ECCO International, a network of public relations and marketing communications consultancies in over 40 countries, released its global Index of Corporate Values 2013. The index reports that moral and social values in the workplace rank higher than any other category in the U.S. Alpaytac Public Relations/Marketing Communications participated in gathering information for the report, which was released earlier this year.

ECCO International conducted research on the basis of institutional and internet searches in over 4,000 companies in 13 countries. Some of the top global values were: 1) Innovation – 40 percent; 2) Quality – 30 percent; and 3) Customer Satisfaction – 28 percent across the board. In the U.S., 339 companies were surveyed.

According to the findings in the U.S., moral and social values scored four percent above average compared to other countries, and social values were more than for any other nation surveyed. Moral standards that have risen since the last study in 2009 include integrity and ethics in the workplace, in addition to social principles such as pluralism, quality of life, and equality, being more prevalent.

However, professional beliefs like efficiency and differentiation scored six percent below, lower than any other country. Behavioral ideals, such as adaptability, staff involvement, tradition and attention, scored four percent below those of other countries.

Huma Gruaz, CEO of Alpaytac Public Relations/Marketing Communications, finds the American corporate culture shift intriguing. “The fact that U.S. corporations place more importance on moral and social values than any other country in the world has direct implications on the quality of employees that U.S. companies will attract and implies that success will come organically. The better employees feel about the values of their workplace, the more productive they will be. High ethical standards attract people who possess a high level of work ethic, which results in loyal, dedicated employees who care about the organization they work for.”

In terms of percentage of values for small and large corporations in the U.S., small companies are highly focused on professional and competitive values, while large companies express more societal, behavioral, moral and relational standards.

This is ECCO’s third international index of corporate values. The company released reports in 2006 and 2009. For more information, visit www.alpaytac.com.

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By Ayo Mseka
Editor-In-Chief
Advisor Today