L’Oréal, the world’s leading beauty company, has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as one of the 2018 World’s Most Ethical Companies.
L’Oréal has been recognized for the 9th time and is one of only 3 in the Health and Beauty industry, underscoring their commitment to leading with integrity and prioritizing ethical business practices.
“A company’s value is not measured by its sole economic performance. Because L’Oréal has always strived to be a virtuous and responsible company, we have placed ethics at the heart of our strategy and daily practices. It is this approach that is recognized today by Ethisphere, and it is a source of pride for all of us. ” said Jean-Paul Agon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of L’Oréal.
“Companies’ culture of ethics and integrity has become a substantial part of their assessment. The currency of ethics is trust and our sustainable development is based on L’Oréal’s core Ethical Principles: Integrity, Respect, Courage and Transparency.” said Emmanuel Lulin, Senior Vice-President and Chief Ethics Officer of L’Oréal.
In 2018, 135 honorees were recognized, spanning 23 countries and 57 industries. This year’s class of honorees had record levels of involvement with their stakeholders and their communities around the world. Measuring and improving culture, leading authentically and committing to transparency, diversity and inclusion were all priorities for honorees.
“While the discourse around the world changed profoundly in 2017, a stronger voice emerged. Global corporations operating with a common rule of law are now society’s strongest force to improve the human condition. This year we saw companies increasingly finding their voice. The World’s Most Ethical Companies in particular continued to show exemplary leadership,” explained Ethisphere’s CEO, Timothy Erblich. “I congratulate everyone at L’Oréal for being recognized for the ninth time as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies. This is a great achievement.”
Ethics & Performance
Once again, the 2018 World’s Most Ethical Companies have proven that operating with integrity leads to greater financial performance. According to Ethisphere, research has found that, when indexed, listed World’s Most Ethical Companies outperformed the U.S. Large Cap Index over five years by 10.72 percent and over three years by 4.88 percent. Ethisphere refers to this as the Ethics Premium.
Methodology & Scoring
The World’s Most Ethical Companies assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient® (EQ) framework, which offers a quantitative way to assess a company’s performance in an objective, consistent and standardized manner. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics.
Scores are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance program (35 percent), corporate citizenship and responsibility (20 percent), culture of ethics (20 percent), governance (15 percent) and leadership, innovation and reputation (10 percent). All companies that participate in the assessment process receive their scores, providing them with valuable insights into how they stack up against leading organizations.
