L’Oréal, Shiseido, Henkel, Colgate Palmolive, Kao and Natura Cosmeticos were all included in the list, which details 132 companies representing more than 50 industries spanning 21 countries and five continents.
The World’s Most Ethical Companies is a distinction that honours superior achievement in transparency, integrity, ethics and compliance; highlighting companies that use ethics as a means to further define their industry leadership and embrace the connection by embedding their corporate values into everything they do.
“Companies today are challenged by a complex and often conflicting set of laws and regulations around the world, yet despite the lack of a global rule of law there’s a growing commonality about how to do business the right way,” explains Ethisphere’s Chief Executive Officer Timothy Erblich.
“More and more, we’re finding that stakeholders from employees and customers to executives and investors understand that ethical leadership drives outcomes ranging from operational performance to corporate integrity, transparency, and workforce behaviour.”
For the 6th time…
One of the cosmetics players named in the list, and not for the first time, is French manufacturer L’Oréal, being honoured for the sixth time.
“This 6th recognition makes us all very proud because it is the result of each employee’s commitment on a daily basis. For us, ethics is an essential duty. A strong culture of integrity is a competitive advantage for a company, bringing long-term value,” says Jean-Paul Agon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
Erblich adds: “Earning this recognition involves the collective action of a global workforce from the top down. We congratulate everyone at L’Oréal for this extraordinary achievement.”
Ethics list
L’Oréal was one of three companies in the list that were chosen under the Health & Beauty category; with Natura and Shiseido making up this list.
Colgate Palmolive, Henkel, and Kao were all on the list under the Consumer Products category.
The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient (EQ) framework developed over years of research to provide a means to assess an organization’s performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way.
Scores are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance program (35%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (20%), culture of ethics (20%), governance (15%) and leadership, innovation and reputation (10%).
The full list can be seen here.