Posted by John SOH Yong Ye, Year 4 undergrad at the School of Economics, Singapore Management University
Dell Named 2015 World’s Most Ethical Company, Nice Shift From 2010 $100 Million Fine For Fraud
“Doing the right thing, and winning the right way is personal at Dell. It’s the way we do business,” said Michael McLaughlin, Dell’s chief ethics and compliance officer.
Dell announced that it has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as a 2015 World’s Most Ethical Company. For the record, though: in July 2010 Dell Inc. agreed to pay a $100 million penalty to settle SEC charges of disclosure and accounting fraud in relation to undisclosed payments from Intel Corporation. Michael Dell and former CEO Kevin Rollins agreed to pay $4 million each, former CFO James Schneider to pay $3 million to settle the charges.The World’s Most Ethical Companies designation recognizes those organizations that have had a material impact on the way business is conducted by fostering a culture of ethics and transparency at every level of the company. Dell was also recognized as a 2014 World’s Most Ethical Company by the Ethisphere Institute.
Being a second-year honoree underscores Dell’s commitment to leading ethical business standards and practices, and ensuring long-term value to key stakeholders, including customers, employees, suppliers and regulators. Ethisphere this year recognized 132 companies spanning 21 countries on five continents.
Dell is one of only eight companies in the computer hardware, services and software industries honored this year, according to Dell.
“The World’s Most Ethical Companies embrace the correlation between ethical business practice and improved company performance. These companies use ethics as a means to further define their industry leadership and understand that creating an ethical culture and earning the World’s Most Ethical Companies recognition involves more than just an outward facing message or a handful of senior executives saying the right thing,” said Timothy Erblich, Ethisphere’s chief executive officer. “Earning this recognition involves the collective action of a global workforce from the top down. We congratulate everyone at Dell for this extraordinary achievement.”
“Our team members worldwide are responsible for driving this recognition,” said Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Dell. “I’m proud of our team’s ongoing commitment to engaging ethically with all our stakeholders and to winning with integrity in all we do.”
The World’s Most Ethical Company assessment is based on the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient™ (EQ) framework developed over years of research to provide a means to assess an organization’s performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way.
“Doing the right thing, and winning the right way is personal at Dell. It’s the way we do business,” said Michael McLaughlin, Dell’s chief ethics and compliance officer. “This award, and the other recognition Dell has received, recognizes Dell’s commitment to integrity and our promise to continue to strive to live our purpose and values in all we do.”
OK, so now you know they have an ethics and compliance department. Where in Bombay is that?
In the April 2011 issue of Mother Jones, a timeline of Michael Dell’s life is detailed in “American Magnate: Michael Dell: How a homegrown geek outsourced, downsized, and tax-breaked his way to the top.” The article juxtaposes Dell’s spending on luxurious homes and private jet travel with his pursuit of tax breaks and tax holidays and Dell Computer’s eventual offshoring of jobs overseas after receiving the incentives for setting up shop locally.
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