Abstract:

The paper looks into whether or how top Czech companies employ codes of conduct. More specifically, whether or not 100 top Czech companies ranked by Bisnode – EVA (Economic Value Added) TOP 100 ranking – have an easily accessible code of conduct on their company websites. The incidence of codes of conduct on the companies' websites is determined and the found codes of conduct are studied and assessed according to their characteristics by means of text analysis. The basic questions ask whether it is easy to find the code of conduct on the company website, if it is original, what its layout looks like, how long and detailed it is, whether it is divided into chapters and easy-to-use, or what interesting features it has. The code of conduct can be an instrumental gauge, which should help the authors assess the position of business ethics in top Czech companies.