Ms. Doran gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Sarah
Butterfield, also of Holland & Knight LLP, in the writing of this article.
Note to Corporate America: Shareholders and customers are
outraged by corporate malfeasance and moral irresponsibility, and they’re not
going to take it any more. Increasingly, their dollars will follow companies
who act ethically and exude stability. You have been warned.
Ethics is an issue for all industries. Corporate ethics is
now a business imperative. Creating a corporate ethics program is simply good
business practice for every organization in every industry. Fundamentally,
successful ethics programs can create a reputation for stability and moral
behavior in a company. They can also be a point of differentiation at a time
when companies are becoming increasingly interchangeable. Studies by leading
ethics researchers show that employees of companies with ethical cultures have
higher levels of job satisfaction, feel more
