Author Archives: Amol Nadkarni

Cleaning Up the Skies

20 Tuesday Jun 2017

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Photo Credit: Janak Raja via Flickr

Throughout its forty plus year history, European aircraft and defense group Airbus has been no stranger to controversy. Whether it was the long-running investigation into alleged corruption in an Airbus subsidiary operating in Saudi Arabia or an insider trading investigation involving company shares, scandal seems to follow Airbus, no matter what endeavors the company pursues. However, the latest corruption probe involving the European defense group might be the case that finally forces reforms throughout the Airbus Group.

In August 2016, the UK’s top anti-corruption watchdog, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), opened a formal investigation against Airbus into allegations of fraud, bribery and corruption in France, Germany and the UK. The investigation is related to irregularities involving third party consultants and the sale of passenger jets overseas. According to the UK’s 2010 Bribery Act, “the bribery risks associated with reliance on a third party agent representing a commercial organization in negotiations with foreign public officials may be assessed as significant and accordingly require much more in the way of procedures to mitigate those risks”.  Read More...

The FIFA Scandal: What We Can Learn about Ethics and Compliance

29 Monday May 2017

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Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Uruguay)

Soccer (or “football” depending on your geographic orientation) is often referred to as the “beautiful game.” Of late, as recently as this month, the sport has become a bit less beautiful. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (known as FIFA), the international governing body of soccer, has been embroiled in a corruption scandal that has rocked the organization to its core.

It began in May 2015. Fourteen FIFA officials were arrested and indicted in connection with an investigation by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and US Justice Department into wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering, spanning a period of 24 years. That December, 16 more officials, including two FIFA vice-presidents, were arrested on similar corruption charges. Since then, the events snowballed into a full-blown scandal, with longtime FIFA President Sepp Blatter and other top officials banned from FIFA activities. The investigation into FIFA has revealed a toxic culture of unethical behavior, non-compliance and corruption that started from the top and trickled down to every facet of the organization.  Read More...

The ISO 37001: Seven Months Later

24 Wednesday May 2017

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Photo Credit: International Organization of Standardization (via Veracity Asset Management Group)

Back in October, the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) released the long awaited ISO 37001, a new international standard designed to help organizations prevent, detect and address bribery. As a potential game changer in international anti-bribery standards, the ISO 37001 can be used by any organization, large or small, public or private, to implement an anti-bribery management system designed to fight bribery and promote an ethical business culture. Unlike the previous ISO 19600, which was drafted as a set of guidelines that organizations should incorporate into their compliance programs, the ISO 37001 is drafted as a set of requirements that organizations must implement if they want to be certified.

The standard requires organizations to adopt an anti-bribery policy, select someone to oversee compliance with that policy, implement financial controls, and adopt reporting and investigation procedures. Since the ISO 37001 sets forth specific requirements for companies to meet, it is certifiable by third parties and companies that receive an ISO 37001 certification might potentially have an advantage against competitors that do not have the qualification.  Read More...

Building an Ethical Culture

12 Wednesday Apr 2017

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Photo Credit: Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (via Flickr)

For any company to reach its full potential, a change toward a culture of compliance and ethics is needed. This change should start from the top, with management leading the way. However, to truly foster an environment of compliance and ethics, everyone in the organization must be on board. Companies are open systems, filled with various networks and levels of relationships. Therefore, a holistic approach to building an ethical culture is required and must focus on every level of the system (individual engagement and motivation, interpersonal interactions, group dynamics, relationships among groups, and interactions with external stakeholders).

According to Alison Taylor, Director of Business for Social Responsibility, there are five levels at which companies should build an ethical culture: individual, interpersonal, group, intergroup and inter-organizational. At the individual level, employees will likely be more receptive to a culture of ethics if they are rewarded and their performance measured based on compliance and ethical behavior in the workplace.  Read More...

Changing a Culture

06 Monday Mar 2017

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Photo Credit: Jack Kurzenknabe via Flickr

As a longtime fan of the National Football League (NFL) team the Buffalo Bills, I know how hard it can be to change the culture of an organization. The Bills have not made the NFL playoffs since 1999 and as a result have developed a “culture of losing” that has now spanned 18 years. In fact, this last year the franchise earned the embarrassing “honor” of having the longest playoff drought in the four major North American sports (football, basketball, baseball and ice hockey) leagues. Years of festering in the same toxic culture is an important reason why the organization has not advanced and remains in a consistent state of inconsistency. In order for the Bills to reach their full potential they will need a change in culture. The same is true with businesses and corporations that continue to operate in a culture of non-compliance.  Read More...

Transparency International Releases 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index

27 Friday Jan 2017

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Photo Credit: Transparency International

The interplay of corruption and inequality feed off each other to form a destructive cycle between corruption, unequal distribution of power in a society and unequal distribution of wealth. This is the main conclusion from the recently published Transparency International’s (TI) 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which highlights the connection between corruption and inequality.

TI’s CPI Index scores and ranks countries based on how corrupt a country’s public sector is perceived to be. The composite index uses a combination of surveys and assessments of corruption by a variety of independent institutions specializing in business climate analysis. Each country is scored on a scale of 0-100, with a 0 indicating highly corrupt and a 100 representing very clean.

Of the 176 countries covered in the 2016 CPI, over 120 scored a 50 or below, with the global average at an alarming 43. Less than a third of the countries managed to score above the midpoint.  Read More...

France’s Renewed Fight against Corruption

06 Friday Jan 2017

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For years, France has faced international criticism for its loose enforcement towards corruption. As a result, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has imposed severe sanctions on French companies. On November 8, 2016, France sealed the first step in a renewed campaign to tackle the problem of corruption by adopting a new anti-corruption law named The Law on Transparency, the Fight against Corruption and Modernization of Economic Life or the Sapin II. Named after the French Minister of Finance Michel Sapin, who championed the legislation, the Sapin II aims to bring France’s anti-corruption regime up to the highest international standards.

Central to the Sapin II law is the firm obligation to prevent and detect corruption risks. The law mandates that French companies that have over 500 employees and generate revenue exceeding 100 million euros adopt a compliance program. Some 1,600 companies in France fit this profile and will have till May 2017 to implement their compliance programs.  Read More...

ISO 37001: A Game Changer in Global Anti-Bribery Efforts?

19 Monday Dec 2016

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On December 9, International Anti-Corruption Day, the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) in partnership with the Association of Women in International Trade (WIIT), co-hosted a panel discussion on the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 37001, a new standard on anti-bribery management systems designed to help organizations fight bribery and promote an ethical business culture. The panel, moderated by CIPE Regional Director for Asia John Morrell, consisted of Worth MacMurray, Principal at Governance and Compliance Initiatives, Shruti Shah, Vice President of Programs and Operations at Transparency International-USA and Jesse Spiro, WorldCheck Research Manager at Thomson Reuters.

After brief opening remarks from WIIT President Evelyn Suarez, Morrell started the event by highlighting CIPE’s work in combating the institutional side of bribery and corruption. The discussion began with MacMurray, who worked on the new standard, giving an overview of the ISO 37001. The ISO 37001 is meant to be widely applicable to all organizations of any size in the public, private or not-for-profit sectors.  Read More...

Maximizing Your Code of Conduct

18 Friday Nov 2016

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Many employees often have the attitude that their company’s code of conduct is merely a policy when in reality the code should serve as the foundation of any given organization, capturing its unique values and culture. A code of conduct should be more than just a document but an experience that inspires employees to adhere to a code while also respecting the reality of workforce trends.

The best codes align with an organization’s message and are an authentic expression of the workplaces’ culture. As a result, codes should incorporate the organization’s mission and values throughout the document in order to develop a message that is meaningful to employees. Additionally, a code developed with the full backing of key constituents (i.e. board, senior leadership, global partners, etc.) will resonate strongly among employees. A high-impact message or letter from the CEO/leader can go a long way in inspiring a workforce to embrace and actively engage with a code of conduct or ethics.  Read More...