The Risks Conference

As in each odd year and alternatively with « Lambda Mu » symposium on even years, IMdR will organize in 2019 the meetings socalled  «The Risks Conference ». The programme committee of this 7th issue is chaired by Laurence BAILLIF. The following lines give a first thought on the topic which will attract numerous attendee. The programme is now on  line and registration is open.

• Ethics in industry – An up to date topic

​Ethics is certainly not a new topic. Ethical thoughts have come along occidental companies for more than 2 000 years (cf namely Aristote, Descartes, Kant). As far as company is concerned, thoughts deal with the socially responsible which took various shapes along centuries. During century 19th paternalism, has represented a peculiar form of commitment, slowly erased and led the company to focus on his economic role. Nowadays the company legally recognized as a moral person, is at the center of attentions namely for the external effects of its economic activity; the debate between auctioneers responsibility and enlarged stake holders, is at center of attractions, namely for its external effects of its economic activity and becomes a potential risk source. Face to this questioning, some companies undertook an ethical approach.

• But what does ethics in industry cover ?

​Being distinct from moral, which defines principles  and general laws, ethics deals with questions related to individual life, but also by extension of specific questions such as health ethics, bioethics, business ethics for example and social concerns more general (animal ethics, environmental ethics, a.s.o.) Their ambition is to show how to behave and act in the social space for a given situation. Ethics in industry raises the concern of moral principles in the fields economic, environmental and social. One can distinguish two approaches : the anglo-saxon, based on standards and close to moral and the european approach which claims to be more practical and positive.

Although the trend is to integrate more and more these notions within the company in a standardization way by legislating (Sapin II law, remuneration of boards, RSE directive, personal data protection, vigilance duty of mother companies and  contracting companies, company business purpose and PACTE law...) numerous companies develop company ethics and “juggle” between statutory obligation and voluntary approach, thus integrating ethics in its reason for living, missions or objectives.

• Ethics formal or informal ?

​Depending on the cases, company ethics will be formalized under code form, a chart or a commitment letter for example. The more often, the chart or ethical code are elaborated by the executive management; they diffuse the company philosophy, engraving its own law tables so that anybody in a decentralized structure  should know the doctrine and refer to it.