세계화가 심화되면서 인권 노동 환경 반부패 등 윤리문제가 기업경영의 주요 과제로 부각되었다. WTO, OECD와 같은 국제기구들에서도 기업의 투명성강화와윤리경영의 규범화와 표준화를 추진하며, ‘공정하고 투명한 경쟁규칙’을 국제상거래에 적용하려는 노력을 강화하고 있다. 한국에서도 90년대 이후 민주화 과정을 거치면서 기업들에게 윤리경영을 요구하는 목소리가 높아졌으며, 특히 외환위기 이후기업투명성 문제가 부각되면서 윤리경영에 대한 관심이 증대되었다. 윤리경영에 대해서는 아직 명확한 정의가 내려져 있지는 않다. 윤리경영을 다루는 각 기관마다각자의 정의를 가지고 있지만 공통된 의견은 ‘다양한 이해관계자와의 신뢰를 쌓음으로써, 경쟁우위를 창출하는 경영전략이 앞으로 필요해 질 것이고, 이 신뢰를 쌓는 과정에서 필요한 것이 바로 윤리적인 의식과 투명성으로 본다’라는 맥락이다.윤리경영이란 개념이 대두가 된지는 오래되지 않았다. 이 단어가 이슈가 되기 훨씬이전부터 많은 기업들은 윤리경영을 실천해 왔다. 이 논문에서는 기업들이 윤리경영을 통해서 얻을 수 있는 효과들이 있다는 것을 인정하고, 윤리경영의 어떤 요인들이 기업의 장수메카니즘과 연결시킬 수 있을지 알아보고자 했다. 한 기업의 윤리경영활동은 그 기업의 전체적인 방향성을 결정하는 기업의 CEO의 윤리적인 의식및 인생철학과 맥락을 같이 한다고 볼 수 있다. 따라서 기업의 윤리경영사례를 분석하기 위해서는 각 기업별로 주요 경영자들의 경영철학 및 윤리의식에 대한 조사를 하고 실제 기업들의 윤리경영 뿐만 아니라 비윤리경영 사례를 조사하고 분석해볼 필요가 있었다. 국내기업들 중 장수기업으로 선정된 기업은 경방, 삼양사, 삼화페인트, 유한양행, 조선내화 이렇게 5개 기업이다. 이 기업들에 대해서 주요 경영진들의 경영철학, 윤리 및 비윤리 경영 사례를 알아봄으로써 윤리 경영이 기업의장수에 미치는 관계에 대해 고찰해보았다.
As Globalization is being aggravated, ethical management is magnified as a serious issue in these days. International organizations such as WTO, OECD are carrying forward a plan for settling business transparency and ethical management norms to the companies and trying to apply rules of fair and transparent competition to international trade. In Korea, the atmosphere asking for ethical management towards the companies has emerged as well since 1990’s in the process of democratization. Especially, as the Government, corporations and the society went through The Asian economic crisis in 1997, they felt the necessity of ethical management to be transparent and fair. The Ethical Management doesn’t define as a unified term, but instead, different experts and organizations have different opinions about it. However, it is basically “The competitive strategy to build trust with various stakeholders based on morality of the management and transparency of a company”In this study, we tried to find out the key ethical factors which influence companies’ longevity, analyzing 5 longevity companies’ ethical management in Korea. 5 companies are Kyungbang Co,. Ltd., Samyang Corporation, Samhwa Paints Ind. Co., Ltd., Yuhan Corporation and Chosun Refractories Co., Ltd. Each company has been carrying a high level of ethical management based on CEO’s firm philosophy.
Kyungbang Co., Ltd's CEOs have emphasized on corporation's public role, repect for customers, moderation, political independence and flexibility. Samyang Corporation's management has emphasized on corporate social responsivility, respect for people and moderation.
Samhwa Paint Industry Co., Ltd.'s CEO stressed financial stability and innovation. Yuhan Corporation's CEOs emphasized on corporate public role, trust, honesty and sound labor-relations. Chosun Refractories Co.,Ltd.'s CEO emphasized respect for people and sound labor-relations.All managers seem to have ethical philosophy and tried to put this into each corporation. Therefore several ethical management cases of these 5corporations were found. On the other hand, there were also immoral cases. Even though immoral cases are likely to influence bad effects on companies, if the extend of severity of each immoral case is within a moral permissible range of the society, it does not affect company’s survival directly.
The most significant factors for company’s longevity regarding ethical management are the level of required ethical management from the society, publicity of the company and most importantly CEO’s ethical philosophy which affects the entire atmosphere of the company and gives a guideline to its employees to be ethical.
As the mass media has been developed and various, information is transferred without time- and space- limits and which makes companies to be revealed to the public very easily. In addition, as the society’s moral consciousness has been strengthened, the level of required ethical management for companies are getting more complicated. In order to cope with this situation, companies should figure out what extend of ethical management is being required to the companies from the society. This can be understood by strengthening communication with various stakeholders. Based on CEO’s moral management philosophy and understanding of outer requirement regarding ethical management,the company could consolidate the foundation of sustainability and longevity of the company.