At the height of his success, Al Dunlap described in his book Mean Business a philosophy of executive compensation that came to hold sway in the late 1990s: “The best bargain is an expensive CEO . . .. You cannot overpay a good CEO and you can’t underpay a bad one. The bargain CEO is one who is unbelievably well compensated because he’s creating wealth for the shareholders. If his compensation is not tied to the shareholders’ returns, everyone’s playing a fool’s game.” A version of this article appeared in the January 2003 issue of Harvard Business Review.
Attitudes of the British Public to Business Ethics 2021Britain’s businesses could behave better - the 2021 results of the IBE's annual survey of the attitudes of the British public to business ethics. 17 January 2022
Decisions, decisions…Read the latest blog by Mark Chambers, IBE's Associate Director (Governance). 11 March 2021
Attitudes. Ethics. Trust.In this blog, Guendalina Donde, IBE's Head of Research, discusses the results of the 2020 Attitudes of the British Public to Business Ethics survey. 13 January 2021
Attitudes of the British Public to Business Ethics 2020The 2020 results of the IBE's annual survey of the attitudes of the British public to business ethics. 30 December 2020
Business Ethics in the News 2020This briefing provides an overview of the ethical concerns and lapses that were recorded by the IBE in its monitoring of media coverage in 2020. 23 December 2020
#PandemicAndBeyond - 20:20 HindsightIn the first blog of the series, Pandemic and Beyond: the ethical issues, Mark Chambers, IBE’s Associate Director (Governance), introduces the series and reflects on the year so far. 02 September 2020
Business Ethics in the News 2019This briefing provides an overview of the ethical concerns and lapses that were recorded by the IBE in its monitoring of media coverage in 2019. It gives an overview of which sectors and issues related to business ethics were most covered in the news. For 2019, we have recorded a total of 361 different stories involving lapses of companies with a UK presence. 29 January 2020
Attitudes of the British Public to Business Ethics: 2019The 2019 results of the IBE's annual survey of the attitudes of the British public to business ethics. 17 December 2019
A Year In Review: Ethical Concerns and Lapses 2018Read the IBE's annual analysis of business ethics news stories from the last year - which were the sectors and issues most in the news in 2018? 30 January 2019
Attitudes of the British Public to Business Ethics: 2018The 2018 results of the IBE's annual survey of the attitudes of the British public to business ethics 13 December 2018
Attitudes of the British Public to Business Ethics: 2017The 2017 results of the IBE's annual survey of the attitudes of the British public to business ethics 12 December 2017
Fair or Unfair: getting to grips with executive payThis Board Briefing offers both practical advice on how remuneration committees can address the challenge and some pointers to possible reform centred around the need to be clear about the value of what is being awarded and the pace at which remuneration is earned. Fairness and simplicity are the two themes which run through this publication. 10 February 2016
Fairness in the workplace: Staffing and employment contractsThis IBE Briefing considers ethical issues related to staffing arrangements and employment contracts. Specifically, it looks at the potential ethical implications of the ‘casualisation’ of the workplace, including zero hours, agency contracts, part-time workers and transfers under TUPE. 30 April 2015
Fairness in the Workplace: PayThis Briefing looks at how fairness can be achieved in the specific areas of executive remuneration and paying a living wage. It also briefly addresses some additional pay issues, and provides examples of ways in which some companies are addressing the issue of fairness in pay. 02 July 2014
Supply Chain and Payment PracticesThis briefing explores the three issues involving supplier payments. It then looks at governmental attempts to curb the problems and how companies are addressing the issue. 06 November 2013
Incentivising Ethical Behaviour in StaffThis Briefing analyses the different ways of incentivising ethical behaviour, using ‘carrots’ or ‘sticks’. It outlines 6 attributes of an effective incentives scheme. 11 September 2009 |