Dell Named As a 2015 World’s Most Ethical Company by the Ethisphere Institute

Dell has announced that it has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as a 2015 World’s Most Ethical Company.

The World’s Most Ethical Companies designation recognizes those organizations that have had a material impact on the way business is conducted by fostering a culture of ethics and transparency at every level of the company. Dell was also recognized as a 2014 World’s Most Ethical Company by the Ethisphere Institute.

Being a second-year honoree underscores Dell’s commitment to leading ethical business standards and practices, and ensuring long-term value to key stakeholders, including customers, employees, suppliers and regulators. Ethisphere this year recognized 132 companies spanning 21 countries on five continents.

Dell is one of only eight companies in the computer hardware, services and software industries honored this year.

Ethisphere’s chief executive officer, Timothy Erblich said “The World’s Most Ethical Companies embrace the correlation between ethical business practice and improved company performance. These companies use ethics as a means to further define their industry leadership and understand that creating an ethical culture and earning the World’s Most Ethical Companies recognition involves more than just an outward facing message or a handful of senior executives saying the right thing”. “Earning this recognition involves the collective action of a global workforce from the top down. We congratulate everyone at Dell for this extraordinary achievement.”

The chairman and CEO of Dell, Michael Dell said, “Our team members worldwide are responsible for driving this recognition. I’m proud of our team’s ongoing commitment to engaging ethically with all our stakeholders and to winning with integrity in all we do.”

The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based on the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient™ (EQ) framework developed over years of research to provide a means to assess an organization’s performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies. The EQ framework and methodology is determined, vetted and refined by the expert advice and insights gleaned from Ethisphere’s network of thought leaders and from the World’s Most Ethical Company Methodology Advisory Panel.

The award from the Ethisphere Institute adds to previous Dell corporate governance recognition. The company in 2013 was presented the Principled Performance Award by OCEG, an industry-leading, non-profit think tank dedicated to assisting companies in achieving their governance, risk and compliance objectives, and in 2014, Dell received an innovation award from TRACE for Dell’s innovative third-party program.

Dell is committed to a culture of integrating ethics and compliance into daily decision-making. Dell believes acting ethically in all we do is good business and important to our customers, suppliers and strategic partners. As a result, critical programs have been developed to address key risks across the enterprise. These programs operate under the oversight of the Dell Global Risk and Compliance Council (GRCC), which includes members of the Dell Executive Leadership Team and strategic functional heads such as Ethics, Audit and Accounting. This Council ensures both top-level leadership support and appropriate resources are available for Dell’s risk and compliance programs, and that ethical decision making informs strategic decision-making at the company.

Dell’s chief ethics and compliance officer, Michael McLaughlin said, “Doing the right thing, and winning the right way is personal at Dell. It’s the way we do business. This award, and the other recognition Dell has received, recognizes Dell’s commitment to integrity and our promise to continue to strive to live our purpose and values in all we do.”