Last week we posted about an upcoming event focussing upon ethics and insurance.
The event was a collaboration between NIBE, the Insurance Institute of Newcastle upon Tyne and Newcastle Business School. The event took delegates through business ethics in general, and their importance, before moving on to professional body codes of ethics and then looking at the potential of ethical investments. There was also a Non-Executive Director point of view, and why business ethics is important to NEDs.
One of the most interesting points to come out of the evening, apart from the importance of ethical practices in general, was the range of differing views around what “business ethics” are. We had opinions ranging from integrity (keeping your word) to green issues (recycling) and questions around how organisations could maintain the “ethical integrity” of their supply chain.
One of the most encouraging points to be made was that ethical investment strategies can, literally, pay dividends. Not only has the ethical investment market grown to a considerable size (€5trn in the EU) but it continues to grow, and companies like EdenTree Investment Management have robust criteria with which they review existing and potential investments.
This is particularly important as the question of integrity came up a number of times – not just keeping one’s word (as in NIBE’s previous Pay Fair campaign) but maintaining the integrity of supply chains, investments and business practices.
We really enjoyed this event, and we’re looking forward to the next!
R&C
