Costco Corporation Statement of Ethics

Our Mission is to offer our members quality goods and services at the lowest possible prices (Data monitor, 2011). In order to realize our mission, we will execute our business with the following Code of Ethics in mind:

Code of Ethics

Our code of ethics will focus on five critical elements:

Taking care of our members

Obeying the law

Taking care of our employees

Respecting our suppliers

Rewarding our shareholders

The achievement of the first four elements will facilitate the ability of Costco to realize its ultimate goal in relation to Rewarding Shareholders.

Obeying the Law

The law is the ultimate facilitator in the execution of the business operations (Wadhwa, 2009). Our business must operate in total compliance with the laws of every community and location thus the need to pledge to:

Adhere and comply to all laws and legal requirements

Uphold all public officials and their positions

Adhere to the safety as well as security standards for the products sold to the consumers and other entities or outlets

Comply with wage and hour laws as well as applicable anti-trust laws towards the achievement of competitive advantage

Encourage and promote fairness, accuracy, and timely disclosure in reports with reference to Securities and Exchange Commission as well as in public communications by the management

Promote accountability and transparency with the aim of adhering to the aspects of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

Comply with ecological standards in the context of every community in which our business operates

Taking Care of our Members

Our business membership is open to all persons: business owners and individuals. Our members are our focus of success because of their influence in making the difference in our revenues, satisfaction, and competitive nature within the market and industry of operation. Our members have substantive outlets and alternatives that might affect us whenever they decide to switch shops (Thomas et al., 2004). It is essential to earn the trust of our members in a continuous basis thus the need to fulfill the following:

Offer top-quality products at best and affordable prices in the market

Encourage the members with a 110% satisfaction guaranteed warranty in relation to the products and services we sell as well as membership fee

Assurance of our members through provision of authentic products in relation to performance

Offering products to the consumers through integration of ecological sensitivity

Providing to our communities through incorporation of aspects such as volunteerism and corporate contributions as well as employment opportunities

Taking Care of our Employees

Our employees, like in aspiring organization, are our most significant asset. We can ascertain that Costco has the very best employees within the industry committed to offering quality services to our customers. In return, we commit ourselves to rewarding them for career and personal growth. This is through provision of:

Competitive wages

Challenging and fascinating work

Career opportunities

Great benefits

Accessibility to diverse levels of management for adequate solution

Opportunities to offer to the communities

Safe and healthy working conditions

Respecting our Suppliers

Suppliers are our partners in the market and industry thus the need to strive to offer:

Equal and fair treatment to all suppliers

Honor to all commitments

Protection of all suppliers' property assigned to our organization

Not accepting aspect of gratuities of any kind from a supplier

Elimination of conflicts of interest

Rewarding our Shareholders

Our

All individuals have the ability and obligation to report actual or potential violation of the Statement of Ethics. Any violation of the code will constitute grounds for severe disciplinary action in the form of criminal prosecution, termination of contract, and reprimanding. The success of Costco relates on how each of our employees comply to the standards in relation to the Statement of Ethics.
Part 2: Memorandum to the CEO of the Organization

To: the CEO

Subject: Process by which Statement of Ethics should be Reviewed/Revised

During last week's executive committee meeting, you pointed out the influence and importance of the Statement of Code of Ethics to an organization. In this memo, I would like to describe the process by which the statement of ethics should undergo revision or reviewing, dissemination of the code of ethics across the management hierarchies as well as how competitors, stakeholders, and employees might receive and react to the document.

The first aspect should be the development of the Committee on Ethics and Professional Conduct in order to oversee the reviewing and revision of the code of ethics for Costco Corporation. The first stage should be posting of the recommendations, comments, and minutes of the Costco Corporation Council/executive management through a proposal on the webpage of the Committee on Ethics and Professional Conduct. This should occur concurrently with sending a notice to the members of the Costco Corporation with offering the opportunity for the audiences to review and comment on the document. The next stage should take about five months in which the organization continues to gather data and work on elements of the code of ethics in accordance with the proposal (Andersen, 2010). There should be a joint annual meeting-taking place within the headquarters of the organization for about three days. During this meeting, the CEPC should focus on the development of a draft concerning the revised code in relation to the work done in advance. The committee should also spread the information on the revision with the aim of obtaining comments through a variety of methods such as discussion of the code revision in a forum open to the members of Costco.

The next step should focus on the integration and incorporation of comments and meeting feedback for the presentation to the Costco Executive Council during an annual meeting. The executive council should then post the code on the CEPC webpage after ensuring that the minutes and comments as well as recommendations are in the revised code of ethics. Any comment or recommendation will be in the code of ethics thus submission to the executive council as an agenda. Finally, the executive council of Costco should approve the revised code of ethics in case of no issue or comment emanating from the committee or the members (Rafter, 2005).

The code of ethics is a crucial document thus the need to anticipate how stakeholders, competitors, and other interested parties will receive or react to it for the realization of the goals and objectives. Stakeholders such as employees, suppliers, and consumers should embrace the code of ethics because of its ability to address and protect their interests as they seek to satisfy their needs and preferences (Yallop, 2012). The code of ethics should focus on protection of the interest of the stakeholders in order to appeal to their positive reaction. There is need for support by the stakeholders with the aim of eliminating aspects of violations. Competitors will react to the code of ethics as a form of competition this attempts to out-do the statement of ethics. This should offer an opportunity for Costco to adopt and implement an effective and efficient code of ethics with the aim of addressing the needs and preferences of the stakeholders.

As the highest organ in the organization, the executive management council should focus on delegation of duties in relation to the statement of code of ethics to the Committee on Ethics and Professional Conduct. The committee should ensure that the code of ethics is available to all employees and other relevant stakeholders through displaying the statement on the organizations' walls as well as website for easier accessibility (Weber, 2013). The committee should also focus on integration of severe penalties for violation of the statement of ethics to ensure that the stakeholders comply…