This paper explores how compliance proves to be an effective shield against corporate criminal liability claims. In addition, it outlines how a coherent and comprehensive compliance program can help ...save a company from any wrongdoing and often mitigate or even exclude its liability for the misconduct of its employees. Implementing an effective compliance mechanism,complements a corporation's goal of being as stable as possible. While there is a wealth of literature on compliance, the intersection with corporate criminal liability has not received as much attention. In addition, the retrospective perspective of compliance in cases where corporate criminal liability has been invoked is not as valuable as the analysis of how a preventive approach is beneficial to a company in terms of avoiding a liability scandal. Compliance is a strain on a corporation's resources and time. It is not a one-time cost for businesses, especially as it becomes mandatory through increasingly stringent regulatory requirements. The literature focuses on the pragmatic aspect of implementing compliance, in particular cost-benefit calculations. This neglects recognizing the wider benefit of compliance as a preventive defence against corporate criminal liability.
Purpose
This paper aims to elucidate the practical and theoretical mechanisms which contribute to the perception of an economic sanction’s effectiveness as a foreign policy tool.
...Design/methodology/approach
This paper is divided into three sections, the first two of which are heavily based on the current academic literature and media presentation of sanctions. The third section is rooted in the empirical approach presented in the first author’s exploratory work,
Methods of Money Laundering
(2021).
Findings
Economic sanctions cannot be perceived as effective when the standard for efficacy remains undefined and sanction circumvention remains feasible. The public perception of sanctions is characterized by a series of assumptions as well as conflict foreign policy objectives, which cultivate an economic theory that is benefited by a practical exploration of the routes of circumvention.
Originality/value
The efficacy of economic sanctions is not a stable equation, but rather the application of an economic tool which is dependent on its context. Paths of sanction circumvention remain open due to weaknesses in compliance regulation. These paths continue to undermine the credibility of sanctions and, ultimately, their efficacy.
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the fundamental conditions which are necessary for the construction of a regulation which will affect a genuine advancement in the context of environmental ...protection.
Design/methodology/approach
The component parts of an adequately built regulation are broken down to concretise the notion of efficacy – and its proposed universality – in a regulatory context. This paper takes a comparative approach of regulations and extends to include a consideration of the monitoring and enforcement of regulation as a necessary tenant of an effective regulation.
Findings
Sustainability regulations have seen a significant development in the 20th century. Notable remain the national discrepancies to so universal problem, as well as an inconsistent acknowledgement of the purpose of sustainability regulations beyond a tick-box compliance commitment.
Originality/value
The importance of sustainability has been amplified without a due consideration of what its translation into regulation must look like. This paper argues that no meaningful change can be lobbied without understanding how its practical implementation is performed.
Purpose
This paper aims to enlighten the shortcomings of the EU Whistleblowing Directive 2019/1973, which could interfere negatively with its successful national implementation. In focus is the ...tension between companies potentially attempting to hide misconduct and disgruntled employees taking advantage of generous protection under the directive.
Design/methodology/approach
With an extensive literary basis, this paper explores articles of the EU Whistleblowing Directive 2019/1973 under five areas of the so-called “weakness.” With view to Germany and Austria, the difficulty of implementing the directive is highlighted and likewise with view to Switzerland, a potential solution is presented.
Findings
The Whistleblowing Directive 2019/1973 overshoots its target by protecting whistleblowers without considering the wider public interest. There are specific points of arbitrary definition which demand resolution to ensure a successful national implementation.
Originality/value
This is a multifaceted discussion of a highly contentious ethical debate. Through an exploration of specific points of the Directive, it is possible to present why there are points of contention in the first place, and also the difficulty of implementing the principle of proportionality. The issue at the heart of the matter is balancing the protection of trade secrets with the fundamental necessity of whistleblowing as a means of last resort.
Purpose The current political situation in Europe has amplified economic sanctions as a retaliatory measure for states not directly involved in the conflict but wanting to influence the political ...situation. The purpose of this paper is to further understand the interplay of the neutrality principle and employment of economic sanctions. Design/methodology/approach Through an extensive literature review, heavily based on the publications of the Swiss Confederacy, neutrality as a foreign policy serving to promote Swiss interests is explored. The room for interpretation and freedom of action in the neutrality principle is highlighted above all. Findings Economic sanctions are compatible with the neutrality principle, but do not necessarily further the same purpose. Political pressure to participate in sanctions does not take into consideration the ways in which the credibility of neutrality can be implicated, as well as the value of protecting Switzerland’s role as an international mediator. Originality/value The consistency with which the neutrality principle is translated into the modern geopolitical context is crucial for its longevity. The novelty of the current political sanctions, still unfolding, demands a careful examination into the history of neutrality and the use of sanctions. No better insight can be offered than by the development of neutrality in the history of the titan of neutrality, Switzerland.
Purpose
The concept of compliance is in danger of becoming obsolete as a result of its generalization and overuse. This paper aims to refine the concept of a culture of compliance and its effective ...implementation in association with financial regulations, in line with the societal expectations of compliance.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper begins by assessing the watershed reconception of compliance in light of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 (GFC). The influence of financial incentivization and structural weakness is highlighted above all. Recommendations focusing on the significance of the corporate context are made from this and viewed in relation to the growing relevance of compliance in regulating cyberspace.
Findings
Individuals and their decision-making are heavily influenced by the culture of their environment. Clearly, defining the values behind regulations encourages employees to follow the rules based on the principles that underlie them rather than out of fear of punishment, risk aversion or a sense of the “tick-box” duty. This contributes to the longevity of healthy compliance rather than a compliance fatigue.
Originality/value
By casting a look back at the development of compliance, the modern social expectations of compliance can be elucidated and, in turn, translated into mechanisms for corporations to effectively use. The literature on compliance has grown substantially but often limits itself to commentaries on the history of non-compliance or sector-based investigations. Hinged between the past and future of compliance, this study contributes to bridging a considerable gap in the literature by using a wider lens and positive redefinition of compliance.
Purpose
To construct effective compliance programmes, the phenomenon of non-compliance and variations in its abidance must be elucidated. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the social reality of ...ethical decision making, which examines the internalisation of moral norms and realities of social behaviour and, therefore, the general non-compliance with everyday laws (Tyler, 2006).
Design/methodology/approach
This paper makes use of several social theories, including social proof theory, traditional social theory and social control theory. Humans are social beings, and decision-making in ethics is strongly influenced by herding behaviour (Roy, 2021). The behaviour of others and normative ethical standards inform the compliance of behaviour to an undiminishable degree.
Findings
Although there is a host of factors to consider, the success of compliance can largely be attributed to people’s perception and reception of authority. The perception of authority and legitimacy plays a vital role in appreciating the complexity of rule following. Legitimacy, and its embodiment by persons in public roles, is a cornerstone of the subsequent discussion.
Originality/value
This paper uncovers the underlying motivations of non-compliance as well as the social psychology involved in the ethics of compliance. Cross-disciplinary connections are made between the private and public sector and practical compliance recommendations. The significant impact of integrity culture and value-based compliance emerges from the dissection of the social reality.
Purpose
The threat of cybercrime is pervasive. Corporations cannot be convinced, out of sheer luck or naïve conviction, that they will remain unaffected. When targeted, the stark reality is that a ...company also incurs a liability risk. This paper aims to explore the boundaries of liability resulting from a data breach and privacy concerns according to the emerging regulations on cybersecurity.
Design/methodology/approach
The nature of cybercrime and its constant evolution is analysed as a threat of liability. Its distinctly modern developments require consideration. In response to the threat of hackers, the protection that a corporation can invoke is also considered as a mitigating factor in ascribing liability.
Findings
Preventative steps to protect a corporation from cyberthreats must remain a consistent priority in the running of a company. The influence of human behaviour has become a foreseeable element in cybersecurity and as such the management of unreliable user behaviour is a key determining factor in ascribing liability in hindsight.
Originality/value
Foresight is everything in the prevention of cyberattacks. Cyberattacks can no longer be dismissed as an unlikely eventuality. Legislation on data security and data privacy is demanding higher standards of preventative action, under the duty of care to stakeholders. There is a substantial literature deficit on data security and data liability regulations in light of the liability risk incurred by cyberattacks.
Purpose
Through the lens of ethical appreciation, this paper aims to discuss what it means for a company to claim taking responsibility for its supply chain and whether this is a reasonable demand to ...make by corporations.
Design/methodology/approach
The place of ethics in economic and legislation is not selfevident. The intersection of ethics and economics through the topic of supply chains is approached by breaking down, respectively, the integral features of supply chains and the ethical considerations in compliance regulations.
Findings
The transnational nature of global supply chains, the depth of manufacturing tiers and the power asymmetries between buyer and seller are some of the fundamental sticking points in dissecting corporate social responsibility.
Originality/value
This paper uses a unique parallel perspective of the broad ethical concerns, which have developed under the umbrella term of responsibility, as well as the finer ethical details which are integral to supply chains as international structures of dependency.
Purpose
The operational resilience of financial service providers is strained to an unprecedented extent following the Russian aggression in the Ukraine and the subsequent implementation of targeted ...economic sanctions. This paper aims to consider how operational resilience supports financial service providers in implementing sanctions.
Design/methodology/approach
The demand made of financial service providers by economic sanction is considered through the lens of operational resilience. Practical problems for the providers are aligned with economic sanctions policies.
Findings
A well-established system of operational resilience enables financial service providers to meet compliance requirements of economic sanctions with greater ease.
Originality/value
The literature does not credit operational resilience as a systemic capacity of corporations and rather presents it as a specialised feature. In addition, the role of the regulatory bodies is often dismissed despite directly inciting the practical problems faced.
