The Results of the World Luxury Ethical Council (WLEC)
The Results of the World Luxury Ethical Council (WLEC)
By Andreas Lim
Introduction: A month ago, at the “Ethical Jewelry Summit,” despite our attempts, we came to no agreement over what “ethical” actually means. Andreas Lim (Founder) briefly discusses the work of the World Luxury Ethical Council to create standards based on “ethical” corporate practices. A consumer survey lists results on the public’s concept of “ethical.” Special thanks for Andreas for his contribution to fairjewelry.org.
World Luxury Ethical Council Survey by Andreas Lim.
The term ethical is very wide and often used in a very loose fashion. It’s used as a marketing objective to reposition the brand qualities, tapping into the consumer conscience for a sales uplift. The overall initiative for the World Luxury Ethical Council is in put the power of consumer choice back in their hands with knowledge and understanding for ethical business practices.
The following top-line list is a cross-board of ethical initiatives based upon internal and external business practices within an organization.
The World Luxury Ethical Council:
Ethical policy platform is based upon consumer research in the following areas:
Community Relations;
Corporate Governance;
Donations and Payments;
Environment;
Human Rights;
Marketplace Ethics;
Workforce.
Mintel Consumer Research supports the ‘ethical policy platform’. The research clearly shows that people want to know which companies respond to the ethical policy concerns in their everyday business.
However, in the EU, the majority of people are dubious of the ‘ethical’ and ‘responsible’ claims made by business. Seventy-one percent want more information on companies to decide for themselves whether a business is ethical or not.
Mintel research shows that 63% of the EU public is prepared to pay a little extra for luxury products that meet higher ethical standards.
The problem is, there is little consensus over what constitutes ‘responsible ethical business practice’. Across the board consumers are dubious about the claims businesses make; further consumer research in the EU market shows that:
* 68% believe companies pretend to be ethical to sell more products and services;
* 73% think it’s not enough for companies to simply say they are ethical: but prove it;
* 82% believe its better for a company to be honest with consumers rather than pretend to be always squeaky clean.
The above ethical policy list will be an audit process conducted by 3rd party organizations which are independent of the World Luxury Ethical Council. There are presently two organizations which have agreed to work on the screening process: one for the internal and the other for the external audit. From the audits, a rating system will then be put into place to show the consumer where the audited organization ranks.
Each ethical policy initiative will have its own ranking and some will be higher and lower than others. It’s then up to the organization which has been audited to maintain or improve on the areas which have been rated. The information will be provided to the consumer at large and their purchasing behavior will decide to support the product or service in terms of the ethical industry standards by the audited organization. Rankings are not static, as the audit process is an annual process to maintain membership to the World Luxury Ethical Council (WLEC).
Bottom-line, I would like to be able to put the power of consumer choice back in their hands based on knowledge re: ethical standards. I don’t expect all organizations to be perfect, but I believe we should provide opportunity in two areas: best practice sharing and setting industry standards
Special thanks to Amanda Stark of Rapaport who put me in touch with Andreas Lim.
