Stockholm, Sweden (BBN) - The Ethisphere Institute, an independent center of research promoting best practices in corporate ethics and governance, has recognised H&M as a 2014 World’s Most Ethical Company.
This is the fourth time that H&M has been honored with this award, which recognises organisations that continue to raise the bar on ethical leadership and corporate behavior. World’s Most Ethical Company honorees understand the correlation between ethics, reputation and daily interactions with their brand and that the award belongs as much to their associates as it does to them.
“H&M is one of only three companies in the Apparel industry honored this year,” a company announcement said on Tuesday.
“The entire community of World’s Most Ethical Companies believe that customers, employees, investors and regulators place a high premium on trust and that ethics and good governance are key in earning it,” said Ethisphere’s Chief Executive Officer, Timothy Erblich. “H&M joins an exclusive community committed to driving performance through leading business practices. We congratulate everyone at H&M for this extraordinary achievement.”
"We are very proud to be named as one of the world’s most ethical companies this year again. It is a great recognition of H&M's strong ethical approach," says Karl-Johan Persson, CEO at H&M.
The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient™ framework. Scores are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance program (25%), reputation, leadership and innovation (20%), governance (10%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (25%) and culture of ethics (20%).
The Ethics Quotient framework and methodology was determined, vetted and refined by the expert advice and insights gleaned from Ethisphere’s network of thought leaders and from the World’s Most Ethical Company Methodology Advisory Panel.
BBN/SSR/AD-25Mar14-2:23 pm (BST)