Business Principles

Source: Nestle Corporation
URL:http://www.research.nestle.com/asset-library/documents/corporate-business-principles-en.pdf

I added this article to the blog because I thought it was a fairly thorough and well documented business principle document.  They begin by defining an overall mantra (not really a mission statement) of "Creating Shared Value".  They then show how their principles fit into this mantra.

They then go on to define their ten core business principles in name and with a short definition of what the principle means.

Then to further break down each principle they provide detailed descriptions of each principle and why they believe this is important to the organization.  They also include links to where these policies can be found within their policy documentation.

They finish up the document describing how these principles are then audited by external entities to ensure that they are being followed.  Different principles are covered by different auditors.

While not every organization will have external auditors review the adherence to their principles I think that the breakdown of principles in this manner, is a good practice.  First define your principles, then explain why each principle is important to your organization.  If you are able to define the principle but not why it is important or how you plan on enacting that principle, it probably isn't really a principle and more of a goal.