Ethics forms the bedrock of principles based on which long lasting businesses are built. Business Ethics is a moral compass that guides the conduct of any business. It is a system of moral and ethical beliefs that guides the values, behaviour and decisions of a business organisation and the individuals within that organisation. It requires common sense and not rocket science, to understand that Purpose driven organisations command greater respect from all stakeholders including regulators and society at large and last longer. There is enough empirical evidence around the world to prove that companies, which have survived beyond 100 years are the ones that have a strong culture and Ethics deeply embedded in their organizational DNA.
However, it is unfortunate that in last two decades there has been a significant erosion of Ethics and value system in governing of countries by politicians as well as in governing & managing of companies by corporate leaders. Sample some of the top scams and frauds like Enron (2001), Lehman Brothers & Madoff (2008) in USA, and 2G spectrum scam (2008), Satyam (2009), the coal allocation scam popularly called ‘Coalgate’ (2012) in India and not to forget the Financial Frauds, trade based & other economic crimes in Asia. The root cause for all this is extreme greed and deep erosion in Business Ethics & Value system.
Therefore, BMA along with its partner organisations decided to organise a “Global Conclave on Ethics”, to reinforce the practice of Ethics in business decision making and sensitise business leaders & managers.