The Ethics Study 2021

A new era of ethics in business

The Ethics Study reveals a new generation of business leaders looking to a new era in which the right thing to do must be determined not only by laws and regulations, but by a company’s own values and principles.

Opportunity for competitive advantage

Leaders see the opportunity to integrate ethics as both a moral imperative and an opportunity to reorient their business for competitive advantage.

Integrating ethics

As leaders face increasingly challenging decisions, they see a need to build capabilities that will enable more consistent, transparent, and effective decisions on highly-charged dilemmas.

Shifting mindsets, systems and culture

But leaders also identify significant gaps between aspiration and action: they see a range of practical capabilities that will be required to become a truly ethical organization and optimise the company’s impact on society.

Business leaders are increasingly facing difficult decisions on the right thing to do, and are turning to ethics as an alternative lens for decision making:

97% feel a personal responsibility to ensure that their company does the right thing

96% believe that doing the right thing means following their company’s own values as well as applicable laws and regulations

92% believe that companies should follow their own values even when it means sacrificing financial returns

The study highlighted 10 areas which leaders feel are essential to being an ethical business, and on which they needed to focus:

% of survey respondents who believe that integrating this capability is “important” or “very important” to being an ethical organization

The Ethics Study is a new global research study on ethical and responsible business, conducted by Principia Advisory in partnership with Clifford Chance, the International Chamber of Commerce, INvolve, GlobeScan and the Institute of Business Ethics. The Study presents perspectives from some of the world’s most prominent business leaders on the importance of ethical business, showcasing innovative approaches by companies integrating ethics into the heart of their organizations.

The Ethics Study draws on two principal streams of research conducted between June 2020 and February 2021:

• First, a series of one-to-one interviews with more than 80 business leaders across industries and geographies, together with conversations with academics, researchers, non-profit leaders, and others interested in the evolution of ethics in business. Some conversations were conducted as on-the-record, video interviews and others as confidential discussions with leaders on the most significant challenges they face in integrating ethics across their organization.

• Second, a quantitative survey of 750 business leaders across 90 countries, with representation across regions and industry sectors. Survey respondents were drawn from the executive networks of our partners, the International Chamber of Commerce, GlobeScan, and the Institute for Business Ethics, as well as clients of Principia and Clifford Chance.

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