Microsoft Corporation, a global leader in the software development industry, uphold the following core values: integrity and honesty; passion for customers, partners and technology; open and respectful with others and dedicate to making them better; willingness to take on big challenges and see them through; self-critical, questioning, and committed to personal excellence and self-improvement; and, accountable for commitments, results, and quality to customers, shareholders, partners, and employees.
To ensure the employees’ adherence to these corporate core values, Microsoft has developed its own Standards of Business Conduct[i], which is widely disseminated and is accessible to all its employees at all levels, as well as to the other company stakeholders, with a stress on the importance of doing the right things in the right way, which, simply said, is making business decisions and taking actions that are ethical and in accordance to what is legal.
Microsoft’s Standards of Business Conduct encompass all of the company’s foundational values and principles for its business, and reflect the company’s commitment to ethical business practices and regulatory compliance. They significantly summarize, as well as supported by, the principles and policies that govern the company’s global businesses in the following important areas: compliance (legal and regulatory); trust and respect of consumers, partners, and shareholders; protection and stewardship of asset; creation of a work environment of cooperation; and commitment to the global community.
Microsoft’s recognition of its global leadership plays a key role in the company’s emphasis of its commitment to integrity in all its interactions, requiring all its employees and leaders to carefully read and follow with due diligence the Standards of Business Conduct. A careful examination of the sections and provisions incorporated into the Standards would conclude that the company has taken into the heart of business its sincere commitment to the values and principles by which it stands as a company. They are a clear reflection of the company’s collective commitment to ethical business practices and regulatory compliance. Likewise, Microsoft’s Standards of Business Conduct, is integrated with the Microsoft Business Conduct and Compliance Program, which simply signifies the value that has been given to it by the company, not to discount the serious intent of implementing it at all levels of the company, all over the world.
Intended to properly guide its employees on their daily business dealings worldwide, Microsoft’s Standards of Business Conduct is also an important resource for managers to foster, manage and reward a culture of accountability and integrity among employees, with the ultimate goal of enhanced culture for the customers’ and partners’ benefits, thus enabling people and business in all parts of the globe to realize their full potential.
1 www.microsoft.com
