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The Star Online: Business

The dilemma of ethics in the bribery and other sectors
Selling equity in state firms a central plank of Indian govt's plan to cut fiscal deficit
Malaysia's blue chips open lower, Genting weighs

The dilemma of ethics in the bribery and other sectors

Posted: 16 Dec 2012 05:36 PM PST

THIS is the question most of us ask when confronted with an ethical dilemma. Many issues involved are very grey in terms of right and wrong, but where a contemplated action is clearly wrong or unethical there should be mechanisms in place to ensure the best decision is made.

The ethical boundaries in many parts of the world are not very clear due to factors such as prevailing culture or common business practices.

Take the issue of bribery for example. In many parts of the world, the payment and acceptance of bribes is common place and does not even raise a blip on the ethical radar of the individuals involved.

Of course there are many other ethical dilemmas that regularly confront individuals and organisations, for example, actions that cause long term damage to the environment or the use of child labor.

Whatever the issue, organisations that value their reputation should employ processes to carefully examine proposed actions and the potential damage to brand and reputation if the public becomes aware of the issues.

To illustrate, The Age newspaper in Australia recently revealed the findings of a 12-month investigation into the sports ball industry in India.

Australian football manufacturer, Sherrin, via its Indian manufacturer, Spartan, was using children as young as 10, and almost always girls, were being pulled out of school and put to work, stitching Sherrin balls for as many as 10 hours a day, seven days a week.

The stitching of a promotional football took a child more than an hour and earned them seven rupees (12 Australia cents).

In this case, the company acted swiftly to rectify the situation as best it could, but the damage had already been done.

Is the test that should be applied solely a legal test or should it go further to examine whether the contemplated actions are morally and ethically right?

As individuals and organisations, how long do we take to critically examine the potential repercussions of our contemplated actions?

For example, in the mining industry, undertaking a project in a foreign country may have received the legal tick of approval, but what if undertaking that particular project had potentially quite detrimental effects on the environment or the native population in the vicinity of the proposed site?

Does the pursuit of profit and legal clearance alone override any other considerations? Decision-making

During my police career, more and more emphasis was placed on the importance of ethical behaviour, in part due to incidents of unethical behavior coming to light and being subject to public scrutiny, but also because the organisation as whole matured and adopted standards in line with globally accepted corporate governance standards and practices in law enforcement.

A detailed code of ethics was adopted and is the blueprint that outlines the standards of expected behavior. As an extension of the code of ethics and as part of our professional and ethical decision making, we were asked to examine our contemplated actions by adopting the SELF test:

Scrutiny will your decision withstand public scrutiny by the community, Victoria Police, the Office of Police Integrity and other relevant parties?

Ethical is your decision ethical and in compliance with Victoria Police policies, practices or procedures?

Does your decision comply with our Code of Ethics and our professional and ethical standards?

Lawful is your decision lawful having regard to the law, regulations and Victoria Police instructions?

Fair is your decision fair on the community, your colleagues, your family, yourself and others?'

Such a mechanism in the business environment should also be adopted.

Do we as good corporate citizens ask some or all of the following questions before making decisions?

Are my actions illegal or unethical?

Am I being unfair or dishonest?

Would I be unwilling or embarrassed to tell my family, friends or co-workers of my actions?

Would my company's reputation be damaged if my actions were revealed in the newspapers?

Am I personally uncomfortable about the course of action?

Could someone's life, health, safety or reputation be damaged by my actions?

Could the intended action appear inappropriate to a third party?

If any of your answers to the above questions are Yes', then the decision whether to proceed or not should be much clearer.

Code of ethics

With greater focus on the adoption of good corporate governance, all organisations should provide guidance to their employees about the expected standards of behavior in the form of a detailed code of ethics or code of conduct (the code).

Any code should be tailored to the organisation's needs, be in plain language and provide specific detailed guidance on matters such as, but not limited to, fraud and corruption, confidentiality of information, conflicts of interest, use of technology, whistleblowing, drug and alcohol use, discrimination and sexual harassment.

Once a code is in place, it should be widely and regularly communicated and be accessible.

Many organisations make their codes of conduct available on their websites and/or provide ethics hotlines so that employees who are unsure of what to do when confronted with a particular decision can seek assistance to hopefully, arrive at the best decision for themselves and the organisation.

Regular ethics training is also a must, with the best learning coming from employees being confronted with and working through ethical dilemmas. The combination of strong senior management commitment to the ethics program, a well-written and often communicated code will create and help to maintain a strong ethical culture within your organisation.

There is ample literature and studies suggesting that the benefits of acting ethically in business are:

Increased productivity which translates into improved financial performance. For example employees that are treated fairly work harder resulting in lower production costs and higher profits.

Greater customer loyalty brought about by open and transparent disclosure about the limitations of goods and services. The converse translates into a reluctance to purchase again or unwillingness to make recommendations to other potential customers. This has a negative effect on both revenues and profits.

Avoiding negative publicity and achieving positive brand image. For example, an organisation that is seen as maintaining high ethical standards and is recognised as an employer of choice, for this and other reasons, will attract and retain the best talent. This helps to build competitive advantage and reduces recruitment and training costs.

Creating opportunities through finding business partners that espouse the same or similar ethical values engenders trust.

This is important because being able to monitor the activities of a business partner is not always possible. One of the key factors being taken into account by companies when deciding to invest in a business or geographical location is the state of the ethical landscape in the organisation or location.

If there are doubts about the ability to build and maintain trust then the risk of proceeding with that investment may be perceived as being too high.

David Lehmann is the Director of Deloitte Forensic at Deloitte Malaysia. Prior to joining Deloitte in 2004, Lehmann completed 23 years of service with the Victoria Police, Australia, with a majority of that time dedicated to the investigation of fraud-related incidents.

He is a certified fraud examiner and member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), a member of the Australian Institute of Professional Investigators (AIPI) and the American Society of Industrial Security (ASIS International).

Selling equity in state firms a central plank of Indian govt's plan to cut fiscal deficit

Posted: 16 Dec 2012 05:28 PM PST

NEW DELHI: India will speed up the sale of stakes in state companies to revive the stock market and will push ahead with reforms aimed at spurring an investment recovery in the flagging economy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.

Selling equity in large public industries is a central plank of the government's plan to bring down a wide fiscal deficit, a major weakness in Asia's third largest economy.

Last week, the sale of 10% in state miner NMDC raised US$1.1bil and the government is aiming for 300 billion rupees from such partial privatisations by March.

"We will speed up the disinvestment process, which will also revive our equity markets," Manmohan told a gathering of industry representatives in New Delhi.

However, he did not give details of a new timetable for the sales, which is due to include energy exploration major Oil India.

Manmohan's government has recently taken measures to allow in foreign supermarkets and tackle budget-busting fuel subsidies.

"The steps we have taken are only the beginning of a process to revive economy and take it back to its growth rate of 8% to 9%," he said.

Economic growth slowed to 5.4% in the first half of this fiscal year and is on track to grow at its slowest rate in a decade.

Slowing exports and foreign investment have widened the current account deficit.

Global ratings agencies have repeatedly warned India that it faces a credit downgrade if it does not tackle a high debt burden and the fiscal deficit, which is the largest among major emerging economies.

Last year, the deficit was 5.8% of gross domestic product, which Manmohan said was "clearly unsustainable".

He reiterated the official target of reducing it to 5.3% this year.

"The government is serious about moving in this direction," Manmohan said.

Raghuram Rajan, the government's chief economic adviser, said that reining in the deficit was essential to attract more investment.

"Clearly a fiscal path that is credible is the next important step so that we retake the confidence of our investors," he said at the same event.

Raghuram said he hoped increased buoyancy in the stock market would prompt businesses to start investing more.

"Business is sitting on a lot of cash. If they start investing some of that the momentum starts picking up," he said.

Recent reforms have helped Mumbai's benchmark Sensex index rally strongly and it is expected to end 2012 up by about 25%, despite the slow economy, stubbornly high inflation, and a record current account deficit. - Reuters

Malaysia's blue chips open lower, Genting weighs

Posted: 16 Dec 2012 05:20 PM PST

Published: Monday December 17, 2012 MYT 9:20:00 AM

KUALA LUMPUR: The FBM KLCI was lower in early trade on Monday, weighed by banks and Genting Bhd after the strong run-up last week but plantations advanced after the firmer crude palm oil futures.

At 9.03am, the FBM KLCI fell 4.85 points to 1,647.13. Turnover was 18.54 million shares valued at RM9.69mil. There were 46 gainers, 46 losers and 75 counters unchanged.

Reuters reported Japan's Nikkei average climbed 1.3% to an eight-month high in early trade on Monday, boosted by a weaker yen after the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, which favours aggressive monetary easing, won Sunday's election by a landslide.

The Nikkei advanced 123.41 percent to 9,860.97, while the broader Topix index gained 1 percent to 808.91.

At Bursa Malaysia, Hong Leong Bank fell 26 sen to RM14.50 with just 100 shares done while Public Bank foreign lost six sen to RM15.90.

Petronas Dagangan and Genting Bhd lost eight sen each to RM22.10 and RM9.21 while UMW and TM fell six sen each to RM11.98 and RM5.77.

Among plantations, Tradewinds Plantations lost 12 sen to RM3.92 in thin trade but SOP climbed 36 sen to RM6.19, KLK 34 sen to RM21.66 and Genitng Plantations eight sen higher to RM8.63 while PPB Group added four sen to RM11.74.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Ahad, 16 Disember 2012