Transparency in capital utilisation is a hallmark of business ethics. This is measurable only if corporates disclose all aspects of capital investment as well as value addition to all stakeholders including its own employees. While the degree of disclosure may vary, the reasons for non disclosure, extent of non disclosure, both, cannot remain under carpet. The expectations of stakeholders' engagement and their long term commitment is very much dependent on the extent and manner of such transparency. We see the conditions these days that govern the CBR agreements in financial / banking sector. End of the day, it is not that how much profit you make that matters but rather how you make that profit, a by-product, that is scrutinised. Product pricing is vital than product price. Many corporates hide real elements of value addition and thereby conceal values that rightfully belong to others in the business chain, perhaps even customers and its own employees.
Cartels justify and support one another for such concealment as an 'industry norm'. International quality governors turn a blind eye on such acts during ratings, for, such bodies could be dependent on the support of such industry cartels. Gaps get overlooked, are never benchmarked but covered through 'standardisaton' norms. One reason for rising fines and claims imposed by third parties/ governments over many multi national corporates is this; be it automobile or finance sector. It is not known to what extent the price cycles say for eg in a commodity sector, is being engineered by the industry cartels or is it a natural phenomenon from supply-demand relationships with end customers. Industries even strategically use natural resources for social controls and cultural engineering. They then cannot themselves embrace transparency, even though they argue as being ethical.
The point is, the philosophy with which you run the industry on above lines, over time, seeps into your internal functions down to often employee related policies, practices on employee valuations and costings. It will be rare to see employee valuations based on performance factors in such companies; nor be transparent or followed with integrity. This over time corrodes employee engagement and commitment. The key for integrating values across the business chain is with people; be it employee valuation by HR or product pricing by leadership. They are just two ends of same thread.
