Réflexion sur la protection de l'intégrité lors des partenariats d'affaires dans le domaine de la construction et du génie-conseil

Abstract

Construction and engineering companies faced social and legal pressure recently. The Charbonneau commission exposed the corruption and collusion taking place in these organizations. In this context, companies acted by creating policies, standards and codes of ethics. To be coherent with these, companies must put measures in place and control the risks of not complying with these self-imposed measures. Non-compliance often leads to significant financial loss for the company in addition to adverse media effects on the reputation and the possibility of being prosecuted. These risks are relatively well controlled internally through training and processes that reduce the concentration of power and increase transparency. However, externally, it is very difficult for companies to control the actions of their business partners. Assessing the risks they represent is therefore necessary before entering a new partnership. To do this, construction and engineering firms rely on standardized models from the financial sector. Very little research has been done to determine if these models are appropriate in a different context and what are the risks as well as their indicators to be monitored to ensure their integrity. This reflection aims to better understand integrity-related risks and how to manage them. Firstly, integrity risks are explored through six risk indicators proposed in the literature. Through a case study in a major construction and engineering firm, these six indicators are scored regarding their ability to reveal risks related to corruption, collusion, conflicts of interest, compliance and human rights. The use of a performance analysis tool then provides experts’ advice on the process currently used by the firm to assess the risk of business partners. These studies reveal various flaws in the current process and the importance of including the perception of experts from different business sectors in order to have a complete integrity tool. Results’ variability show that a bigger sample is necessary to validate experts’ perception. Secondly, the concepts of due diligence and risk management are explored. Through a case study in the same firm, a methodology is proposed to assist construction engineering companies in the design of an integrity tool. Besides proposing different steps for such a task, content and format are suggested according to the literature and the results of the first study. The proposed tool will cover and evaluate the potential business partner according to the five previously discussed risks. It will enable a better long-term monitoring of partnerships due to a better understanding of the partner and the context that led to its evaluation. Finally, conclusion for each article and recommendations for future research end this master’s thesis.

Date	5 Sept 2019
Original language	French
Awarding Institution	École de technologie supérieure
Supervisor	Claudiane Ouellet-Plamondon (Supervisor) & Camille Fertel (Co-supervisor)