Ford sole automaker in list of world’s most ethical companies

Ford Motor Company has been named in Ethisphere Institute’s 2015 list of World’s Most Ethical Companies, the sole vehicle manufacturer to gain the recognition. In the automotive space, Ford keeps company with Cummins Inc, which designs, manufactures, sells and services diesel engines, and component manufacturer Delphi Automotive.

The World’s Most Ethical Companies designation recognises companies that truly go beyond making statements about doing business ‘ethically’ and translate those words into action. Honorees not only promote ethical business standards and practices internally, they exceed legal compliance minimums and shape future industry standards by introducing best practices today.

The recognition comes at a time in which the way a company conducts its business is viewed as every bit as important as the products and services it provides, new research shows.

This year’s 132 honorees span 21 countries and five continents and represent over 50 industries. In its ninth year, the list includes 15 nine-time honorees and 11 first-time honorees.

“This award celebrates doing business the right way, and making the right choices every day,” said Ford Motor Company executive chairman Bill Ford. “Ethics and corporate citizenship are important factors that affect a company’s reputation and success, and we are proud Ford is the only automaker to have received this honor for six consecutive years.”

The World’s Most Ethical Company assessment is based on a framework developed by the Ethisphere Institute to assess an organisation’s performance in an objective, consistent and standardized manner. The honor is given based on top ratings in five categories – ethics and compliance; corporate citizenship and responsibility; culture of ethics, governance and leadership; innovation; and reputation.

“The World’s Most Ethical Companies embrace the correlation between ethical business practice and improved company performance,” said Timothy Erblich, Ethisphere chief executive officer. “Earning this recognition involves the collective action of a global work force from the top down. We congratulate everyone at Ford for this extraordinary achievement.”

The honor correlates with research showing a reputation for ethics and trust plays a role in consumers’ purchase decisions. Last year, according to the 2015 Harris Poll Reputation Quotient, 53 percent of the US public learned more about a company before doing business with the organization. More than one third of the respondents decided not to do business with a company based on the perception of a negative reputation.

Ford sees this trend shaping consumers of all ages – especially younger customers. Generation Z members born after 1993 are 54 percent more likely than their millennial counterparts to say they want to have an impact on the world, and these consumers do business with companies that share their values, according to a study from research firm Sparks & Honey.

Three Indian companies feature in the list. The strong-on-ethics Tata Group is represented by Tata Power and Tata Steel, along with IT major Wipro Ltd.

Shown below is the full list of ethical companies: