Caux Round Table Principles

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[pic] Principles for Responsible Business INTRODUCTION The Caux Round Table (CRT) Principles for Responsible Business set forth ethical norms for acceptable businesses behaviour. Trust and confidence sustain free markets and ethical business practices provide the basis for such trust and confidence. But lapses in business integrity, whether among the few or the many, compromise such trust and hence the ability of business to serve humanity’s needs. Events like the 2009 global financial crisis have highlighted the necessity of sound ethical practices across the business world. Such failures of governance and ethics cannot be tolerated as they seriously tarnish the positive contributions of responsible business to higher standards of living and the empowerment of individuals around the world. The self-interested pursuit of profit, with no concern for other stakeholders, will ultimately lead to business failure and, at times, to counterproductive regulation. Consequently, business leaders must always assert ethical leadership so as to protect the foundations of sustainable prosperity. It is equally clear that if capitalism is to be respected, and so sustain itself for global prosperity, it must be both responsible and moral. Business therefore needs a moral compass in addition to its practical reliance on measures of profit and loss. The CRT pRINCIPLES The Caux Round Table’s approach to responsible business consists of seven core principles as detailed below. The principles recognize that while laws and market forces are necessary, they are insufficient guides for responsible business conduct. The principles are rooted in three ethical foundations for responsible business and for a fair and functioning society more generally, namely: responsible stewardship; living and working for mutual advantage; and the respect and protection of human
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