“In good conscience: do the right thing while building a profitable business” is the work's title presented at Católica Porto Business School on November 23rd at 6 pm. Written by Oriol Iglesias, professor at ESADE, and Nicholas Ind, professor at Kristiania University College, the book is the result of research work carried out by the authors over the last five years, together with companies such as Unilever, Patagonia or Tesco.

The authors addressed the relationship between ethics and business success during the session. They sought to answer questions such as “Do organizations and brands have a conscience?” and “How can we set up businesses with new leadership styles that allow us to build a profitable business without compromising future generations?” showing that it is possible to build a profitable business without compromising ethical values.

For Oriol Iglesias, who has worked at a professional and academic level in marketing and brand management, “companies have to build an organizational awareness that allows them to guide the best actions and strategic decisions”.

Nicholas Ind added that the work with Iglesias made it possible to create “a management model oriented towards the transformation of companies, which fosters this awareness while developing a profitable business”. Ind also highlighted that the need to build organizational awareness is supported by the extensive research that has been carried out on the topic. “And our concrete suggestions, throughout the book, aim to give examples to those who read it to help with this transition, which is always intended to be as natural as possible”, he explained.

Change must also involve major current issues, such as climate change or social inequalities. Oriol Iglesias recalled that these are issues that concern, for example, consumers and employees. “Concern with these topics, on the part of companies, leads to changes in them, to the creation of more ethical and, consequently, more profitable businesses, by positioning themselves in a positive way towards people”, maintained the author.

The book’s theme and all the inherent issues align with the extensive work carried out by Católica Porto Business School for several years now in various areas of activity, namely through its Ethics Forum and INSURE.hub.