San Diego-based Petco and Sharp HealthCare were listed Monday among the most ethical companies in the world by the Ethisphere Institute.
The list was compiled by ranking companies on ethics and compliance programs, corporate citizenship and responsibility, culture of ethics, governance, and leadership, innovation and reputation. The 10th annual list
includes 131 companies in 21 countries.
"In each of the last 10 years, the Ethisphere Institute has measured companies who demonstrate leadership in areas like citizenship, integrity and transparency as the world's most ethical companies," said Timothy Erblich, CEO of the Scottsdale, Arizona-based institute.
"It is both thrilling and humbling to see the results of our joint efforts to advance the standards of corporate behavior, and the ways that this behavior influences and improves the human condition," he said.
Erblich said that with a tougher political and regulatory environment developing in recent years, companies will be increasingly rewarded financially for efforts to attract and retain the best employees, and to operate with
integrity and clarity of purpose.
"Investors and financial markets are proving that companies that operate with transparency and integrity are better performing over the long term," Erblich said. "We fully expect the `integrity premium' to grow with
import as investors, employees, customers and even regulators value companies through the lens of enhanced standards of behavior."
Among other U.S. companies on the list were Aflac, 3M, Ford Motor Co., Marriott and Starbucks.
