APEC reinforces the importance of ethical business conduct for small businesses in the health sector by expanding
implementation of ethics pacts as New Zealand launches a consensus framework to improve ethical collaboration in its health system.
The “New Zealand Consensus Framework,” signed last week at the 2021 APEC Business Ethics for Small and Medium
Enterprises Forum, builds upon nine similar agreements for ethical collaboration that bring together more than 300
health organizations representing thousands of companies, and which affect hundreds of thousands of healthcare
professionals as well as millions of patients.
Consensus frameworks enable relevant stakeholders, including industries, healthcare professionals, patient groups and
governments, to work together by aligning shared principles
In his opening remarks at the forum, the 2021 APEC Chair of Senior Officials, Vangelis Vitalis, highlighted the strong
correlation between business ethics and productivity and how ethical businesses across the region can help drive
business productivity by 3 to 6 percent per year.
“At a time when we need to get access to vaccines and related medical equipment, this framework allows policymakers, the
private sectors and others to work together in finding consensus and supporting the region’s economic recovery,” added
Vitalis, who is also the Deputy Secretary of Trade and Economic Affairs of New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Trade.
Representing the private sector, Faye Sumner, former chief executive officer of the Medical Technology Association of
New Zealand, said that the framework creates a set of ethical standards to guide collaboration among patient
organizations, healthcare professionals and industry players. “No one group can achieve an ethical environment in these
sectors alone.”
Research co-funded by APEC and presented at the forum by Ethisphere and Royal Holloway, University of London, found that
small businesses in health-related sectors with established ethics and compliance programs had significantly stronger
economic performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ethics and compliance programs include employee training, written
standard awareness and communication, anti-corruption policy coverage, and risk assessment. The research also found that
customers and industry peers are the main driver for small businesses to embrace integrity and adopt business ethics.
“As we continue to navigate the challenges of the pandemic and facilitate an inclusive recovery, it is crucial for us to
provide businesses with a transparent and predictable environment where we can no longer afford to disregard the
importance of business ethics,” said Norlela Suhailee, the Chair of APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Working Group.
“This is especially significant for micro, small and medium enterprises. As they are smaller in size and have lesser
resources, they are more vulnerable to unethical conduct.”
This year’s activities follow the historic launch of Vision 2025, the initiative’s roadmap endorsed by APEC SME Ministers in 2020, which includes modernizing APEC principles and
providing SME capacity building through the APEC Leaders in Ethics and Integrity Program (LEIP) in the biopharmaceutical
sector and the Global Distributor’s Compliance Toolkit in for the medical technology sector.
“As we continue to work together to help our societies recover from the pandemic and to be better prepared for the next
one, APEC should continue to serve as a driving force to realize consensus frameworks for economies worldwide. It is
clear we are only at the start of this movement,” concluded Thomas Cueni, Director General of International Federation
of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations.