- Governance /
- Ethical Management
Coway pursues ethical management based on 3C (Code of Conduct, Compliance Check Organization, Consensus by Ethics Education). In a bid to raise ethical awareness, we have formed a compliance supervisory body, including the compliance headquarters and ethical management office, based on the code of corporate ethics to avoid ethical risks. We also provide employees and suppliers with ethical education on a regular basis.
The ethical management office within the compliance division is the supervisory organization for ethical compliance, and it mainly conducts systems, education, campaigns, monitoring, and audits related to ethical management. There is an ethical management team that controls the risks of Coway's sales and service organizations and a diagnostic team that controls the risks of other organizations. Through collaboration, we strengthen internal controls and conduct training and campaigns.
For ethical management practice, we added the standards for ethical conduct and value judgment of internal and external stakeholders to the Code of Conduct, which consists of the Charter of Ethics, the Regulations of Ethics, and the Code of Ethics. We urge stakeholders to give ethical value a top priority and make it second nature. In 2021, we published the Code of Conduct in English, and in 2022, Coway posted it on the homepages of major global subsidiaries to spread the culture of ethical management along with the expansion of global business.
Coway is acutely aware of the importance of responsible ethical practices, and we consequently emphasize ethical management. In 2022, we secured the soundness of business processes by spreading ethical management firmwide to build a virtuous cycle system.
We hold an ethical management committee meeting monthly (changing to every other month after April 2022) to come up with practical measures for improvement through prompt decision making. We also proactively monitor irregular business activities and analyze causes to improve our business culture, system, and processes. In 2022, we identified 20 issues to be addressed and conducted a survey of newly identified possible irregular activities, ushering in the establishment of voluntary ethical business practice in the field.
We operate a reporting channel on ethical management to receive reports on complaints regarding products, services, business activities and corruption cases related to employees and suppliers. The reporting channels are divided into one for customers’ complaints on products, services, and sales; and one for corruption involving employees and suppliers. All the complaints and reports accepted through the channels are handled promptly and equitably and the identity of informants and details of the reports are guaranteed to be confidential. In addition, we have prepared guidelines for protecting and rewarding whistleblowers in order to encourage reporting.
In November 2022, Coway established a new English page of the Ethical Management Reporting Center (https://company.coway.com/en/company/ethical) to allow global stakeholders to make reports. We strengthened controls over overseas subsidiaries by expanding reporting channels.
Coway conducts diagnostic assessments on a regular basis and when necessary to ensure corporate transparency and robustness while avoiding ethical risks. We also operate a monitoring system on a regular basis to announce the soundness of the sales system and risks occurred, thereby preventing illegal sales activities.
In 2022, we added a service monitoring system and regularly notified field organizations to prevent abnormal service occurrences. We operate abnormal order prevention performance (order cancellation, amount of company damage prevented) as an employee KPI item.
Ethical diagnosis
Description
Diagnostic assessment of work
Continuous regular/frequent/implementation diagnosis
Survey on ethical management of overseas subsidiaries (semi-annual) → Change to monitoring
Periodic monitoring
Periodic monitoring of irregular and illegal sales activities
In an effort to avoid ethical risks, we conduct anti-corruption diagnostic assessments in all workplaces including global businesses and take appropriate action based on the results. In 2022, we dealt with total 11 violations.
To foster a healthy organizational culture, Coway conducted a one-act play based on actual ethical management violations for all employees. The training, which was held four times for all employees, was designed to raise employees' ethical awareness, educate them on specific practices, and form a responsible ethical management culture through understanding of basic principles.
The basics of corporate card
Prohibit personal use of corporate cards and violations for account theft
The basics of samples
Prohibit violations in the purchase, utilization, management, and disposal of samples
The basics of procurement
Transparency in supplier selection and leakage of secrets
The basics of privilege
Prohibit using organization/site privileges for personal gain
The basics of sales
Prohibit irregular sales (like paying rent) behaviors that undermine a healthy sales culture
The basics of organizational culture
Prohibit financial transactions and workplace harassment
In order to raise employees' awareness of ethical management and establish a culture of ethical practice, we conduct guidance activities such as regulations and cases related to ethical management through Coway Ethics e-magazine once a month.
Category
Description
Regulations and ethical standards of practice
Sales and service rules and practices
