Centre for Business Ethics

Activities:

The Think Tank has developed a high-profile national conversation about business ethics. This has been achieved via public forums featuring prominent and influential leaders. 

Participants include: Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, Prof Thuli Madonsela, Trevor Manuel, Pravin Gordhan, Nhlanhla Nene, Mcebisi Jonas, Laurie Dippenaar, Zyda Rylands, Mark Lamberti, Reuel Khoza, Nicky Newton-King, Nonkululeko Nyembezi, Bobby Godsell, Mike Teke, Thandi Orleyn, Bonang Mohale, Mike Brown, Busisiwe Mavuso, Martin Kingston, Stephen Koseff, Andile Sangqu, Adrian Gore, Colin Coleman Sipho Pityana, Sabine Dall’Omo, Barry Swartzberg, Sizwe Nxasana, Michael Katz, Adrian Enthoven, Prof Adam Habib, Thandeka Gqubule and Bishop Paul Verryn. 

All forums have been oversubscribed and attracted significant media coverage.

The Think Tank convenes and facilitates dialogue sessions between senior leaders from business and diverse societal stakeholders - government, trade unions, churches, NGOs, academia and media. These sessions tackle some of the toughest and most contentious issues facing SA, including corruption, poverty, inequality, land, racism and transformation. As well as generating important insights, these engagements build understanding and trust – an antidote to the dangerous polarisation in the country.

In collaboration with GIBS faculty as well as international academics, we research and write scholarly papers, white papers and case studies. Developing academic outputs is a strong and increasing area of focus for the Think Tank.

Leveraging GIBS’ educational platform, the thought leadership generated by the Think Tank does not remain in an ivory tower. It is disseminated to current and future business leaders through courses which utilise innovative techniques and blend conceptual and experiential learning 

We have built collaborative relationships with leading international scholars and institutions including Harvard Business School and Wharton. This enables us to access cutting-edge thinking and best practices, enriching our thought leadership. It is also to ensure that innovative work being done in South Africa travels beyond our borders and has a wider influence.

Using a Harvard Business School research tool made relevant to the local context, the Think Tank launched the GIBS Ethics Barometer for SA business during 2019. This initiative has become our flagship project, and supports and strengthens our other activities.  

The Ethics Barometer was launched in partnership with Business Leadership South Africa, one of the country’s largest business associations. In its first phase, 15 leading companies from diverse sectors participated. These sectors included banking, insurance, mining retail, property, leisure, and professional services. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected from over 8,000 employees. Company-specific data was aggregated and anonymised into the general data, enabling us to construct a national benchmark against which companies could measure their ethical performance. We have received positive endorsements from participating companies’ CEOs, indicating that this instrument delivers practical outcomes and benefits.

Our aim is to expand the number of participating companies and sectors, as well as to survey other stakeholder groups, including customers, suppliers and local communities. We hope that by measuring ethical performance, it will be managed more effectively and eventually become part of a 'new normal' for SA business.

Click here to read the report of the national results from the Ethics Barometer's first phase.