1st Edition

Profiting from Integrity How CEOs Can Deliver Superior Profitability and Be Relevant to Society

By Alan Barlow Copyright 2018

    The case for a pro-integrity approach to business is due to endemic corruption, inadequacy of compliance and irrelevance of corporate social responsibility. It is demonstrated empirically that there is a direct causal relationship between companies operating with heightened integrity and their resultant superior profitability.

    For chief executive officers (CEOs) to achieve this, an innovative pro-integrity business model for companies to adopt is proposed, based predominantly on the author’s business experience. The model is demonstrated by application to a case study multinational corporation where the author was CEO. A considerable amount of what ordinarily would be highly sensitive commercial information is provided in the case study in a frank manner. Using the prointegrity business model which encompasses stakeholders, vision, integrity, leadership, staff and feedback, Alan Barlow explains the value and application of his approach. He draws on benchmarking research and a case study example to provide rigour and context to the model. The result is a compelling argument for a pro-integrity approach to business as an integral part of an organisation’s culture, communication and management practice.

    Profiting from Integrity provides a powerful evidence-based argument for chairmen, non-executive directors and shareholders, staff and other stakeholders to challenge incumbent CEOs as to why they are not leading their business with a pro-integrity approach and thereby delivering superior profitability.

    List of Figures and Tables, Acknowledgements, About the author, PART 1: THE CASE FOR INTEGRITY, 1. The Need for a Pro-Integrity Business Model, 2. Heightened Integrity and Superior Profits, PART 2: MAKING INTEGRITY PAY, 3. The Pro-Integrity Business Model in Practice, 4. Stakeholders: The Specific Connection, 5. Vision: Beyond Aspirational and Motivational , 6. Integrity: Embody, 7. Leadership: Demonstrated Tone, 8. Staff: More than Engagement, 9. Feedback: Closing the Feedback Loop, 10. Superior Financial Performance, PART 3: THE REQUIREMENT, 11. Prerequisites, References

     

     

     

     

    Biography

    Alan Barlow’s extensive senior executive experience roles in a variety of business ownership structures, include: Partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Director at a FTSE 100/NYSE listed energy group and CEO for private equity owned multinational engineering group,. His considerable profit and loss (P&L) experience encompasses Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific, Middle East and India. Alan has a doctorate in economics from Oxford University.

    "The reputation of business is under the cosh globally ... This book sets CEOs on their way to winning the perception and the reality battles for better-shaped and more successful socially-inclusive wealth creation ... It passes the page-turning litmus test of readability ... This book should be number one on the required reading list at every business school and university." - Lord Digby Jones, Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry 2000-2006, Minister of State for UK Trade & Investment 2007-2008. 

    "Barlow’s book breaks new ground. It shows, through his case study and other evidence, how a company can be a good corporate citizen combined with a solid bottom line through making integrity a core part of its culture and business model. Definitely worth a read for business leaders".- Arun Nanda, Chairman 3i Group plc India. Non-executive director and formerly executive director Mahindra Mahindra Ltd, India.

    "The book is mandatory reading for those who need to see how integrity works in practice in business, and how CEOs can at the same time achieve highly commercial returns."- John Cutts, Chairman Integrity Action.

    "People are getting as cynical about business as they are about politicians. So it is time-critical that businesses must not only show integrity—in all their actions—but, as Barlow says, to actually embody it. As a supporter of free markets, I long to see business admired, not vilified. This very readable book shows how we can actually achieve that." - Eamonn Butler, Director, Adam Smith Institute.

    "Integrity is today's agenda, Barlow gives us a valuable, operational approach to integrity for developing superior business performance. Thanks to his own personal experience and to well-selected examples, he illustrates the value of integrity and he guides action for CEOs to achieve measurable results. A very timely book. " - Henri-Claude de Bettignies, Emeritus Professor, INSEAD Business School, France. Visiting professor, Stanford Graduate School of Business, USA.

    "The case study demonstrating the innovative pro-integrity business model – the progress and transformation of a dysfunctional organisation into a world leader – is eminently readable, unfolding like a novel. If ever there were proof that the integrity- based approach, when integrated as a basic business process, delivers superior commercial returns, this is it."- Lady Elizabeth Vallance, Governor, London School of Economics. Author: "Business Ethics at Work." C.U.P.