Dell was named as 2016 world’s most ethical company by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices. This award comes as a great recognition of Dell’s dedication to sustainability and great work practices, resulting in exemplary products and impressive sales numbers. The award is third in line for Dell, a feat seldom seen in the computer world, giving them a perfect complement.
The award given to the American hardware maker recognizes those companies who align principle with action, work tirelessly to make trust part of their corporate DNA, and in doing so, shape future industry standards by introducing tomorrow’s best practices today.
“I’m proud of our team members worldwide who act ethically and in the best interest of our customers every day,” said Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of Dell. “We’re thrilled for Dell to be recognized as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies.”
“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.”
“From its leadership structure and governance practices to its environmental efforts and employee engagement, Dell takes their role as a corporate citizen seriously,” said Ethisphere Chief Executive Officer, Timothy Erblich. “Innovation and their long-term goals for social and environmental change are efforts we support and encourage and align with our goal of improving the human condition. Congratulations to everyone at Dell for being recognized as a 2016 World’s Most Ethical Company.”
The award from the Ethisphere Institute adds to previous Dell corporate governance recognition. The company in 2013 was presented the Principled Performance Award by OCEG, an industry-leading, non-profit think tank dedicated to assisting companies in achieving their governance, risk and compliance objectives, and in 2014, Dell received an innovation award from TRACE for Dell’s innovative third-party program.
Dell is committed to a culture of integrating ethics and compliance into daily decision-making. Dell believes acting ethically in all we do is good business and important to our customers, suppliers and strategic partners. As a result, critical programs have been developed to address key risks across the enterprise. These programs operate under the oversight of the Dell Global Risk and Compliance Council (GRCC), which includes members of the Dell Executive Leadership Team and strategic functional heads such as Ethics, Audit and Accounting. This Council ensures both top-level leadership support and appropriate resources are available for Dell’s risk and compliance programs, and that ethical decision-making informs strategic decision-making at the company.
Methodology & Scoring
The World’s Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient™ (EQ) framework developed over years of research and vetted and refined by the expert advice from Ethisphere’s World’s Most Ethical Company Methodology Advisory Panel. The EQ offers a quantitative way to assess a company’s performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. 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%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (20%), culture of ethics (20%), governance (15%) and leadership, innovation and reputation (10%) and provided to all companies who participate in the process.
