to download HR image
ON
BEST
BEHAVIOUR
IMPROVING YOUR CORPORATE CULTURE COULD
BE KEY TO DRIVING LONG-TERM PERFORMANCE.
A DECADE AFTER THE GFC, LAWRIE HOLMES
LOOKS AT HOW SOME COMPANIES HAVE
IMPROVED THEIR BEHAVIOUR, AND WHY
YOU SHOULD TOO.ON
BEST
BEHAVIOUR
I
f there was one positive to come out of the global financial crisis (GFC) it was that
companies and financial institutions realised they could no longer operate in a way
they had become accustomed to. Many of the banks that came crashing down did
so from adopting short-term practices that incentivised dangerous behaviour.
In the past, many business chiefs took their lead from US economist Milton
Friedman, who famously argued in 1970 that businesses’ “sole purpose is to generate
profit for shareholders”. Moreover, he maintained, companies that did adopt
“responsible” attitudes would be faced with more binding constraints than
companies that did not, rendering them less competitive.POWER OF GOOD
In recent years, there is no mistaking the
steady shift to a more enlightened stance
that companies have a duty to act
responsibly. This is partly based on the
view that, in the age of transparency and
mass communication, reputational
damage from acting negatively will
be punished in the markets, but
also from a broader understanding
that good practice is more likely
to deliver profitability in the
long run.
Take Sweden’s Svenska
Handelsbanken, one of
Scandinavia’s largest banks.