 |
 The participants to the ECO#82 Series (March 13 - April 4, 2009) are coming from companies such as Pfizer Romania, Unicredit Tiriac Bank, Banca Transilvania, etc. (2009-02-04)
New comments published on the ECO Community. (2009-04-09)
Mr. Cristian Ducu spoke about the relation between CSR and Ethics & Compliance Management at the SNSPA conference on "Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development" (2009-04-11)
|
| |
 |
 |
 |
| |
 |
| |
|
There is a predominant attitude among managers and businessmen in general, i.e., "it cannot happen to our organization; we are observing all the rules and standards; we have introduces QMS (quality management systems), internal policies and good compensation plans." The answer is simple: so did others, but still their failure made the headlines. The American economic environment can provide a long list of companies that went bankrupt after some significant crisis: ENRON and Arthur Andersen represent just the top of the iceberg, but were followed by many others.
Even smaller scale crisis can make a difference. And the difference is measured in MONEY.
In Romania, an important yogurt producer lost one of its production lines because it could not manage a potential risk (i.e., a food safety compliance issue). And this meant important deficit in their financial balances, losing the trust of their consumers, losing new costumers. No marketing campaign will restore the former status of the company on the Romanian market. Who should have taken care of all issues concerning compliance and communication with stakeholders?
|
Another common issue that can lead to major problems is the motivation of employees. Research studies show that the most important risk for a company does not come from outside (e.g., agressive competition), but from within. In cases of data loss, in 85% of the reported situations, responsible are: 1) employees that felt the company mistreated them in some way (bad compensation plans, unhealthy organizational culture, lack of communication between management and employee etc.); 2) lack of prevention measures and firewalls; 3) external attacks (hakers, competition).
|
 |
Banks are particularly vulnerable to this kind of risk. Recent disclosures of bank fraud committed by employees made the headlines and shaked hard the public trust in the solidity and safeness of the services offered by those banks. An Ethics & Compliance Officer would have known what to do in order to prevent such illegal acts.
The ETHICS & COMPLIANCE OFFICER (ECO) is there to design, develop and implement strategies, procedures and measures that are meant to promote a healthy environment for the company so the management and the staff concentrate all their attention on the strategic objectives. At the same time, the ECOs are the missing link between the company and the relevant stakeholders (customers, employees, employees' unions, governmental institutions, NGOs, community etc.).
SMART SOLUTIONS & SUPPORT, Romania, is the first European company to offer a comprehensive training program for Ethics & Compliance Officers. And the most important, this program responds to both the realities of the European community and international scene. Our philosophy is to offer a real and long-term added-value solution to our clients and partners because their success is also our success.
You may find out more about our ECO training program by visiting this website. Enjoy and please let us know if you have any suggestions or questions. |
|
