Financial Times

CIM’s new code
CIM to develop code of ethics for companies
By Quintus Perera
The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) has been trying to work with other similar bodies and work out a code of ethics to improve accountability and transparency in companies following the Enron scandal, said Mike Johnston, International Chairman of CIM.

Johnston was in Sri Lanka recently to meet CIM members and to chair the new strategy programme. While speaking about the value of marketing. Johnston said that the New Zealand Institute of Marketing has done some work on the code of ethics and thus CIM would be talking to them to try and develop accounting practices professionally.

The rationale behind the exercise would be to enable CIM members to contribute better to work for the overall creation of values. He said they could help the business world to do a better job. CIM is the largest international professional body for marketing with some 60,000 members worldwide. Its largest concentration of members outside UK is in South-East Asia.

These countries include Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. CIM works with local universities and colleges for marketing education. Johnston also said that CIM had recognized that the garment industry in Sri Lanka played a leading role by being the major export commodity, which earned much foreign exchange.

Targeting this segment, CIM started a diploma course in garment marketing about one and a half years ago. This apparel-marketing course would eventually be a model for other countries, he said. Johnston said that food and agriculture are very important to Sri Lanka and that there could be value addition in food production on a global basis.

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