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This article examines the results of a study conducted of the top 100 public sector units in Sweden. The aim of the study was to examine and describe the codes of ethics in these Swedish public sector units. Reports on the responses of 27 public sector units that possessed a code of ethics. The content analyses of these codes indicate that they have only recently become an interest in public Sweden. Many public sector units are in the early stages of development and assimilation of codes of ethics artefacts into overall ethics policies in the organization. A customized PUBSEC‐scale was used to measure and evaluate the content of the codes. The code of ethics best practice in the Swedish public sector has been used to develop a public sector scale consisting of seven dimensions and 41 items. The PUBSEC‐scale differs from the current private sector scales in literature, owing to the specific characteristics of the public sector.

International mergers are becoming more widespread among medium‐sized companies that for decades have held a prime position in their home country market, but who now feel threatened that they may not be of a significant size to continue to be viable in the international marketplace. The purpose of this paper is to examine the merger of one Australian company and one of its former competitors in the international marketplace from the perspective of the congruence between their espoused ethical cultures in business prior to the merger.

A questionnaire comprising 46 questions was sent to the public relations manager of each organisation prior to the merger. These managers were asked to fill in the questionnaire and to provide a copy of their code of ethics.

The research found that organisations need to not only have a code of ethics, but also need to focus especially on the area of code augmentation to ensure that they communicate the ethos of their code to their employees. The examination of the content of the code and the artefacts in place to communicate the ethos of each company's code would enable one to compare for ethical congruence between the two companies. The examination of these ethical artefacts highlighted that the companies appeared to have been quite divergent in their commitment to business ethics when they entered the merger. If companies are to merge across country, and thus cultural boundaries, they need to examine the ethical standpoints of potential partners in order to alleviate any potential conflicts from an ethical, corporate culture perspective.

This paper provides useful information for those companies planning to merge across country, and thus cultural boundaries.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the measures put in place by the largest public sector organizations in Sweden in order to communicate the ethos of their codes of ethics to their employees.

This paper is based upon a longitudinal survey approach.

In the public sector organizations of Sweden the use of regulations and staff support is rather modest in respect to the inculcation of codes of ethics artefacts into the organisations. This longitudinal approach indicates an overall increase across the examined areas in the usage of measures to support the ethos of public sector codes of ethics.

The artefacts to support the ethos inherent in public sector codes of ethics are rarely explored in the literature. This paper helps to fill this gap with the present longitudinal approach.

One could speculate that society at large and its public sector organizations may have been influenced not only by the scandalous happenings of recent years in Swedish business, but also by the impact of an Anglo‐Saxon style of “corporatisation”, whereby public authorities take on the form of a corporation or business brought on by globalisation.

The present paper may be used as a point of reference for further research efforts.

The objective is to describe a conceptual framework and empirical illustrations of the transparency of SCM ethics in supply chains as a whole.

The research is based on two Scandinavian‐based companies in the telecom and fashion clothing industries, namely: Sony Ericsson and H&M. These two companies are of interest due to their recent involvement in ethical dilemmas and ambiguities that arose on account of their links with questionable and inappropriate corporate actions and behaviour, not by the companies themselves, but by other companies within their supply chains.

Companies present in the worldwide marketplace and society, such as Sony Ericsson and H&M, do not always appear to be dedicated to ethical concerns and commitments within their supply chains as a whole. They tend to create some convenient restrictions in their statements and promises of corporate social responsibility (e.g. codes of ethics).

The transparency of SCM ethics complements recent additions to ethics in SCM. It opens up a different aspect of the theory generation that may support further research of ethical aspects in supply chains.

The paper provides managerial propositions and guidelines regarding the corporate depth of ethical concerns and commitments in corporate actions and behaviour in supply chains. The framework of transparency in SCM ethics highlights those corporate actions and behaviour that may be obscured by the lack of visibility across supply chain levels. In addition, it may reveal potential weaknesses and forthcoming threats in corporate actions and behaviour in ongoing business operations.

One contribution is the ethical consideration in corporate actions and behaviour across different levels in supply chains. Another is that the corporate social responsibility in terms of SCM ethics should also comprise indirect business relationships. The transparency of SCM ethics opens up challenging opportunities for further research of great value to the theory generation and best practices of SCM.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the insights and a proposal into the structure of standards of business conduct and its intended applications.

The case study is based upon an inductive content analysis of corporate ethics artefacts.

It is concluded that the standards of business conduct may be highly prescriptive in world wide corporations, but that there should be an explicit commitment to a flexible and dynamic approach to the application of standards of business conduct.

An examination of the actual behaviour of a corporation's operations was beyond the scope of the present research, but such a study has potential for future research. This would open up the wider question of how corporations can minimise the gap between corporate intentions and actual outcomes in business operations across national and cultural boundaries.

These diverse national and cultural contexts that world wide corporations encounter must be taken into consideration in the content of their standards of business conduct.

The authors emphasise the concern of recognising that the contexts surrounding standards of business conduct are dynamic. Corporate codes of ethics should be regarded as dynamic artefacts. A framework of application is proposed.

This article examines the results of a study conducted of the top 100 public sector units in Sweden. These units are comprised of entities of government, municipalities, and county councils. The aim of the study was to examine and describe the commitment to codes of ethics in these Swedish public sector units. This article reports on the responses of those public sector units that possessed a code of ethics. The construct of commitment was measured by a consideration of the inputs, objectives and outputs of the code across six areas. The commitment to codes of ethics has an interest for those involved in the public sector in Sweden and society in general. Most public sector units are in the early stages of development and assimilation into overall ethics policies in code artefacts. On a specific level there are customized codes of ethics that are not always documented in a generic artefact. Theoretical and managerial implications are provided. Furthermore, suggestions for further research are proposed.

The purpose of this paper is to provide reflections on business ethics in the 25-year window from 1992-2017, and to then seek to examine some of the concerns for the future of which we all need to be cognizant.

The paper represents the reflections of a now retired academic who spent the period from 1992 to 2017 researching in the area of business ethics.

In the world of commerce, we are still seeing the same alleged behaviours by corporations from developed economies that have dogged business for so long. Have we moved forward and how far have we moved are difficult to determine.

The paper is based on the reflections on 25 years of research in the area of international business ethics. The limitation is that the paper is based on the experiences of one academic.

The paper points to considerations that are required if the field of business ethics is to move forward in a positive manner.

The paper looks at many of the pertinent issues facing the field of commerce in respect to business ethics now and into our foreseeable future.

Compliance competence is key to the operation and reputation of the financial services sector and is now completely embedded in the way financial services organisations carry on investment business. It is also fundamental to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in seeking to achieve its regulatory objectives as set out in sections 3‐6 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. A great deal has been written on the topic of compliance and competence and the core objective of this paper is to offer a compliance competence model for financial institutions that recognises and highlights the importance of the regulator and the regulated working together as partners.

A unique compliance competence partnership approach model, arising from case study research, is proposed and consists of three key elements: good compliance practice, good ethical practice and a positive FSA relationship. The three elements are represented as a tripod with three mainstays that are intrinsically linked. The mainstays are supported by cross‐members that consist of underlying and intrinsic issues of compliance competence.

The regulator and regulated need to work together in a proactive partnership. Organisation need to formulate a clear ethical policy involving employees from every aspect.

The partnership approach model, advocated here, would create a real partnership between the FSA and its regulated organisations.

This paper aims to examine the present status of the research field intercultural information ethics (IIE) including the foundational debate as well as specific issues.

A critical overview of the recent literature of the field is given.

The present IIE debate focuses on a narrow view of the field leaving aside comparative studies with non‐digital media as well as with other epochs and cultures. There is an emphasis on the question of privacy but other issues such as online communities, governmentality, gender issues, mobile phones, health care and the digital divide are on the agenda.

The paper addresses basic issues of IIE that may open new vistas for research and practice in this field.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new model of corporate governance that is holistic – incorporating internal and macro perspectives across legal, regulatory, sociological, ethical, human resource management, behavioural and corporate strategic frameworks. Researchers have signalled the need for “new theoretical perspectives and new models of governance” due to a dearth of research that is context‐driven, empirical, and encapsulating the full spectrum of reasons and actions contributing to corporate crises.

The approach consists of theory building by reviewing the literature and examining the gaps and limitations.

The proposed model is a distinctive contribution to theory and practice in three ways. First, it integrates the firm‐specific, micro factors with the country‐specific, macro factors to illustrate the holistic nature of corporate governance. Second, shareholders and stakeholders are shown to be only one component of the model. Third, it veers away from singular approaches, to dealing with corporate governance using a multi‐disciplinary perspective. The paper argues that such a holistic and integrated view is a necessity for understanding governance systems.

The challenge is to operationalize the model and test it empirically.

The model is instructive and of use for practitioners in attempting to understand, explain and develop governance models that are appropriate to their national and industry settings.

This paper argues that narrow‐based models are limited in their approach and in a sound and integrative review of the up‐to‐date literature contributes to theory‐building on corporate governance.