2Sustain

Ethisphere has released its 2010 list of the World’s Most Ethical (WME) Companies, and again this year, I was struck with the U.S. Ethisphere Institute’s findings which  show, quite clearly,  that it does pay to be ethical.

As the graph below illustrates, even during a recession, the “WME Index” (which includes all publicly traded 2010 WME Companies) beat the FTSE 100 and the S&P 500.

The World’s Most Ethical Company designation is awarded to those companies that have leading ethics and compliance programs, particularly as compared to their industry peers, and this year Ethisphere found 100 companies that made the cut. 26 companies are new to the 2010 list; 24 companies dropped off from the 2009 list.

The full list of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for 2010 is available here.

It’s also interesting to note how ethics, compliance, smart resource management and broader issues of environmental stewardship are increasingly overlapping these days. Successful companies realize they need to incorporate all of these factors into their core business strategies.

“We are delighted to have received this international accolade. The ranking confirms that, in Henkel’s case, corporate social responsibility and exemplary corporate governance are actually practiced virtues,” says Kasper Rorsted, the CEO of Henkel, which was included in the list of the World’s Most Ethical Companies for the third year in a row. “Our commitment to sustainable development also serves to motivate our employees, enhancing their identification with the company and – through this – further contributing to our commercial success.”