remediation may reduce the
damage to trust.
Chris Moorhouse
Chairman, Institute of Business Ethics
For companies a high standard of corporate ethics
consistently applied and tested at the level of
the individual is at the heart of improving and
maintaining trust.
“
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
4 5

Dr Neville Bain
Chairman, Institute of Directors
“
The increased globalisation of company activities
will bring opportunities as well as challenges in the
next 25 years. There needs to be an embracing of
the company’s values in every part of the world it
operates in. This is not about just setting down the
company’s standards to be complied with but it needs
to be embedded in the decision-making at every
point of the world operations.
With the increase in about 3 billion more people in
the world and pressure on transport more workers
will work from home. The company needs to plan
how to monitor the decisions taken there and that
they conform to the values. Populations are largely
ageing and will be living in a world of depleted
resources (especially water), in a world negatively
influenced by continuing global warming.
Looking forward, what can today’s companies do
to prepare for a future where there will be greater
ethical and community challenges? The first thing
is to review the company’s Statement of Values and
to check that it is fit for purpose. Second, the board
needs to have clarity that these values are being
embodied in the decision-making at all levels in the
business. Third, what steps can the business take to be
a better corporate citizen?
The future is of course unpredictable but the one
certainty in my mind is the rising importance of
corporate behaviours, the importance of values and
ethics.
“
“When people predict the future, they usually look
at current trends and extrapolate them forwards,
assuming steady improvement to be the norm. But
the future landscape for business over the next 25
years is going to have to cope with step changes that
could take us backwards if we’re not ready for them.
First, some pretty unethical businesses will grow
and appear to succeed by exploiting opportunities
in corrupt environments where ethical businesses
fear to tread. As the established economic powers,
America and Europe, continue to decline in
importance compared to the emerging forces (and
this decline could be a lot more abrupt than we
would expect), there will be plenty of voices to
argue that business needs to be ‘unshackled’ in order
to compete against this lower global base of ethical
conduct.
Equally, the growing visibility and cost of climate
change will increase insecurity, and lead to people
valuing jobs at any cost. Persistent high costs for
energy and the decline of fossil fuels will lead many
to reorganise their supply chains to be more local.
This will have positive and negative effects, as local
jobs are created but consumers have less connection
with what happens in factories the other side of the
world and pressure for improvement there disappears.
None of these factors guarantee that the future is
one of lower standards. But, in the likely scenario
of polarised and consequently ineffective political
governance, businesses will have to show real
leadership to ensure the healthy societies and stable
governance that they need to thrive.
“
Mallen Baker
Writer and strategic advisor on
corporate responsibility
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
6 7

Sir Cyril Chantler
Chairman, University College London
Partners Academic Health Sciences
System
“
In his book Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth
Century, published in 1999, Jonathan Glover wrote:
“In Europe at the start of the twentieth century most
people accepted the authority of morality... At the end of
the century, it is hard to be confident either about the moral
law or about moral progress”.
In our post-modern world, organisational values
seem to be too rarely developed or applied. The
common law is an inadequate substitute for an
ethical framework which should be part of corporate
governance; we need conscience as well as contract.
Indeed Adam Smith pointed out in A Theory of Moral
Sentiments, which is the companion book to The
Wealth of Nations, that conscience or a sense of duty
was an important part of regulation. So where are
we today? I would suggest that at least in the UK
we have made little progress over the last decade.
Politicians’ expenses, police entertaining, press
hacking and bankers greed provide a bleak picture.
Someone has just coined the term ‘trickle down
morality’.
But times change, pendulums swing and we can
learn. None of us are perfect and we all, including
myself, could do better. We now need to try again to
ensure that all organisations take ethics seriously and
work on their values. The bigger the organisation,
both public and private, the more important this
is. This is why the Institute of Business Ethics
deserves our wholehearted support. It is a matter of
enlightened self-interest!
“
“One of the major social evolutions of recent
years has been the emergence of non-commercial
concerns, such as the safety of personnel or the
protection of the environment, at the forefront of
companies’ operational strategies. Other ethical
issues, such as the prevention of fraud and corruption
have recently made similar progress.
More difficult to measure is the link between
business and human rights which has recently
become more visible. The important work carried
out by the UN special rapporteur on this question,
validated by the Human Rights Council in 2011,
clearly contributed towards clarifying the situation
by forcing the UN member states and companies to
meet their respective responsibilities.
Bernard Claude
Chairman, Ethics Committee, Total
In order for these main ethical principles to be
implemented on the ground, we need to move past
the ‘name and shame’ approach, and to count on the
active collaboration of all the involved parties. The
concepts of integrity and human rights should also
be considered as ethical values, and not just as risks
to manage.
“
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
8 9

“ “
Two trends will revolutionise business ethics in
the next 25 years: the shifting roles of business and
government and the erosion of privacy. Corporate
power and influence looks destined to escalate,
overtaking that of governments. Our conception of
the corporate sphere of interest will therefore widen
to include yet more issues of public good and even
more distant stages of the value chain. And as relative
scarcity becomes more acute, corporations will have
to deal with conflicts in food, energy and water
security.
It therefore seems likely to me that business leaders
will need to embrace a tri-sector worldview
that accommodates public purpose and social
equity alongside economic efficiency. If, however,
governments across the world radically rethink
their relationships with business, we could find
ourselves in a very different scenario characterised by
increasingly stringent regulation curtailing corporate
involvement in society.
The second trend that will continue to reshape
business ethics is the unstoppable force of
digitalisation. We can expect to see a steady escalation
in privacy and security issues concerning companies.
Andrew Crane
George R. Gardiner Professor of
Business Ethics, Schulich School of
Business at York University, Toronto
In tension with demands for greater privacy
protection will be countervailing pressures towards
transparency and freedom of expression. I believe
that the ethical challenge will be to navigate these
competing forces, and to chart a responsible course
towards a post-privacy digital future.
“
Businesses know that healthy, prosperous
communities are essential to their own success - and
vice versa. Business ethics have come a long way
over the last 25 years, and most CBI members now
see them as an imperative for their future prosperity.
They are also an increasingly core part of what
companies do, with helping to improve society and
the environment as part of their day-to-day work,
not just a special project or add-on.
Some of the fastest-growing companies are those
who have ethical goals. They want to make a profit,
but believe they can also make a difference in other
ways while achieving this. Over the next 25 years
I expect to see this attitude become even more
commonplace – and that is very welcome.
“
John Cridland
Director General, CBI
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
1 0 1 1

“ “
The rapid development and proliferation of smart
phones, tablets, texting, tweeting, blogging, You Tube,
Facebook and LinkedIn are connecting the world
in ways we cannot imagine. It allows the intake and
distribution of information to take place from every
corner of the earth at the speed of light. It is, indeed,
an age of information where there are no secrets and
there’s no place to hide anymore. All of our business
decisions, from the executive suite to the boardroom,
are now subject to a new standard – the light of day.
What we are learning is that information is like
a virus that requires truth, and truth demands
freedom. When people become aware of alternatives
revolutions occur. This is an age of revolutions.
Witness the Arab Spring, the Indian Summer,
WikiLeaks and the scandal at News Corp as
examples. Increasingly conflicts of interest,
corruption and fraud will be exposed by integrityminded
people through new and expanding
technologies. This will result in an emerging
consciousness of capitalism and a greater sense of
corporate social responsibility.
“
Keith Darcy
Executive Director, Ethics and
Compliance Officers’ Association
Of the many challenges facing business ethicists in
the next 25 years, we must get better at asking the
right questions. We have to expand our remits to
cover not only individual integrity questions but also
institutional integrity challenges.
What does this mean? We are good at applying
individual facts in complex situations to rules. Now
let’s engage on those broader, more intractable – yet
simpler to state – questions. How do resources
come to our organisations? What do we make and
sell? How do we make it? To whom do we sell it?
And what do they do with it once we have sold it?
Who are the business partners – up and down our
supply chains – in whose company our reputations
are judged? How do we know that we are making
a difference in the lives of our beneficiaries and
stakeholders? Have we sufficiently minimised the
harm of unintended consequences that flow from
even the best intentioned initiative?
Joan Dubinsky
Director of Ethics, United
Nations
As business ethicists, we cannot answer these
profound questions by ourselves. But we can frame
these questions in ways that make them more likely
to be answered. Questions that can be answered
can lead to tangible – and beneficial – action. The
ethical course of action for our organisations is to
help repair the world that we live in. Acting ethically
in an imperfect world isn’t a choice. It’s our moral
imperative. And isn’t it better to act ethically than to
preach to the wind.
“
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
1 2 1 3

“
Business ethics in the USA has been more focused
on legal compliance while the emphasis in Europe
has traditionally been corporate/social responsibility
issues. In the years ahead, I expect to see these
influences cross over. I think the European business
culture will adopt practices from the American
model on issues related to compliance and the
American culture will gradually become more
attuned to social responsibility concerns and valuesbased
programs.
The second major trend will be continued work on
anti-corruption. The next 25 years will see many
new countries and regions of the world become
important players in the global economy. For
these developing nations to have fair access to the
marketplace – and for their ordinary citizens to truly
benefit from the resulting economic development
– we must address bribery and corruption head
on. Otherwise, the wealth of traditional economic
powers and multinational corporations will simply
transfer to a corrupt few, while millions of people in
the general population are denied the opportunity of
a brighter future.
Kathleen Edmond
Chief Ethics Officer, Best Buy Co Inc
“
We have an opportunity to impact the well-being of
those individuals and future generations. We cannot
fail them.
“One
of the major ethical tests for business over
the next 25 years will be the implementation of
arrangements to help staff improve their parenting
skills.
Most staff in every business are parents or
prospective parents. Successfully combining the
roles of employee and parent brings benefits for both
business and family. The disbenefits of failing to do
so create costs for the businesses, families and the
country as a whole.
The days lost from depression and ill health flowing
from inadequate parenting should be sufficient for
business to act. The days lost by staff overwhelmed
by the failure to manage the stress of parenting while
employed should confirm its necessity.
Training and support for employees to help them
combine these roles should be as usual in 25 years
time as health and safety training is today.
“
Elizabeth Filkin
Former Parliamentary Commissioner
for Standards
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
1 4 1 5

Professor David Grayson CBE
Director, Doughty Centre for Corporate
Responsibility, Cranfield School of
Management
“
It is sobering to realise I will be over 80 before I
discover whether my predictions here are proved
accurate! Long before then, however, I expect
we will see further rapid advances in information
and communications technologies, and in social
media which, combined will make transparency
an inevitability and not a management choice.
Practically, that will mean consumers, employees,
investors, NGOs, will be able to learn so much
more in real-time, about companies and the way
they behave. One writer memorably called the
consequence of this the “Naked corporation!” Any
company, for example, making cavalier claims about
conditions in its supply chain, will find stakeholders
talking directly to workers on a supplier’s factoryfloor,
maybe across the world and exposing the
reality real-time with photos sent from the factory
worker’s mobile phone.
The danger is management paralysis as managers
construct audit trails in case they have to
subsequently justify their behaviour. Wise
companies will seek to avoid this with robust values,
recruiting and appraising against those values, and
effective education and training at all levels of the
organisation, in ethical decision-making. This makes
the work of the IBE all the more crucial. To meet the
scale of future demand, that will require IBE being
able to work with other providers such as business
schools and management trainers.
“
“The last 25 years have demonstrated that free
enterprise economies are superior in providing
prosperity to those which are state owned and state
planned. Russia, China and India have embraced
the former and rejected the latter with huge success.
However capitalist economies face three challenges:
sustainability, inequality and cyclical instability
(especially after the financial crisis). Against this
background business has to address these questions,
each of which has an ethical dimension.
One: what is business for? Profit is essential but too
narrow and short-term a purpose to meet people’s
expectations. Business must be perceived as acting
for the common good, not simply through corporate
social responsibility but in the way they carry out
basic, day-to-day activities. In this respect, banking
and financial services have failed lamentably.
Second: what more can companies do to
provide jobs? Youth unemployment, long-term
unemployment and low paid jobs have adverse
long-term social consequences. Globalisation has
highlighted the problem. We need a workforce with
more ‘knowledge capital’, including what Nobel
Prize winner Robert Fogel called “spiritual assets”.
Lord Brian Griffiths of Fforestfach
Vice-Chairman, Goldman Sachs
International
Will companies be expected to step in where parents
and schools have failed? Business needs to be ahead
of this curve and work with government, the third
sector and faith communities.
Third: how competitive should our economy
be? Competition has beneficial effects: efficiency,
innovation, customer choice. Globalisation
and deregulation have intensified competition.
Arguably competitive sectors have problematic
social consequences: 24/7 business agenda, work/
home balance, who cares for the young and the
old? Business must take the lead and not leave it
to politicians who will resort to increasing the
regulatory tax.
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
1 6 1 7
“

Sir Christopher Kelly
Chairman, Committee on Standards in
Public Life
“
The seven principles of public life – selflessness,
integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty
and leadership were established by the Committee
on Standards in our first report. They describe the
standards of behaviour expected of all politicians and
civil servants who serve the public.
The public might reasonably expect the same
qualities in the behaviour of those they deal with
elsewhere. They may realise that companies may
not be selfless, or even perhaps completely objective
about their products. But they increasingly expect
them to show integrity, to be open and honest and
to be accountable – not just to shareholders. As we
have seen recently, badly run companies can impact
significantly on people’s lives in a variety of ways.
Poor standards risk serious damage to shareholder
value.
Leadership is key. Almost all the issues which come
to the attention of the Committee have one thing in
common – a failure of leadership. When reputation
and trust have already been damaged, it often
becomes apparent that those in leadership positions
had known something was wrong and failed to
act. A culture which supports high standards of
behaviour can be supported by regulation and by
transparency. But it depends on effective leadership,
in any sector.
“
Rushworth Kidder
President, Institute for Global Ethics
“The role of business in the coming quarter century
will be to reinvent the future.
As innovation escalates, companies will survive only
through adaptability, flexibility, and risk-taking.
Naturally, then, a significant portion of corporate
decision-making will take place ahead of the legal
and regulatory curve, in uncharted territory where
compliance has yet to take hold. In that space, the
temptation to take unethical decisions and actions
will be stronger than ever. But the demand for
transparency is also escalating, as the public grows
increasingly concerned about failures of integrity.
Companies that wrongly conflate ethics with
compliance – falling for the fallacy that ‘If it’s not
illegal, it must be ethical’ – risk sudden, unforeseen
smash-ups against the wall of public moral outrage
when their deeds come to light. But companies
that use ethics as a predictive tool – developing
the capacity to foresee ethical challenges over the
horizon before they happen – will prove to be
sustainable. In a world of enormous transparency,
companies that win the reputational race will be
those whose moral courage is matched by their
moral futurism.
“
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
1 8 1 9

“
It is highly likely that the world in 2036 will be very “The
different from what it is today. Many of our familiar
assumptions (inevitable globalisation, increased
consumption, cheap capital, readily available natural
resources, technology being seen as a source of
progress, etc.) are already seriously challenged.
The very model of private, lowly regulated
enterprise is being called into question by the success
of the currently state-controlled economies of China,
India and Brazil and the present financial crisis.
With challenge comes opportunity and the role
of ethics in business will grow if it is able to help
companies address the dilemmas which will arise in
this new landscape.
This will mean that the field of business ethics will
need to expand, from dealing with predominantly
individual integrity issues and reactive compliance to
proactive strategic business planning.
Business ethics will also draw more on the two sides
of the brain, both rational and emotional.
In the short term, it will be interesting to see how
business ethics will develop in emerging markets.
The recent developments in Korea, the Philippines,
Emmanuel Lulin
Group Director of Ethics, L’Oréal
India and China appear promising but how business
ethics will fare over the longer term and how it will
develop in Latin America and Africa remains largely
unpredictable.
With the newly and hard-earned legitimacy of
economic success, emerged economies will invite
themselves to the business ethics table to challenge
established paradigms and ‘timeless’ references.
In any case, it will be a fascinating journey for our
generation and it will no doubt attract many young
talents to a new profession.
“
way we work will undergo a huge
transformation, fuelled by the explosion in
communications technology, globalisation, shifting
demographics, and changing social attitudes. As
work becomes more individualised, and the location
of work less important, businesses will be judged on
their ability to create and sustain work communities
with common values. The ability to build trust
between people who collaborate but rarely see each
other will be a crucial test for managers. As more
work goes to arms-length contractors, will businesses
be responsible for their ethical behaviour, or will
they turn a blind eye?
The shift in economic power towards the East and
South will raise questions about whether companies
in advanced economies continue to impose their
business culture on emerging markets or adapt
to alternative ways of doing business. The ease of
outsourcing services online will mean that employers
can cut costs by using low-paid agents rather than
regular employees. But exploitation will also be more
quickly exposed through social media and rapid
connectivity.
Socio-economic and digital divides may widen.
Ethical businesses will be those that design work
to integrate the marginalised as well as the highly
skilled. This applies, too, to the way businesses
respond to the ageing labour force, adopting more
flexible career models that fit the extension of
working lives.
Alison Maitland
Journalist and co-author of Future Work
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
2 0 2 1
“

Lord Robert May of Oxford,
OM AC FRS
Former President of the Royal Society
and Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK
Government
“
The essential purpose of banks, or more
generally of financial markets, is the efficient
allocation of investment capital. Recent events
demonstrate that this purpose is far from being
fulfilled by the present system. Instead of due
regard to ‘duty of care’ to clients, recent years have
seen unprecedented increases in levels of leverage
and risk, arguably driven by bankers’ concern
with their own patterns of remuneration. This is
underlined by Harvard’s distinguished economist
Benjamin Friedman’s assessment that in the USA
30 years ago “the cost of running the financial system
was 10% of all of the profits earned in America”. This
rose to 20-25% 15 years ago. And just before the
crisis hit, “running the financial system took one-third
of all profits earned on investment capital”. So, as my
suggestion for the major challenge for business and
business ethics, I echo Friedman: “The time has come
for a serious evaluation of the costs and benefits of running
our financial system”.
“
“
I cannot emphasise strongly enough how critical it
is that the highest standards of business ethics remain
forefront of the business agenda.
When you look back upon developments over
the last 25 years, progress has certainly been made;
however, we cannot rest upon our laurels as there is
always room for improvement. We must continue
to push forward. Over the next 25 years, I believe
businesses will need to continue to evolve from
focusing upon compliance to a more proactive stance
where the critical importance of business ethics will
be recognised as a given. Issues like openness and
transparency will continue to play leading roles in
all facets of decision making as expectations around
business ethics will become as prevalent in the future
as expectations are today around issues like safety.
Business leaders will increasingly be held more
personally accountable not just for their own actions,
but also for those of others within their organisations.
Dick Olver
Chairman, BAE Systems
As the world becomes smaller in this global age and
as organisational cultures thus continuously change,
responsible businesses will need to better discern
how to apply the philosophy behind business ethics
to their increasingly diverse workforces. To best
address these challenges, I believe we must maintain
the highest standards and ensure our businesses
continue to fully adopt and then live by the values
and principles espoused by the Institute of Business
Ethics.
“
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
2 2 2 3

“
Connecting to the world around us has never been “The
easier. Each day, more and more individuals are
connecting with each other and with businesses and
organisations through social networks. For millions,
‘social media’ is the communication channel of
choice.
However, businesses are often wary of joining these
‘open’ networks. Many fear that poor business
conduct can be exposed via these channels, resulting
in long-term damage to reputation. However, any
business interested in building trust must consider
the benefits of embracing social media as an ethics
tool that forms an essential part of a communication
strategy.
With the increase of global information sharing
through social media, there is a surging demand from
society for companies to conduct business ethically.
For a business to secure its licence to operate, it must
explain its social purpose to a diverse audience. It
must engage with them on important issues by using
the most effective communication channel. If not,
our stakeholders will have the conversation anyway
online, with the business losing the opportunity to
influence discussion.
Sir John Parker
Chairman, National Grid and Anglo
American
Social media provides a real-time barometer of
stakeholder sentiment to monitor compliance with
ethical policies, and provides opportunities to act on
emerging ethical issues sooner.
“
next 25 years will see a progressive transfer of
power – financial and political – from the West to the
East, South and South East. This will impact many
aspects of society and business including the norms
of business governance and ethics. Historically the
West has tended to distrust governance of business
in these regions, characterising it as a high risk
environment with low regard for ethics, employment
standards and environmental protection. Some of
this criticism is warranted but much is misjudged.
My own experience shows me that most business
people and politicians in emerging economies are
as enthusiastic as anyone to establish stable, properly
run markets where investors are protected and a
responsible relationship exists with society and the
environment. The challenge for all global business
leaders – wherever they originate - is to avoid a race
to the bottom. We need to identify the best aspects
of all business cultures and learn from the weaknesses
evident in governance and business ethics around the
world. The result will be stronger businesses, trusted
by the customers and societies they serve.
“
Sir Martin Sorrell
Chief Executive, WPP
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
2 4 2 5

“
From my research with customers, readers and
others, there seems to be seven long-term challenges
and opportunities which companies will struggle
with for the next two and half decades.
These are:
1. B2B collaboration on sustainability, with
competitors, partners and suppliers
2. The business case, particularly around internal
and external behavioural change
3. Engaging with campaign groups
4. Corporate reputation and new/evolving media
5. Company strategy and process, product, design
and manufacturing innovation
6. Business contributions to tackling bribery and
corruption
7. Corporate contributions to development, policy
and institutional frameworks.
These are not the only challenges. They lie alongside
global macro problems such as energy, resource
scarcity, environmental degradation, population
growth, political engagement and uncertainty, and of
course macro and micro economic issues.
From my list of seven above, there’s one cross-cutting
paradigm which will lead any business to tackle their
salient risks and capitalise on their opportunities.
Toby Webb
Founder, Ethical Corporation and CEO
Stakeholder Intelligence
That’s the understanding that innovation is
engagement.
Engagement means understanding that business models
and therefore systems will need to be fundamentally
re-engineered to meet the needs of the near future.
Engagement with other firms, with NGOs, with
policymakers, politicians and industry groups.
Engagement with employees, CEOs and academia.
“
We know more now than ever before. That knowledge
can be put to better use than it is today. Therein lies
the opportunity.
“Disaffection towards companies is nowadays
important and acting ethically is becoming a topical
issue also for board members. Beyond transparency,
ethics in the company first consists in developing the
concept of responsibility. It is not about ticking boxes
but about finding the right relation between ethical
principles and concepts like identity, culture, or the
soul of the company.
As part of the corporate strategy, board members
have to think about the ethical principles of a
company, to formalise them and to find consistency
with the intimate character of the company.
Principles do not have to be interchangeable from
one company to another, but express the identity
and the singularity of the company according to its
professions and to its markets. Therefore if Codes
of Conduct can fix the basic principles, they don’t
prevent a deep reflection within boardrooms to
define a suitable approach for a specific company.
Ethics should also be seen as a tool to promote
innovation and to shift from short-term thinking
to long-term planning and anticipation. Reflection
is still needed on where does the role of the
board start and stop when it goes to CSR and
human resources in order not to overlap with the
management duties.
Patrick Zurstrassen
Chairman, ecoDa, The European
Voice of Board Directors
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
I B E C E L E B R A T I N G 2 5 Y E A R S
2 6 2 7
“

986 2004
IBE Timeline
25 years of promoting good practice in business ethics
The Institute
of Business
Ethics was
launched.
Founding
subscribers
include:
Barclays Bank,
BP, Esso,
Lloyds Bank,
Midland Bank,
Royal Bank of
Scotland & SG
Warburg & Co.
Introduced the
first regular
survey and
analysis of the
use of codes
of ethics by
major UK
companies.
We continue
to carry out
this survey
every 3 years.
Produced the
first definitive
guide to
developing
a code of
business
ethics.
Published a
report on
the business
case for
environmental
policies Ethics,
Environment &
the Company.
IBE’s
examination
of business
ethics in a
globalised
world Codes
of Ethics and
International
Business
published.
Ethical
Aspects of
Information
Technology
published.
Business
Ethics
Network
established
for large
corporate
subscribers
to provide a
confidential
forum
for those
responsible
for business
ethics.
Subscription
opened to
individuals.
First training
course,
Introduction
to Business
Ethics
launched.
First
Directors’
Business
Ethics
Breakfast
held – an
intimate
forum for
senior
executives
to discuss
ethical
issues.
Published
research
linking
business
ethics and
financial
performance:
Does
Business
Ethics Pay?
Launch
of annual
student essay
award.
Instigated
an annual
international
conference
on business
ethics in
partnership
with European
and American
business
ethics
organisations:
European
Business
Ethics Forum
(www.ebef.eu).
1986
1988
1990
1997
1998
2000
2001
2002 2003 2004
2 8
2 9

581 IBE Trust Report COVER.qxl:Layout 1 20/6/11 12:20 Page 1
Conducted
an inaugural
national
survey of the
attitude of UK
employees to
ethics in the
workplace. We
continue to
carry out this
survey every
3 years. The
third survey,
including some
European
countries,
will be run in
2012.
2005
005 future
IBE Timeline
Business Ethics Briefing
Launch of
IBE Business
Briefings:
concise
information
and good
practice
guidance on
a variety of
business
ethics topics,
free to
view and
download from
www.ibe.org.uk
How important is organisational culture in ethical behaviour? – a US perspective
ERC National Business Ethics Survey, 2005 (US)
The US-based Ethics Resource Center (ERC) carries out National Business Ethics Surveys asking employees
about ethics at their workplace. The 2005 survey found that formal ethics programmes were frequently found
in companies, positive outcomes, such as employee willingness to report misconduct and pressure to
compromise standards, were not. The ERC concluded that contextual organisational culture is more influential
in determining outcomes.
A strong ethical culture is needed to achieve positive outcomes from those programmes; including the
Formal programmes play a key role in the creation and maintenance of a strong ethical culture.
Where top management displays certain ethics-related actions, employees are 50% less likely to have
Ethics-related actions of co-workers can increase employee willingness to report misconduct, by as much as
When employees perceive that others are held accountable for their actions, their overall satisfaction with
Formal ethics programmes have most impact in weak ethical cultures.
actions of leaders and peers.
observed misconduct.
10 percentage points.
the organisation they work for increases by 32%.
The full report and executive summary are available from: http://tinyurl.com/35gqnjm
2006
Date: March 2006 Issue 1
SURVEY FINDINGS 2005:
ethical conduct within business
This briefing presents a synopsis of the findings of selected 2005 surveys of public and
employee perception of ethical conduct within business in the UK and the US.
What is the UK public’s perception of ethics in business?
IBE survey on ‘Business Ethics: General Trends in Public Perception’: included in the MORI omnibus survey of the UK public, September
2005.
When asked to select from a list of ethical issues which most needed addressing by business, the three highest
priorities, raised by about a third of those asked, were:
Enabling employees to speak out about wrong doing
Preventing discrimination. Younger people felt particularly strongly about this (42% of 15-24 year olds)
Environmental responsibility
Executive Pay, the most common concern in 2004, fell from being a concern of 40% to just 25% of the
respondents.
When asked if British business behaves ethically, a comparison with the previous 2 years suggests that:
Public perception of business behaviour is improving. In 2005, 54% thought that British business behaves
ethically, up seven points since 2003.
Nevertheless, the perception of most people is that the ethics of business behaviour has not changed in the last
year (55%). Only 12% think British business is behaving more ethically compared to a year ago, and 11% think
it is less ethical.
Are business leaders trusted by the public?
BMA/MORI annual po l on trustworthy professions
A stratified sample of 2000 members of the British public
are asked which profession they trust to tell the truth.
Trust in business leaders continues so be low (24%), with
only politicians and journalists ranked below them.
Further information can be found under:
http://tinyurl.com/398ujrz
The first in the
Good Practice
Guide series
launched with
Speak Up
Procedures.
... Doing business ethically
… makes for better business
2007
IBE’s director
is a member
of the Woolf
Committee;
The Woolf
Report is
published.
2008
7915 IBE E-Learning - Leaflet:Layout 1 15/10/09 10:25 Page 1
Launch of
e-learning
tool kit
Understanding
Business
Ethics.
2009
Price £10
Content for this CD Rom was
supplied by the Institute of
Business Ethics. It was
produced by SAI Global.
IBE addresses
the demand
for business
ethics
training and
INTRODUCTION advisory work TO
internationally
BUSINESS ETHICS
through its
first offshore
Building and
Restoring
Organisational Trust
Published by The Institute of Business Ethics,
24 Greencoat Place, London SW1P 1BE
Trust,
What representation is business
in New
ethics
Zealand.
and why
launched.
is
doing the right
thing important?
This engaging e-learning tool will:
2010
2011
• raise awareness of what business ethics
is about,
• help staff and business partners
3 0
understand why ethical values in the
3 1
By Graham Dietz and Nicole Gillespie
workplace matter, and
• guide employees in recognising and
Building and
Restoring
Organisational
IBE’s 50th
publication,
Our key challenge is to meet the
needs of organisations as pressure
is placed upon their ability to do
business ethically.
The Future

Designed and produced by Navigate 01730 235666 www.navigate-design.com
3 2
24 Greencoat Place, London SW1P 1BE
Tel: +44 (0)20 7798 6040 Fax: +44 (0)20 7798 6044 Email: info@ibe.org.uk www.ibe.org.uk