by Brianna Crandall — April 1, 2011 —Ethisphere Institute has released its fifth annual list of the World’s Most Ethical Companies, which honors companies that have leading ethics and compliance programs. Ethisphere is a think tank dedicated to the creation, advancement, and sharing of best practices in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, anti-corruption and sustainability. The rankings appear in its magazine.
Ethisphere said it reviewed thousands of companies and evaluated a record number of applications utilizing its propriety methodology through in-depth research and multi-step analysis, naming 110 companies that surpassed their industry peers to this year’s list. The 2011 list features companies in 38 industries, including 43 companies headquartered outside the United States.
Ethisphere says there is no set number of companies that make the list each year; this year, there are 110. Of these companies, 36 are new to the list, and 26 companies dropped off from the 2010 list, generally because of litigation and ethics violations, as well as increased competition from within their industry.
The methodology for the award ranking includes reviewing codes of ethics, litigation, and regulatory infraction histories; evaluating the investment in innovation and sustainable business practices; looking at activities designed to improve corporate citizenship; and studying nominations from senior executives, industry peers, suppliers, and customers.
A sample of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for 2011 includes: Business Services: Accenture, Dun & Bradstreet, Noblis; Chemicals: Ecolab, JM Huber; Computer Hardware: Hitachi Data Systems; Computer Software: Adobe Systems, Microsoft, Salesforce.com, Symantec, Teradata Corporation; Construction and Engineering: CRH, Granite Construction, Parsons Corporation; Engineering and Design: AECOM Technology Corporation, CH2M Hill, Fluor Corporation; Environmental Services: Waste Management; Real Estate: British Land plc, Jones Lang LaSalle, Unibail-Rodamco.
