Anti-Corruption: Necessity or explicit choice?

Business has always been concerned about society and the environment. Their relationship is ultimately symbiotic: neither can or will a company thrive in a failing society, nor can a society prosper without a successful expanding economy. Integrity, business ethics, anti-corruption form part of cornerstones on which modern business is built.

The increasing globalization (with or without Trump’s endorsement) of the world economy has led to significant changes in supply and value chains and in the division of labor. Doing business and manufacturing goods have become more complex, as enterprises wishing to do international business have to comply with more and more legal and ethical standards (the Philippines just added data privacy rules that will affect every organization). As a result, CSR has become a kind of voluntary necessity rather than an explicit choice. As Gwad Kalinga founder Tony Meloto said the other day: “Mere charity is not working.” In order to succeed globally, businesses have to respond to certain expectations and align their strategies and operations to universal values.

These expectations and values become especially evident when tragic incidents prove weak standards, like the collapse of the garment factory in Bangladesh or the fire in the plant in Valenzuela, where many workers lost their lives.

Manufacturers came under fire for their supply chain responsibility. Public pressure prompted companies to improve attention to safety requirements and labor / child labor / human rights issues.

Beyond human rights issues, the public’s attention has also been drawn to questions of environmental sustainability. Many local and foreign businesses have responded to these concerns, long before the arrival (and departure) of Gina Lopez at the DENR.

It is against this background that many international initiatives and guidelines have been established. These guidelines include the UN Global Compact, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (MNE) and the ILO’s MNE Declaration. The latter is the world’s most comprehensive government-backed multilateral agreement on business ethics.

All of the above measures are often seen as only providing recommendations. Critics say that these initiatives are not meaningful if they have no basis in law and formal enforcement. However, this understanding of voluntary CSR reflects the common misconception that poor business conduct has no consequence for the offending company.

Not adhering to responsible business practices cannot be tolerated and will have a negative effect on the reputation of a company. This is why the Integrity Initiative Inc. highlights the following principles that have to be adhered to by companies signing the Integrity Pledge:

* Long-term sustainability over short-term gain

* I respect the labor laws

* I pay the right taxes

* I respect the environment

* I don’t smuggle, and

* I don’t bribe.

Anti-corruption/ethical business behaviour is being monitored internationally by various organizations. The Integrity Initiative has partnered with an international organization called EthiXbase,given the fact that EthiXbase connects to a global community of over 45,000 members. We are adding services to the activities of the Integrity Initiative activities thanks to EthiXbase. Let me outline a few:

1. Access to a ‘Third Party Due  Diligence Platform, powered by EthiXbase’

2. Instant Due Diligence – Screening against Sanctions & Enforcements Databases

3. Predictive Risk Indicator – feature based on an algorithm which aggregates from industry risk, country risk and media risk sources

4. Ethical Alliance Daily News.

Anti-Corruption – voluntary necessity or explicit choice? Have I convinced you to join the Integrity Initiative and sign the Integrity Pledge? If yes, send me an email to [email protected] I will send you the pledge for signature.