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This chapter addresses a significant topic in Algeria, namely the issue of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), by examining the use of business ethics codes. In recent years, there has been growing interest among companies in implementing practices that can justify their CSR efforts, including the development of corporate business ethics codes. These codes play a crucial role in formalizing the integration of CSR strategies. In Algeria, several companies have adopted business ethics codes; one such example is the companies in the oil and gas sector, the leading oil industry company in Algeria. These companies have implemented a business ethics code to provide justification and guidance for their CSR practices. The main objective of this chapter is to demonstrate the commitment of companies to CSR through the development of their business ethics codes. It presents the results of a comprehensive analysis of the business ethics codes of Algerian companies in the oil and gas sector. The approach involved the development of an analytical framework with various criteria and an objective examination of the business ethics code to yield results that aligned with these criteria. The study concludes that the business ethics codes of these companies serve as sources of internal regulation that primarily address ethical concerns and reflects the existing Algerian regulations at the organizational level.

This paper aims to avail a soft approach to embracing the process of creating a business code of conduct and ethics and make it work for a pharmaceutical company [player] which wants to remain relevant before stakeholders and society, amidst escalating inducements to go against the acceptable pharmaceutical behaviour.

Data collection was guided by qualitative methodologies. A four stepwise process was followed: data collection at the case company – Kampala Pharmaceutical Industries (KPI), Uganda; validation of data collected at KPI; data collection from external stakeholders of KPI; and re-validation of KPI data based on data collected from external stakeholders. In all this, combination of semi-structured and informal interviews with CEOs, senior staff managers, non-participant observation of ethical related activities plus organizing a stakeholder engagement workshop on business code of conduct and ethics was achieved. This workshop helped document what ought to be an ideal design process to secure stakeholder buy-in of the code of business ethics. A local pharmaceutical company in Uganda, KPI was used, which, for continuous five years since its adoption of the business code of conduct and ethics, registered commercial viability without any record of unethical practices. Triangulation was used to ensure credibility and validity of the results. For data analysis, a three-stepwise process was followed, which helped develop a framework within which the collected data revealed themes which were later analyzed. For generalization of the findings, the “adaptive theory approach” was used.

When poorly introduced in an organization, the business code of conduct and ethics can work against the company simply because it will be received with “intentional rebellion” from stakeholders, notably staff. However, when a soft stakeholder engagement and consultative approach is used and followed during the business code of ethics and conduct’s design process, multiple stakeholders feel proud and are much willing to live by the promise spelt out in it. Cited notable benefits of living by the code include reputational enhancement, strategic competitiveness and increased possibilities of wining cross-border cooperation among like-minded pharmaceutical players. In the efforts to reap from the code of ethics, communication was observed as an indispensable activity. Refresher trainings to remind the stakeholders about the promises in the code are also needed as time passes by, otherwise they forget. Needless to say, rewarding those who live an exemplary life in embracing and living by the code was cited as key in sustaining the ethical agenda. Lastly, managing multiple stakeholders influences is a curvilinear fashion and involves back and forth consultations.

The lessons learnt from KPI can be borrowed and used by both global pharmaceutical players and national/local players, especially those that face challenges living by the promise of their existing codes or those without business code of conduct and ethics. That is, both players can use the suggested process to help participants in their medicine supply chain to come up with working business codes of conduct, as well as guide the stakeholder consultative process which results in stakeholder buy-in.

For many years, issues surrounding bioethics have dominated priorities of World Health Organization (WHO), UNESCO and many international and national development allies. However, there is an escalating violation of medical codes of conduct and ethics. Hence, this publication is a step toward the implementation of the principles and objectives of the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights which is currently challenged with a difficult question posed by life sciences – How far can we go given the dented medical relationship between ethics, medical science and freedom?

Recent news of corporate misconduct at Arthur Andersen, Enron, WorldCom, etc., has focused attention on ethics in business. Government, business, educational institutions, as well as professional organisations have had to rethink ways of addressing this issue. This article presents the findings of a study of attitudes toward business codes of ethics. The attitudes of Master’s‐level US business students at two different points in time, before and after recent reports of corporate misconduct, are compared to see what changes had occurred, to see whether these changes were linked to the disclosures of unethical corporate conduct, and to examine whether taking a course in ethics had an effect on attitudes.

The purpose of this paper is to trace a history of American codes of business ethics as they evolved from religious bases to legalistic bases to an international emphasis.

The paper describes the evolution of business codes of ethics over the twentieth century in relation to the development of social issues.

It is found that ethical codes are influenced by the prevailing ideology of the time regarding the social responsibility of business. The earlier part of the twentieth century emphasized religious values governing the treatment of customers and competitors and the responsibility of businesses for the well‐being of their employees by directing their private as well as business conduct. The latter part of the twentieth century stressed legal compliance as government regulation sought to control business behaviors that were harmful to society and to the environment. Entering into the twenty‐first century, we are seeing an increase in international emphases in codes of ethics. We discuss these trends in terms of evolving approaches to corporate social responsibility.

Organizations writing (and rewriting) codes of ethics should move beyond reactive legal compliance and proactively examine values associated with their stakeholder relationships as well as relationships to corporate social responsibility issues.

While there have been histories of medical and legal codes of ethics, to the authors' knowledge, this is the first exploration of a history of American business codes of ethics. The paper examines the development of codes of ethics in the context of business needs and social values prominent during those times.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a single code of ethics that could be used regardless of the venue or specialty of the marketing professional. The paper first provides a literature review of research in the areas of ethics pertaining to marketing professionals. Then a review of a wide variety of codes of business ethics, marketing ethics, model codes, and professional ethics produces the idea that, while there are some differences in how the codal principles are presented, there are sufficient similarities in the codes' principles of professional conduct to merit the consideration of a single code of marketing ethics – one that can be used regardless of the venue or specialty of the marketing professional.

The paper introduces a broad literature review followed by the development of a transcendent code of ethics for all marketers.

Using the above as well as: historically and more broadly known theories of ethics, and currently‐used codes of professional marketing ethics, including those from the American Marketing Association (AMA), the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA), and the Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI), the authors make an attempt to determine the most prominent, efficacious principles of ethics and to shape a single code of professional conduct for marketing students, educators and practitioners – regardless of their area of specialty.

The proposed code is subject to debate and will likely not be the model eventually used. The authors hope that the code proposed will stimulate further research, discussion and formulation.

A single code of ethics that could be utilized by anyone confronted with an ethical marketing issue would be useful in easing the difficulties associated with challenging ethical dilemmas in marketing.

Drawing on traditional frames of ethics and combining those principles with principles found in the marketing ethics literature, the authors generate a single code of ethics that not only marketers can use, but that others in society can also identify with and feel confidence in – thus alleviating concerns of mistrust or misunderstanding between those marketing products and services and the stakeholders in the society in which those products and services are being marketed.

No transcendent code of marketing ethics currently exists. The three most prominent are unique to their fields – each leaving out portions necessary to be transcendent. Thus, the proposed code is original and has the practical social implication values noted above.

The purpose of this paper is to examine attitudes of undergraduate and graduate business students in China and the USA with regard to business codes of ethics.

Respondents were instructed to assume that an Ethical Practices Code had been drawn up by firms operating in the industry in which they intended to work and were asked to indicate their levels of disagreement/agreement with seven statements relating to the possible consequences of such a code. Tests of significance were used to analyze responses for the USA and Chinese groups. In addition, the effect on responses of a course in ethics was examined.

Despite the recent attention focused on corporate irresponsibility and the possible adverse effects on US consumers of outsourcing to China, the findings indicate that, with one exception, attitudes toward codes of ethics were not significantly different between the Chinese and USA respondents.

Future researchers may wish to replicate this study using management and student samples randomly drawn from diverse geographical areas in each country and track changes that may occur over time.

The findings should prove useful in helping government and business understand attitudes toward codes of ethics and aid in the development of such codes.

At a time of growing concern about corporate social responsibility, the findings should prove especially useful to those concerned with the increasingly important issue of ethics in business operations. Given the cultural distance and history of years with little interaction between China and the USA, studies such as this provide insight and help build mutual understanding between the people of these two countries.

The purpose of this research is to determine the commitment to business ethics in UK corporations. This study reports on the responses of those organizations that participated in the survey and possessed a code of ethics.

An unsolicited questionnaire was sent to the top 500 private sector organizations by market capitalization in the UK. A total of 92 companies responded, of which 56 possessed a code of ethics.

The empirical findings indicate that the processes involved in developing business ethics commitment have begun to be recognized and acted upon at an organizational level. The supporting measures of business ethics commitment appear to be under‐utilized by many of these UK organizations. This suggests that many organizations have not so far developed a strong organizational commitment to embedding their codes of ethics into organizational practices.

While the responses provided a rich picture of organizational actions, further research exploring internal culture and attitudes would add to an understanding of organizational commitment.

It is found that in order to influence practice, it is not enough to have the artefacts of an ethical culture, such as codes, without ensuring that all employees are assisted in understanding what is required of them.

Despite a history of business ethics research, there are a limited number of studies seeking to understand UK companies' commitment to ethical codes. The paper provides guidance on steps that organizations can take to develop a higher level of commitment.

In culturally homogeneous groups there is a greater likelihood that values, including ethics values, of individual group members will coincide. Due to globalisation, changing demographics, and a desire for increased diversity, corporate cultures are becoming less homogeneous, thus increasing the likelihood that individuals working side by side to maximise shareholder value will not see eye to eye when it comes to business ethics. Given that many international students who earn US graduate business degrees find employment with US companies either in the US or abroad, the objective of this study was to examine whether international graduate business students, in particular Asian nationals, an d their US counterparts share similar attitudes with regard to business codes of ethics and ethics values. It was hypothesised that there would be significant differences in the attitudes of US and Asian students. It was believed that if similarities and differences with regard to ethics could be identified, universities and businesses would be better equipped to address ethics in their operations.

Globalization and economic integration have focused attention on the topic of ethics in international management. At a time when the European Union is attempting to harmonize standards in many areas, the issue of ethics within the EU deserves special attention. Given the diversity of the historical and cultural backgrounds of EU citizens, one might expect to find different ethical orientations in different EU countries. In an effort to gain an understanding about ethics in an EU country where little previous research has been conducted, this article is directed toward the attitudes of future Greek professionals. A sample of the current college‐student population in Greece was surveyed regarding professional and business ethics to understand how we might expect individuals from Greece to behave once they have to make the difficult decisions that are necessary in business circumstances.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of a corporate ethical policy, such as a code of ethics, on the unethical behavior of internal and vendor employees in the supply chain in India. It also aims to find whether International Standards Organization (ISO) certification of vendors affects the result and any significant relationship between management commitment and unethical behavior can be supported by the findings as well.

Empirical analyses were conducted on a survey consisting of 43 questions comprising 181 valid responses. Multiple regression analysis that includes four independent variables – code of ethics, management commitment, supply chain principles and personal values taking unethical behavior as dependent variable – was used to find the significance of the relationship.

The implementation of a code of ethics, management commitment, supply chain principles and personal values all have a negative association with unethical behavior. Personal values, measuring a firm’s financial aspects for non-compliance to ethical behavior, have a positive association with unethical behavior. The relationships of top management commitment, personal values with internal employees’ unethical behavior are significant. The significant relationship between management commitment and unethical behavior can be supported by the findings as well. It was also found that ISO certificates and firm size as the control variables did not have any effect on the relationship between the independent variables and unethical behavior. The analysis also shows that ISO 26000 certificate, the international standard for socially responsible operations, does not impact this relationship.

Measuring substantial managerial effort for corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices by asking questions like, “how committed employees think top management is to social responsibility,” may not fully measure substantial managerial effort for CSR practices. To improve the results of the current study, future research can use the CSR index or disclosure as a measure to better reflect management commitment and practice for social responsibility. Second, the current study is limited to measuring how many occurrences of unethical behavior are witnessed by employees instead of what specific unethical behavior is more often witnessed. Considering India has the second largest population in the world, 181 responses may not represent the true practices in the business environment in India for generalization.

The findings suggest that management should put more of an emphasis on improving the commitment of upper-level managers to decrease the overall unethical practices of their employees. The study finds that employees’ personal values influence their ethical behavior. Therefore, communications and training of employees at all levels should emphasis on improving personal values.

Businesses should influence academics to incorporate personal value building in course curricula. The Indian CSR law should incorporate the holistic view of CSR taking care of needs of all stakeholders under the provision of the regulation. In 2015, India became the first country in the world to legislate CSR practices in corporations but it misses the opportunity to sensitize the management and employees on ethical practices as it mainly identified philanthropic expenses as mandatory CSR spending and silent on ethical business practices.

The present study contributes to the literature by bringing supply chain context to the effect of different factors on unethical behaviors and interaction of internal and vendor firms in terms of ethical practices. There are several studies on business ethics in different countries including China, but in the case of India similar studies are not much. The present study fills the gap.