ethical standards reviewing and reporting

Are they gaining an unfair advantage?

Octopus has built on our experience. And now offers two products to assist ethical-trading initiatives and green credentials. Collectively they are called the ethical standards reviews and reports.

Ethical standards reviews and reports

The Competitor Ethical Standards Report – helps clients to understand how their competitors operate around the world, including the parts they would rather keep quiet. You can determine if their sustainability and socially responsible company claims match their actions before working with Octopus to form a strategy on how best to use any information found.

The Internal Business Ethics Review – allows Octopus to discreetly evaluate a client’s internal practices, such as supply chain, to uncover any vulnerabilities which could leave them exposed. The aim is to help ensure the client company can stand up to scrutiny and be proud of its ethical trading standards.

Competitor Ethical Standards Report

Do you suspect your competitor getting an unfair competitive advantage? Are they proclaiming exaggerated or untrue sustainability and green credentials?

Do you think your competitor’s claims to have a clean supply chain is not true? Free from potential slavery issues and ecological concerns? But you suspect they’re not managing it? And they can’t prove their claims?

Ethical trading and anti-slavery are so much more than a statement on a website. You suspect it’s not a level playing field and losing business to them.

We have seen it with our eyes, examples of slavery and lies about ethical and responsible trading. Involving major UK businesses in places like India and Bangladesh. Resulting in our client being undercut in the market.

The Competitor Ethical Standards Report

Octopus offers the Competitor Ethical Standards Report covering:

• How do your competitors operate around the world?
• What are they doing to be an ethical and responsible company?
• Do their claims match their actions?
• Do they own what they say they own?
• Are the ethical and green endorsements proclaimed to them true?
• How can you use it to your advantage? 
• What can you learn from them to improve your own processes?

Internal Business Ethics Review

To be forewarned is to be forearmed. It would be sensible to protect your hard-earned credentials. And make sure you have not missed anything within your supply chain. We can conduct discreet and confidential checks on your ethical and sustainability strategy. Then identify areas of improvement and weaknesses. We certify that you uphold excellent ethical practices and responsibility in your business. 

• Environmentally-friendly production, manufacturing, distribution etc
• Carbon Neutral/minimal 
• Forestry compliance, not contributing to deforestation 
• Sustainable marine practices 
• No Animal Testing 
• No modern Slavery / Poor conditions for workers within their supply chain
• Fair Trade standards 
• Contribution to charitable causes 
• Community Engagement 

This can’t be happening? Is it?

We have seen significant companies pulling the wool over their UK customers. They think no one will check up on what they are doing in a developing country. No one checks if their factory sign is still up. The day after the official inspection, the photos are taken.

Who will check if we don’t really have a team out there or if the company we work with doesn’t exist? 

No one will check ethical trading endorsements from a Nobel Peace Prize winner. We did, and they were entirely made up.

Your country MD is telling you everything is ethical and above board. Why would you disagree with them? After all, you have not been in the Guardian newspaper yet, so it must be all right.

We can get our boots on the ground. Work with local experts to find out what’s really going on. Using our Military Intelligence expertise and commercial acumen. 

We can keep digging too using our Strategic Intelligence and background-checking services:

• Anti-slavery investigations
• Background investigations
• Corporate affiliations
• Deep due diligence and background checking
• Know Your Customer (KYC) investigations
• Identification, analysis and diligence of M+A, alliance, and partnership opportunities
• Individual wealth assessment
• Litigation support complex legal investigation and Reputation issues

Octopus has built on our hands-on experience. We offer two products to assist in ethical-trading initiatives and green credentials.