Corporate social responsibility and ethics committees: a new form of embedding and monitoring ethical values and culture

Corporate Social Responsibility is, nowadays, considered the best driver of corporate development: reconciling the expectations of different stakeholders is the perfect way to guarantee a balanced development of the business in the long run. The issue is what CSR exactly means, what ethical compliance is and how different companies can reach the target of being socially responsible. The establishment and the effective operation of the ethics committee could be the key answer to define business’s values, stakeholder engagement plan and CSR agenda. This article aims to investigate the characteristics of board committees, paying particular heed to ethics committees, considered as the means to embed and monitor Ethical values and culture in corporate governance and, more broadly, in business.