Corporate Ethical Policies in Large Corporations in Argentina, Brazil and Spain

Abstract

This paper examines the status of Corporate Ethical Policies (CEP) in large companies in Argentina, Brazil and Spain, with a special emphasis on Corporate Ethics Statements (CES), documents that define firms' philosophy, values and norms of conduct. It is based on a survey of the 500 largest companies in these nations.The findings reveal many similarities between the three countries. Among other things, it emerges that most companies give consideration to ethics in business and have adopted some kind of formal or informal ethical policies. Whether or not they have a CES, companies agree that ethical conduct must be taken into account when selecting, appraising and promoting personnel, as an important ethical policy. There is a growing tendency to draw up formal corporate ethics documents. These documents are perceived, first and foremost, as supporting the development of corporate culture. The philosophical grounding of these documents is to be found mainly in human virtues, generally accepted social values and universal ethical principles. Most respondents believe that primary responsibility for ethical issues in the company rests with the CEO. Finally, the findings indicate that most companies that devote substantial resources to communicating and implementing CESs have two or more formal ethics documents.The main differences between the countries included in the study concern the emphasis given to certain aspects, such as avoiding misconduct or taking ethical criteria into account when selecting personnel. The emphasis is greatest in countries where corruption seems most prevalent.

Cultural Values and International Differences in Business Ethics

“…This finding is in line with results found elsewhere in the literature (see e.g. Bondy et al, 2004;Hood and Logsdon, 2002;Kaptein, 2004;Langlois and Schlegelmilch, 1990;Lindfelt, 2005;Maignan and Ralston, 2002;Melé et al, 2006;O'Higgins and Kelleher, 2005;Reich, 2005;Singh et al, 2005;Stevens et al, 2005;Wood, 2000). But we established our conclusion on a much larger number of countries and industries and on the basis of much more firms.…”

“…Their study also showed that the country has a significant impact. Kaptein (2004) Hood and Logsdon (2002) for the US, Canada, and Mexico, Maignan and Ralston (2002) for the US, the UK, France, and the Netherlands, Reich (2005) for Germany, Japan, and the US, Lindfelt (2004) for Finland, Singh et al (2005) for Australia, Canada, and Sweden, and Melé et al (2006) for Argentina, Brazil, and Spain. We will try to bring this line of research one step further by analyzing the key attributes of ethics in different countries and industries.…”

Network Effects on Radical Innovation and Financial Performance: An Open-mindedness Approach

“…Although this study focuses on Brazilian organizations, many companies located in other countries have confronted the challenges inherent in creating internal and external social networks. For example, Argentina and Brazil are both geographically and historically close, and encompass all possible dimensions: economy, trade, culture, education and tourism (Melé, Debeljuh, & Arruda, 2006). Therefore, the findings of this study may also help other emerging economies such as Argentina, to understand the nature and function of open-mindedness in the implementation of internal and external social networks; which in turn is a necessary step towards understanding whether internal and external social networks can be used and how they might be used to improve financial performance.…”

CSR in business start‐ups: an application method for stakeholder engagement

“…Business ethics made progress in Spain in the late 1990s (Argandoña, 1999); large Spanish fi rms introduced ethical business policies (Melé et al, 2006) and corporate ethical practices started to spread (Fontrodona et al, 2003).…”