Cluster Analysis of Business Ethics Practices in Peru

Growing concerns about business ethics has triggered a heterogenous implementation of ethical practices by corporations, particularly in Latin America. To understand this heterogeneity, we analyze ethical practices in a sample of companies in Peru using structured observation and in-depth interviews with compliance officials. We found 3 clusters of companies: ethics-indifferent, ethics-concerned, and ethics-committed firms. Furthermore, the clusters were significantly associated with foreign capital, size, industry, and level of regulation. Our insights are salient to inform policies to improve ethical performance by the corporate world.