Business Ethics Programme for the Bauernfeind Company

The goal of this project is to establish a complete, globally applicable set of values and norms, as well as guidelines and regulations which should be accepted by each employee and manager, no matter in which country he or she works. Concerning the structure of this programme, two parts are distinguished - a theoretical approach to business ethics on the one hand and a concrete framework of ethical guidelines and on the other hand. In the first part a basic explanation about the role of business ethics in a changing business environment is given, followed by an overview of some important concepts of business ethics, social accountability standard SA 8000 and implementation of it. In the second part, we start with a code of ethics, where the necessity and importance of it is pointed out. The highlight is put on important aspects related to corporate governance, which includes especially a set of relationships between a company’s management, its board, its shareholders and other stakeholders. The next chapter deals with the code of conduct, in which rules and regulations will for ethical behaviour based on Bauernfeind's values are outlined. The code applies to all employees and managers in all countries where the Company is conducting its business, even if some of the aspects mentioned in this Code of Conduct are not required by law in some of these countries. Furthermore the questionnaire for the company is developed Finally, the project work is summarized and conclusion is drawn.