Ethisphere and the New York Stock Exchange

On Wednesday, the Ethisphere Institute rang The Opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange with some of the NYSE-listed 2011 World's Most Ethical Companies. I guess the NASDAQ companies are not invited.) The purpose was to recognize the connection between ethical business practice and increased business performance.

NYSE-listed 2011 World's Most Ethical Companies that will ring the bell with Ethisphere include

• AECOM
• Ford
• General Electric
• International Paper
• Jones Lang LaSalle
• Marriott
• PepsiCo
• Salesforce.com

The Bell ringing was followed by Ethisphere's NYSE Bell Ringing & Ethics Drives Performance^TM Conference.

The World's Most Ethical Companies, if indexed together, have significantly outpaced the S&P 500. I found it interesting that the companies outperform going forward once they are recognized, not just leading up to the recognition.

Ethisphere numbers seem to take the current list of companies and look at their performance. I expect that companies getting onto the list are well run and should perform well. But would it last going forward? I took the companies from the original 2007 and tracked them forward.

• Should You Invest in the World's Most Ethical Companies 2011 Edition
• Should You Invest in Ethical Companies? (2010 edition)

The companies on the 2007 list, as a group outperformed the broader S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average.  They were not all winners.

Ethisphere is now accepting nominations for the 2012 World's Most Ethical Companies. To learn more about the World's Most Ethical Companies recognition and selection process and to nominate your organization for consideration visit:http://ethisphere.com/nominations/.

For additional commentary on developments in compliance and ethics, visit Compliance Building, a blog hosted by Doug Cornelius.

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