The cheesecake Factory has an established code of ethical conduct that is needed to factor in maintaining a balance in the human aspect of ethics and the link to the business success for The Cheesecake Factory. Leaders in the upper management need to be careful about their actions, and how they address other employees and how they make important decisions to help the company.
Even though the areas of the Cheesecake Factory’s code of ethical conduct is important for the success of the company, there are a few specific areas of the company’s code of ethical conduct that are of substantial importance for The Cheesecake Factory. The first key area is in Article IV, in the “Conflicts of Interest,” section that talks about transactions and investments. This directly states that an officer or a director,” Should avoid participating in any transaction or investment that conflicts with, or gives the appearance of a conflict with, the interest of the company. It’s important in maintaining ethics because a person who is in a management position must be devoted to one company. All decisions that are made are suspect to the integrity of the , company especially when it comes to the financial decisions. Another key area of The Cheesecake Factory’s code of ethical conduct that is of significant importance is in Article V, in the “Compliance with Company Policies and Procedures,” section that talks about confidential information. It is important for the success of any company, especially one as huge as The Cheesecake Factory that the confidentiality of information, especially for the third parties, be maintained. There’s another key area in Article V of the company’s code of ethical conduct is in the section that talks about prohibiting insider trading. In the part that deals with prohibiting insider trading it talks about, “ An officer or director shall observe the Company’s policy prohibiting trading on the basis of material, non-public information.
References: 1. http://investors.thecheesecakefactory.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=109258&p=irol-govconduct. 2. John Fraedrich. “Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making & Cases.” Cengage Learning, 9th edition.