illycaffè named as a World's Most Ethical Company by the Ethisphere Institute for the fifth consecutive time

Recognition honors companies who lead with integrity and align principle with action.

NEW YORK, NY – March 13, 2017 – illycaffè S.p.A., the global coffee industry leader in quality, direct trade and ethical supply chain practices, has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, as a 2017 World’s Most Ethical Company®. iIlycaffè has now been recognized for five consecutive years, underscoring the company’s commitment to leading ethical business standards and practices.

"Companies are the bricks of modern society and in order to make positive change happen throughout the world, ethics and sustainability must form the core of private enterprise,” said Andrea Illy, chairman of illycaffè S.p.A.  “The Ethisphere Institute’s work inspires companies to be and do their best, and we are honored to have earned their recognition as a World’s Most Ethical Company for a fifth consecutive year.”

Twenty-seventeen is the eleventh year that Ethisphere has honored those companies who recognize their role in society to influence and drive positive change, consider the impact of their actions on their employees, investors, customers and other key stakeholders and use their values and culture as an underpinning to the decisions they make every day.

“Over the last eleven years we have seen the shift in societal expectations, constant redefinition of laws and regulations and the geo-political climate. We have also seen how companies honored as the World’s Most Ethical respond to these challenges. They invest in their local communities around the world, embrace strategies of diversity and inclusion, and focus on long term-ism as a sustainable business advantage,” explained Ethisphere’s Chief Executive Officer, Timothy Erblich. "Congratulations to everyone at illycaffè for being recognized as a World's Most Ethical Company."

Methodology & Scoring
The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient® (EQ) framework which offers a quantitative way to assess a company’s performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies, rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics.

Scores are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance program (35%), corporate citizenship and responsibility (20%), culture of ethics (20%), governance (15%) and leadership, innovation and reputation (10%) and provided to all companies who participate in the process.

Honorees
The full list of the 2017 World's Most Ethical Companies can be found at http://worldsmostethicalcompanies.ethisphere.com/honorees/.

Best practices and insights from the 2017 honorees will be released in a series of infographics and research throughout the year (view or download the 2016 insights). Organizations interested in how they compare to the World’s Most Ethical Companies are invited to participate in the Ethics Quotient.


About illycaffè s.p.a
illycaffè is an Italian family business, founded in Trieste in 1933 and committed to offer the greatest coffee to the world. illy is the world's most global coffee brand, producing the unique illy 100% Arabica blend made of nine of the world best Arabica, served in more than 7 million cups in over 140 countries in the finest cafés, restaurants and hotels. As a leader in the science and technology of coffee - with three radical innovations - illy is the forerunner of espresso. With the first Brazilian award for the best coffee quality for espresso in 1991, illy also pioneered direct sourcing, sharing know-how and paying a premium price for the best quality, based on partnerships underpinned by the principles of sustainable development. The company established and runs the University of Coffee with the aim to foster and spread coffee culture, providing comprehensive academic and hands-on training for coffee growers, baristas and coffee lovers to cover every aspect of the product. Everything ‘made in illy’ is enhanced by beauty & art, which represent founding values of the brand, starting from its logo – designed by artist, James Rosenquist – in addition to the renowned illy Art Collection, comprised of over 100 cups designed by international artists. As of 2015 the company employed 1,177 people, and posted consolidated revenues of €437 million. There are approximately 230 mono-brand illy shops across 43 Countries.


About the Ethisphere Institute
The Ethisphere® Institute is the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices that fuel corporate character, marketplace trust and business success. Ethisphere has deep expertise in measuring and defining core ethics standards using data-driven insights that help companies enhance corporate character. Ethisphere honors superior achievement through its World’s Most Ethical Companies recognition program, provides a community of industry experts with the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA) and showcases trends and best practices in ethics with the publication of Ethisphere Magazine. More information about Ethisphere can be found at: http://ethisphere.com.