Avnet Named a World’s Most Ethical Company

PHOENIX, March 13, 2017 /3BL Media/ -- Avnet (NYSE: AVT) has been recognized as a 2017 World’s Most Ethical Company® for the fourth consecutive year by the Ethisphere Institute, a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices.

“Avnet has a reputation of helping our customers win, whether they’re makers, startups or large technology manufacturers,” said William Amelio, Avnet’s chief executive officer. “Trust is at the foundation of everything we do in supporting customers worldwide at every phase of the product lifecycle. Our team earns the trust of our customers and suppliers each day. Enabling the success of our customers will never come at the expense of the highest standards of ethics and integrity or of the relationships with our global site communities. Ethisphere’s recognition is a testament to Avnet’s commitment, global competitiveness and focus on social responsibility, and I know our employees take great pride in this repeated recognition.”

Avnet has aligned its programs in ethics and compliance, corporate citizenship and responsibility, governance, and innovation with its business strategy. For example, the company invested in creating the Avnet Innovation Lab at Arizona State University as part of aligning its corporate social responsibility focus and its business strategy. This partnership with the academic community spurs economic growth and helps aspiring technology entrepreneurs accelerate their ideas to make the world a better place and take their inventions to the next level. The participants in this lab are using technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) to redefine how people shop and drive, while also protecting citizens from dangerous biological agents and volatile organic compounds.

Every year Ethisphere honors 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 Avnet for being recognized as a World's Most Ethical Company."

Methodology and 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.

“World’s Most Ethical Companies” and “Ethisphere” names and marks are registered trademarks of Ethisphere LLC.

Follow Avnet on Twitter: @Avnet 
Connect with Avnet on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/avnet 
Connect with Avnet on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AvnetInc

All brands and trade names are trademarks or registered trademarks, and are the properties of their respective owners. Avnet disclaims any proprietary interest in marks other than its own.

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.

About Avnet
From idea to design and from prototype to production, Avnet supports customers at each stage of a product’s lifecycle. A comprehensive portfolio of design and supply chain services makes Avnet the go-to guide for innovators who set the pace for technological change. For nearly a century, Avnet has helped its customers and suppliers around the world realize the transformative possibilities of technology. Learn more about Avnet at www.avnet.com.