8 3
Firms that espouse ethical business standards can help spread these stan- dards by raising their expectations for ethical behavior among their employees and business partners and by codifying and exchanging good practices. A company’s ethics program is, first of all, a matter of individ- ual choice and commitment. But to develop sound tools, a company needs to access appropriate resources and to assess itself against bench- marks provided by the experience of others.
This chapter examines the activities being pursued to disseminate good practices in compliance and ethics in the region and the initiatives being taken, beyond the firm level, to help improve corporate ethics.
Such efforts are being made in the private sector but also in the context of private-public partnerships. (A list of relevant Websites is given in appendix D.)
The following inventory (as of late 2002) demonstrates that not only is there a wealth of initiatives in East Asian countries or relevant for East Asia but also that this is a fast-moving area. There are many possible vec- tors of dissemination, depending on the partnerships involved. The con- tent of the resources available is very diverse: while large international corporations are looking for increasingly sophisticated benchmarking tools (discussed in some detail here), other programs that focus on values and awareness of the issues target a larger audience of smaller firms, agents, and other players such as the media.
Raising Awareness about Ethics and
To maximize its coverage, the World Bank Institute makes use of modern techniques such as the World Bank global distance learning facilities (box 6.1). In other cases local ethics centers have been estab- lished to support independent sustainable programs. The Washington- based NGO Ethics Resource Center has helped create such resources in Colombia, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, with the assistance of various corporate sponsors and international
Box 6.1. The World Bank Institute’s Use of New Technologies for Capacity Building
A Web-based course on corporate social responsibility
The WBI’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program has devel- oped a fully Web-based course designed as an introduction to ethics and CSR theory and practice. The course is a capacity-building exercise that seeks to promote formal recognition of the positive role the private sector can play in sustainable and more equitable development. All course materials are accessible online, making “classes” available according to the individual’s pace and schedule. Participants can dis- cuss the contents and ideas with one another on the course discussion boards, which are also online. As of June 2003, 56 sessions have been held, involving 5,000 business leaders, academics, and journalists from more than 100 countries, including emerging economies in East Asia.
A similar program conducted earlier focused on corporate governance at the regional level in East Asia. In some cases courses have been delivered at the country level using distance learning facilities at the World Bank Institute.
Global online CSR conferences
Expert moderators of the CSR e-conferences provide relevant and up- to-date background readings and guidance leading to focused, high- quality discussions that translate into action plans aimed at tangible change in client countries. Participants are asked to prepare team con- tributions from their countries and then develop action plans that will translate the recommendations by participants and moderators into concrete agendas for sustainable development. Since the program was started in March 2002, five online conferences have taken place, draw- ing thousands of participants. Among them was the “E-Conference on Business Ethics and Corporate Accountability: The Search for Stan- dards,” September 9–27, 2002.
Source: World Bank Institute; further information is available at
<www.csrwbi.org>.
organizations. As yet, East Asia does not have independent centers of this kind.
In Hong Kong (China), the Hong Kong Ethics Development Center (HKEDC), established under the umbrella of the Independent Commis- sion Against Corruption (ICAC), provides many materials and supports training activities targeting small and medium-size enterprises (box 6.2).
The HKEDC is increasingly extending its cross-border cooperation with the mainland provinces. Having a government agency directly involved in the dissemination of business ethics is quite exceptional worldwide and reflects the very strong policy of prevention implemented in Hong Kong (see box 6.7, below).
Box 6.2. The Federation of Korean Industries: Promoting a Generic Model
In early 1996 the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) developed a Charter of Korean Business Ethics. The charter provides a basic struc- tural outline for a company ethics program on issues such as duty to customers, fair competition (the subject under which bribery policy is discussed), fair transactions, employee conduct, company relations with employees, and corporate citizenship. Since releasing the charter, the FKI has also:
• Produced a practical guide that includes exemplary cases of ethical management (1999)
• Established a roundtable of business ethics officers from 32 domes- tic companies (2001)
• Founded a Center for Business Ethics (2001)
• Developed a manual and conducted surveys on business ethics practices
• Surveyed difficulties and discussed solutions to business ethics problems with member companies
• Promoted cooperation with international organizations, including the OECD and Transparency International.
An FKI survey in July 2001 found that the percentage of companies adopting the charter had grown steadily:
1999 2000
All companies 21.8 42.3
30 leading companies 33.3 69.4 Source: FKI.