Author Archives: goodcorporation

If Bob Diamond’s resignation is “the first step towards a culture of responsibility” in the UK’s banking industry, what is the second? Any suggestion that it should be more rules is erroneous; there are already plenty with expensive compliance departments trying to enforce them. Scandals such as mis-selling and LIBOR have been caused by poor…

A recent article by Michael Skapinker in the Financial Times made the valid point that as far as ethical purchasing goes, consumers may talk the talk, but they are still a long way from walking the walk. A number of reasons are given as to why, most notably, consumers are inclined to tell researchers what…

When the Bribery Act became law last summer, it represented the first major change to UK anti-corruption legislation in over a century. Since it came on to the statute books it has been the focus of considerable management attention as businesses endeavour to ensure that adequate procedures are in place to prevent corruption. GoodCorporation invited…

Due diligence is proving to be one of the more challenging areas of Anti-Corruption management. Both the UK Bribery Act and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) have required businesses to focus their attention in this area. In 2011, every FCPA/SEC (US Securities and Exchange Commission) investigation involved the payment of bribes via third…

The latest GoodCorporation debate at the House of Lords revealed that few organisations have a specific Human Rights Policy in place or a nominated individual responsible for monitoring their Human Rights impact. In addition, only a handful of organisations admitted to conducting fact finding exercises to see what was happening on the ground or carrying…

The most recent GoodCorporation debate at the House of Lords contemplated the roles of ethics and compliance in today’s corporations. Our guest speaker began by suggesting that there is a tendency to separate the two into distinct business areas; with ethics leaning towards corporate responsibility, while compliance focuses on legal obligations. Albert Camus once said;…

Comment on executive pay tends to put the cat amongst the pigeons. Those at the top refer to criticism as sour grapes: the resentment of the unrealistic who simply don’t understand how business works. Those lower down the food chain see high paid executives as greedy and out of touch. All this polarisation does is…

Last week Ed Miliband unveiled Labour’s new policy thrust to reward good companies and penalize bad ones. The idea provoked generally negative business comment, much of it with a ‘hot air’ theme. As a company keen to promote responsible business, we’re inclined to pause before dismissing it as another short-lived Big Idea. The two key…

With economic forecasts bearing an uncanny similarity to our dismal UK weather, business attention, not surprisingly, is being focused on surviving the recession. Budgets are being squeezed, growth is slow and jobs are in the balance. At times like these, businesses tend to focus on the ‘must haves’ rather than the ‘nice to have’ and…