On Feb. 12., the Ethisphere Institute — an organization that defines and measures corporate ethical standards — released the 135 business included in its "2018 World Most Ethical Companies".
Ethisphere has been publishing the annual accolade since 2007 as a means to honor those companies "who recognize their critical role to influence and drive positive change in the business community and societies around the world and work to maximize their impact wherever possible."
According to its methodology, the World’s Most Ethical Companies assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient (EQ) framework, which offers a quantitative way to assess a company’s performance in an objective, consistent and standardized manner. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics. Scores are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance program (35 percent), corporate citizenship and responsibility (20 percent), culture of ethics (20 percent), governance (15 percent) and leadership, innovation and reputation (10 percent). All companies who participate in the assessment process receive their scores, providing them with valuable insights into how they stack up against leading organizations.
The 2018 group spans 23 countries and 57 industries.
The following industrial manufacturers, listed in alphabetical order were included among the group of 135. Scores were not shown:
- 3M - Industrial Manufacturing
- Applied Materials - Electronics & Semiconductors
- Avnet - Electronics & Semiconductors
- Flour - Engineering & Design Services
- General Electric - Conglomerate
- Kennametal - Machine Tools & Accessories
- Lincoln Electric - Machine Tools & Accessories
- ON Semiconductor - Electronics & Semiconductors
- Praxair - Chemicals
- Rockwell Automation - Diversified Machinery
- Schneider Electric - Diversified Machinery
- Timken - Industrial Manufacturing
Of those manufacturers, only five of them were common prominent suppliers directly to the industrial distribution market — 3M, Kennametal, Lincoln Electric, Rockwell Automation and Timken.
"We are honored to receive this recognition," Lincoln Electric chairman, president and CEO Christopher Mapes said in a Feb. 14 press release. "Lincoln Electric was founded on the ‘Golden Rule’ and leads with integrity as a core value that guides our team, our '2020 Vision and Strategy' and our commitment to excellence in everything we do."
A fair share of the group of 135 have repeated the honor often. This was Rockwell Automation's 10th time overall being named among the World's Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere, the eighth time overall for Timken, seventh consecutive time for Kennametal and fifth consecutive time for 3M. Here are comments shared by executives from those companies earlier this week:
Blake Moret, Chairman and CEO of Rockwell Automation: "Integrity and honesty are part of our corporate DNA, and I am proud that Ethisphere is again recognizing the work our employees do to live our company’s values every day. Acting with integrity, ethics and respect for each other is not only the right thing to do, but it is also an imperative for growing our company as we provide long-term value."
Richard Kyle, Timken President and CEO: "This award is in recognition of our more than 15,000 associates globally who live our core values every day and possess great integrity and respect for each other and the work we do."
Michelle Keating, Kennametal Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel: "For nearly 80 years, Kennametal has been an organization built on trust — trust among our employees, customers and all stakeholders invested in our business. Maintaining strong ethics and integrity has always been a part of our culture and will continue to be a key ingredient in the long-term success of our organization."
Veena Lakkuni, 3M Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer: "Our company maintains an unwavering commitment to ethics and I am very proud of this acknowledgement from Ethisphere. At 3M, we achieve this when all of us at the company strive to live the 3M Code of Conduct. Our 91,000 employees have collectively won this award."
No industrial distributors were named among the group of 135.
