A company creed communicates an organization's core beliefs to the public, and those beliefs resonate with customers and employees. Customers want to spend money to support businesses that share their views on such issues as morality, family and the environment. Individuals who practice conscious consumerism want to hold companies accountable via their spending, and reward companies that share their beliefs with their discretionary dollars.Companies that communicate their ethical values attract committed consumers and empassioned employees.
Identification
A company's creed tells the world what it believes. It is a statement of a company's moral values, and it broadcasts those values to customers, employees and vendors in a way that is relevant to its core business. A creed may express a company's commitment to the community where it is located, to environmental causes, or to a standard of ethical behavior.
Complexity
A company creed can be simple or complex, and should reflect the company's culture. A payday cash lender, for example, has adopted a simple creed of respect for its customers, its employees and the law. A Japanese chemical company adopted a similarly simple creed, the "3S Principle"--- service, speed and superiority. By contrast, an insurance agent marketing group adopted a complex list of 14 statements that describe conduct, beliefs and aspirations. The length and complexity of a company creed should align with its business.
Communication
Many companies publish their company creed on their website. Visitors to the site find the creed by clicking links to a page titled "about us," "code of conduct" or "corporate responsibility." A publicly held company may publish its creed in its annual report, with its financial information. A company may also include a truncated version of its creed as a slogan on its letterhead or a tag line in advertising materials.
Leadership
A creed sends a message to employees as well as to consumers. By communicating its creed to employees, an organization's leaders offer them a moral compass for their on-the-job behavior. The creed based on service, speed and superiority, for example, tells a company's employees to take good care of its customers, to produce goods efficiently and to strive for high quality. Virtually every role in the organization can relate to one or more of the company's three core values. A creed that illustrates leadership objectives for a company acts as a guide for employee behavior.
