Abstract

The caselet throws light on the various initiatives taken by ABB Ltd, the world leader in power and automation technologies toward maintaining highest ethical standards in business. The importance of business ethics to ABB is further highlighted in the latter portion of the caselet, which examines a few situations in which ABB took necessary actions towards curbing illegal practices by its employees. The case also discusses the various corporate social responsibility initiatives taken by the company.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• The importance of ethical practices for industrial marketers
• Business ethics as the core of the company’s culture
• Need for employees towards upholding the highest ethical standards. The enforcement of zero tolerance for illegal or unethical behavior
• and The Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives of ABB.

Keywords

Asea Brown Boveri Limited, Mission, Decentralized compliance structure, ‘ABB Business Ethics Guidelines', ‘ABB Business Ethics Standards', Joint ventures, ‘Festival of Second-hand things', ‘Give the children back a Smile'campaign, Illegal payments, Process automation, Robotics, Securities and Exchange Commission, US Department of Justice, Transparency, Zero tolerance policy, Bribes, Corporate social responsibility (CSR), Merger, Acquisition