Innovation, Integrity and Customer Satisfaction are the most popular corporate values in the UK in 2009 as organisations strive to retain their customers under difficult economic conditions, according to the latest International Corporate Values Index from global PR network ECCO International.
Environment – the top value cited in the UK in the last Index published in 2006 – has slipped down to number six (and social responsibility is down three places to number seven) as CSR is forced to take a back seat while companies deal with more pressing issues such as maintaining profitability and market share.
The move away from the environment is evident in most of the other countries surveyed, with the exception of Germany, India and The Netherlands where the environment and social responsibility have risen up the rankings.
Strong moral code
The UK, like the US, is more strongly influenced by moral than societal values. Social Responsibility, which takes second position in The Netherlands, third position in Germany and fourth in Spain, is in just seventh position here and eighth in the US. But moral values are prominent, with integrity in second place.
Humanism makes an entry in to the Top 10 for the first time in the UK – a people-based value relating to employee development and training, which suggests that organisations see the need to nurture their own talent too, if they are to perform to their best.
“In these straightened economic circumstances, published corporate values reflect the need for UK companies to concentrate on matters closer to home. Their focus now is on their ability to consistently deliver innovative goods and services, to look after their customers and also their people”, says ECCO International Chairman and CEO of Kinross + Render, Sara Render. “These professional values are however complemented by moral ones such as integrity because their audiences also need to know that they can be trusted.”
The Corporate Values Index surveyed 3,726 companies across 14 industry sectors and 11 countries, of which 332 were in the UK.
To order a copy of the Corporate Values Summary Report, go to www.ecco-network.com
Note to Editors
The ECCO International Corporate Values Index was carried out between November 2008 and February 2009 among 3,726 companies worldwide, of which 332 were UK companies or UK subsidiaries of International companies. 11 countries participated including UK, USA, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, India, Netherlands, Poland and Ukraine. A total of fourteen business sectors were researched comprising B2B, B2C, Finance, Cosmetics, Energy, Food, Tourism, Industrial, IT, Luxury Fashion, Media, Pharmaceutical, Retail and Transport/ Construction. A full copy of the Index, together with methodology, is available on request.
Kinross + Render is the UK arm of ECCO International Public Relations, a company owned and operated by 35 of the best independent, owner-managed public relations consultancies around the globe. Through ECCO K+R leads and manages global and pan-European programmes for clients including InterfaceFLOR and the Government of the Balearic Islands.
