The world’s most ethical companies have been named by The Ethisphere Institute, a company that aims to advance the standards of ethical business practices.
The 2016 World’s Most Ethical Companies list was published yesterday marking the tenth year of the compilation. With companies spanning 45 industries, six cosmetics conglomerates and two retailers secured a position on the list. In total, 131 companies were listed from 21 countries and five continents.
Henkel, Colgate-Palmolive, Natura Cosméticos, L’Oréal, Kao Corporation and Shiseido were all listed under the Consumer Products and Health & Beauty industries. Meanwhile, Marks and Spencer, and Target Corporation also secured places on the list for the Retail industry.
To be in with a chance of appearing on the list, companies must undergo a rigorous scoring process based on Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient framework. Scores are tallied across five categories: ethics and compliance programme (35%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (20%), culture of ethics (20%), governance (15%), and leadership, innovation and reputation (10%).
Ethisphere CEO Timothy Erblich said: “In each of the last ten years, the Ethisphere Institute has measured companies who demonstrate leadership in areas like citizenship, integrity and transparency as the World’s Most Ethical Companies. It is both thrilling and humbling to see the results of our joint efforts to advance the standards of corporate behaviour, and the ways that this behaviour influences and improves the human condition. Congratulations.”