Ericcson

08/12/2010
|Alonso Martínez Guevara |

Table of Content

1 Ericsson – A short Company Profile 4

2 The Code of Business Ethics – Introduction into the Content 4

2.1 Guiding principles 4

2.2 Responsibility for compliance 4

2.3 Reporting Violations 5

2.4 Treatingemployees with and respect and protecting human rights 5

2.5 Compliance with laws, rules and regulations 7

2.6 Communication and financial information 8

2.7 Conflict of interest 8

2.8 Protect assessment of Ericsson 9

2.9 Protecting information 9

2.10 Protecting the environment 10

2.11 Corporate Responsibility 10

3 The Code of Business Ethics – A Thorough Analysis 11

3.1Hofstede Geert, cultural dimensions 11

3.2 Dimensions applied on Ericsson 12

3.3 The power distances 12

3.4 Uncertainty avoidance 12

3.5 What are Ericsson’s reasons for implementing the Code of Business Ethics? 13

3.6 How are the Swedish values portrayed in Ericsson’s Code of Business Ethics? 14

3.7 Moral development of corporations 15

4 Conclusion 17

1 Ericsson – A shortCompany Profile

ERICSSON is one of Sweden's largest and most well-known companies. It is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile systems, multi-service networks, enterprise services, transmission and transport technologies, advisory services, management and optimization services, 3G and 4Gmobile telephony, multimedia messaging services, general packet radio services (GPRS) and Bluetooth wireless technologies.

It was founded in 1876 as a telegraph equipment repair shop by Lars Magnus Ericsson in Stockholm, Sweden. Nowadays Ericsson dominates the world market for cellular telephone systems with 40% of the market share.

Ericsson has offices and operations in 170 countriesworldwide, with 80,060 employees it total, and it furthermore holds the highest number of patents, 25000[1].

The Code of Business Ethics – Introduction into the Content

1 Guiding principles

Everything that is meant to be read needs a proper introduction. A code of ethics is no exception to this. Therefore Ericsson included the “guiding principles” to their Code of Business Ethics. Thepart ponders on the statement that Ericsson has always aimed at maintaining the highest level of integrity and ethics within their company. Upholding integrity seems to be of specials relevance for the company as they are keen to point out that “integrity is critical to maintaining trust with customers, partners, employees, shareholders and other stakeholders”.[2] Furthermore the code is meant to beseen as the company’s commitment to maneuvering truthfully and openly.

The accentuation of both integrity and truthfulness within the first part of the Code of Business Ethics points at the special position that these values have within the corporation. Ericsson is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems and is therefore very much dependent on their customers’ loyaltyand contentment. Within this commitment to customer satisfaction lays their pledge to integrity and truthfulness.

2 Responsibility for compliance

A code of Ethics is made to serve as a guideline for ethical behavior. But a guideline does not necessarily result in action. Therefore Ericsson also included a few paragraphs discussing the responsibilities and possible disciplinary action derivedfrom the code. Reading and following the Code is considered mandatory for each employee. In order to ensure an even bigger pressure to comply, it is clarified that not obeying the code may result in both disciplinary and legal action.

Interestingly the code puts a very big emphasis on the responsibility of the managers. They are seen as vital for the proper installment of ethical rules. And a...