The financial performance of the 26.8 percent of the 500 largest US public corporations that, in their annual report to shareholders, commit to ethical behavior toward their stakeholders or emphasize compliance with their code of conduct [i.e. have an ethical tone at the top], ranks higher than that of those who do not.

The Journal of Business Ethics, ‘A Study of the Link between a Corporation’s Financial Performance and its Commitment to Ethics’, October 1998