Sony Named One of World’s Most Ethical Companies

Sony is one of 135 global organizations that has been recognized as one of the planet’s most ethical companies. It is the only camera manufacturer to appear on the list this year.

The “World’s Most Ethical Companies” list is a recognition program from Ethisphere that has been operating since 2006. The goal of the program is to showcase the “superior achievements of organizations that are committed to doing business with ethics and integrity” and is described as a rigorous and objective process. Ethisphere says it includes a 200-point assessment, documentation review, and independent research into an organization’s reputation and ethical practices.

“The process itself provides a way for organizations to assess their own programs against leading practices,” Ethisphere says. “World’s Most Ethical Companies honorees also enjoy recognition of their exceptional ethics and compliance programs. Ethisphere also broadly shares the World’s Most Ethical Companies data to help all organizations understand and improve programs.”

Ethisphere adds that the companies on its list historically outperform their peers and competitors financially and that there is a tangible return on investment for “doing the right thing.” This claim is backed by 17 years of tracking good ethical practices and financial performance.

For 2023, Ethisphere recognized 135 total organizations that spanned 46 industries in 19 countries. Of those, Sony is the only company recognized that produces cameras and joins a short list of companies that make consumer electronics products: Apple, Dell, HP, and Western Digital. This is the fifth time that Sony has been named in Ethisphere’s list.

Last year, Canon USA was honored on this list but for some reason does not appear this year. In fact, Canon had been listed as one of the most ethical companies in the world for five straight years starting in 2018, so it is not clear why the company fell off the list this year. Per Ethisphere, there is no set number of companies that can be recognized, stating that “there is a natural limit to the number that we honor both in total and by sector,” so it’s not as though Canon was bumped off and excluded as being slightly less ethical than another honoree — that’s not how it works.

Neither Nikon nor Fujifilm has ever appeared on the World’s Most Ethical Companies list.