CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS AND BUSINESS ETHICS

Ethics is a word for a philosophy that encompasses proper conduct and good living. It is

significantly broader than the common conception of ethics as the analyzing of right and wrong.

A central aspect of ethics is "the good life", the life worth living or that is simply satisfying,

which is held by many philosophers to be more important than moral conduct.

Business ethics is a form of applied ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical

problems that arise in a business environment.

In the increasingly conscience-focused marketplaces of the 21st century, the demand for more

ethical business processes and actions (known as ethicism) is increasing. Simultaneously,

pressure is applied on industry to improve business ethics through new public initiatives and

laws (e.g. higher UK road tax for higher-emission vehicles). Businesses can often attain short-

term gains by acting in an unethical fashion; however, such antics tend to undermine the

economy over time, a fact which only Barack Obama has seemed to notice.

Business ethics can be both a normative and a descriptive discipline. As a corporate practice and

a career specialization, the field is primarily normative. In academia descriptive approaches are

also taken. The range and quantity of business ethical issues reflects the degree to which business

is perceived to be at odds with non-economic social values. Historically, interest in business

ethics accelerated dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s, both within major corporations and

within academia. For example, today most major corporate websites lay emphasis on

commitment to promoting non-economic social values under a variety of headings (e.g. ethics

codes, social responsibility charters .

Let us have a look into 7 broad categories that make up a company’s Ethics Quotient:

1) Corporate citizenship and responsibility

2) Corporate governance

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3) Innovation that contributes to public well being

4) Industry leadership

5) Executive leadership and tone from the top

6) Integrity track record and reputation

7) Internal systems and ethics/compliance program

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CHAPTER 2: INTRODUCTION TO ORACLE

Oracle Corporation was formed in 1977 in California, USA. Oracle Corporation

(NASDAQ: ORCL) specializes in developing and marketing enterprise software products —

particularly database management systems. Through organic growth and a number of high-

profile acquisitions, Oracle enlarged its share of the software market. By 2007 Oracle ranked

third on the list of largest software companies in the world, after Microsoft and IBM.

Subsequently it became larger than IBM after its acquisition of Hyperion and BEA.

The corporation has arguably become best-known due to association with its flagship Oracle

database. The company also builds tools for database development, middle-tier software,

enterprise resource planning software (ERP), customer relationship management software

(CRM) and supply chain management (SCM) software.

The founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation, Larry Ellison, has served as Oracle's CEO

throughout the company's history. Ellison also served as the Chairman of the Board until his

replacement by Jeffrey O. Henley in 2004. Ellison retains his role as CEO.

Ellison took inspiration from the 1970 paper written by Edgar F. Codd on relational database

systems named "A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks". He had heard about

the IBM System R database from an article in the IBM Research Journal provided by Ed Oates

(a future co-founder of Oracle Corporation). System R also derived from Codd's theories, and

Ellison wanted to make his Oracle product compatible with System R, but IBM stopped this by

keeping the error codes for their DBMS secret. Ellison co-founded Oracle Corporation in 1977

under the name Software Development Laboratories (SDL). In 1979 SDL changed its name to

Relational Software, Inc. (RSI). In 1982, RSI renamed itself as Oracle Systems to align itself

more closely with its flagship product Oracle Database. At this stage Robert Miner served as the

company's senior programmer.

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Business

General

Oracle is the world’s largest enterprise software company. It develops, manufacture, market,

distribute and service database and middleware software as well as applications software

designed to help its customers manage and grow their business operations. Its goal is to offer

customers scalable, reliable, secure and integrated software systems that provide transactional

efficiencies, adapt to an organization’s unique needs and allow better ways to access and manage

information at a lower total cost of ownership. It seek to be an industry leader in each of the

specific product categories in which it competes and to expand into new and emerging markets.

In fiscal 2007, it focused on strengthening our competitive position and enhancing our existing

portfolio of products and services as well as acquiring and integrating businesses.

An active acquisition program is an important element of its corporate strategy. In the last three

fiscal years, it have invested over $25 billion, in the aggregate, to acquire a number of

companies, products, services and technologies, including the acquisition of PeopleSoft, Inc.,

Siebel Systems, Inc. and Hyperion Solutions Corporation. Typically, the significant majority of

its integration activities related to an acquisition are substantially complete in the United States

within three to six months after the closing of the acquisition.

The acquisition program supports our long-term strategic direction, strengthens our competitive

position, expands its customer base and provides greater scale to accelerate innovation, grow our

earnings and increase stockholder value. It expect to continue to acquire companies, products,

services and technologies.

Software and Services

Oracle is organized into two businesses, software and services, which are further divided into

five operating segments. Its software business is comprised of two operating segments: (1) new

software licenses and (2) software license updates and product support. Its services business is

comprised of three operating segments: (1) consulting, (2) On Demand and (3) education. Its

software and services businesses represented 79% and 21% of our total revenues, respectively, in

fiscal 2007 and 80% and 20% of our total revenues, respectively, in both fiscal 2006 and fiscal

2005.

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SOFTWARE BUSINESS

New Software Licenses

New software licenses include the licensing of database and middleware software, which

consists of Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware, as well as applications software. Its

technology and business solutions are based on an internet model comprised of interconnected

database servers, application servers, web servers and computers as well as mobile devices

running web browsers. This architecture enables users to access business data and applications

through a universally adopted web browser interface, while providing enterprises the most

efficient and cost effective method of managing business information and applications. In an

internet model, database servers manage and protect the underlying business information, while

application servers run the business applications that automate a myriad of business functions.

We have focused on concepts such as global single instance application deployment that involve

fewer, high quality databases of important business information, rather than dozens or hundreds

of disparate databases that are difficult to synchronize and coordinate.

Database

As the world’s most popular database, Oracle’s relational database enables the secure storage,

manipulation and retrieval of all forms of data including structured data that resides in business

applications, XML data, analytics data, spatial data and other unstructured data such as

documents, spreadsheets and images. Designed for enterprise grid computing, the Oracle

Database is available in four editions: Express Edition, Standard Edition One, Standard Edition

and Enterprise Edition.

Enterprise Manager

Oracle Enterprise Manager is designed to deliver top-down applications management. Our

customers use Oracle Enterprise Manager to monitor and manage their applications and

underlying software infrastructure, including both Oracle and non-Oracle infrastructure products.

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Secure Enterprise Search

Oracle Secure Enterprise Search provides an internet-like search experience to users searching

secure content inside the enterprise. Oracle Secure Enterprise Search indexes and searches

public, private and shared content across internal and external web sites, databases, file servers,

document repositories, enterprise content management systems, applications and portals. Oracle

Secure Enterprise Search has built-in functionality that permits users to see only search results

leading to information for which they have authorized access.

Middleware

Oracle Fusion Middleware is a broad product family that forms a reliable and scalable

foundation on which customers can build, deploy and integrate business applications and

automate their business processes, using Oracle Fusion Middleware, our customers increase their

capacity to adapt to business changes rapidly, reduce their risks related to security and

compliance, increase user productivity, and drive better business decisions.

Application Server

The foundation of Oracle Fusion Middleware is Oracle Application Server. Designed for grid

computing, Oracle Application Server incorporates clustering and caching technology, which

increases application reliability, performance, security and scalability. Oracle Application Server

also provides a complete integration platform that is designed to simplify and accelerate

business, application and data integration projects.

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Awards for Oracle's Commitment

2006 : Oracle Ireland wins Irish ICT Excellence Award—Best ICT Company to Work For

2005 : Oracle América voted Company of the Year 2005 by Computing Magazine

Oracle Voted African Employer of the Year 2005

Oracle Commendation from the City of Pleasanton

Oracle Education Foundation's ThinkQuest Named Best Internet Site For Kids

Oracle Ranks #2 in The Top 20 Best Workplaces for Commuters from the FORTUNE 500

Companies

2004 : Oracle Named One of Top Corporate Philanthropists by Business Week; Ranks in the Top

Ten for In-Kind Donations

2003 : Belmont Community Special Recognition Award

Redwood City Fire Department Praises Oracle for its Community Spirit and Contributions—

Presentation Ceremony Planned

2002 : Belmont Community Special Recognition Award

Points of Light Foundation Award Honoree

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CHAPTER 3 : A SUMMARY OF ORACLE BUSINESS VALUES

Certain core values are essential to Oracle’s business:

INTEGRITY

Oracle employees demonstrate honesty and sound ethical behavior in all business transactions

and personal integrity in all dealings with others.

MUTUAL RESPECT

Oracle employees consistently treat individuals with respect and dignity.

TEAMWORK

Oracle employees work together as a team for the collective interests of Oracle.

COMMUNICATION

Oracle employees share information widely and effectively with each other, except when

confidentiality is required.

INNOVATION

Oracle employees seek innovative and creative approaches to problem solving.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Oracle employees consistently treat customer satisfaction as a top priority.

QUALITY

Oracle employees make excellence and quality a part of day-to-day work processes and seek

continuous improvement in all that they do.

FAIRNESS

Oracle employees are committed to dealing fairly with customers, suppliers, and one another.

COMPLIANCE

Oracle employees comply with all laws and regulations that govern Oracle’s business.

BUSINESS CONDUCT

Oracle employees observe the standards that have been established by Oracle and act ethically in

their approach to business decisions.

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CHAPTER 4 : ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS OF ORACLE:

Oracle is committed to maintaining its facilities and operating its business in ways that minimize

its impact on the environment. Through a combination of green-minded business practices and

employee involvement, Oracle strives to implement environmental best practices, and the

company’s efforts play a significant role in Oracle’s overall corporate citizenship initiatives. As

an office-based business, Oracle focuses on the following:

• Improving energy use performance

• Reducing global greenhouse gas emissions

• Adopting eco-friendly procurement procedures

• Reducing water consumption

• Transportation

• Recycling

ORACLE’S APPROACH

Global Environment Forum: Oracle Global Real Estate and Facilities leads an ongoing Global

Environment Forum to implement environmental best practices throughout the company’s

facilities. The forum reviews the company’s energy and environmental practices, discerns best

practices, sets guidelines and goals, and monitors progress.

Business Practices Changes: Oracle has made changes to its business practices in areas such as

procurement, product delivery, recycling, and transportation, and is taking a more eco-friendly

approach to running its large marketing events.

EPA Climate Leaders: Oracle was the first software company to voluntarily participate in the

United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Climate Leaders Program in 2004.

Oracle will achieve its reduction goals almost entirely through more efficient energy use such as:

• Global replacement of incandescent lamps with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and light-

emitting diodes (LEDs) in all Oracle-owned buildings.

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• Upgrades to heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and energy

management and control systems.

• Energy efficient design and operation of data centers, including development of a

benchmarking index for energy performance and the use of an innovative heat containment

system.

• Compressors upgraded with advanced variable-speed technology • Energy management system

upgraded from pneumatic to direct digital controls.

• Advanced controls schemes for elimination/ reduction of overlapping cooling and heating, and

energy-efficient operation.

• Manual override of motion sensors during unoccupied hours.

U.S. EPA Green Power Partnership Program: Oracle’s Austin Data Center joined the EPA’s

Green Power Partnership Program in 2004. This program requires participating companies to

purchase a minimum percentage of their power from clean and renewable sources (e.g., sun,

wind). Oracle’s green power purchase exceeds the minimum EPA requirement.

ISO 14001 Certification: Oracle’s European and South African operations are certified to the

ISO 14001 environmental standard in 14 countries. These operations have defined common

objectives, set localized targets, and launched various initiatives including

• Saving 37,400 liters of water by operating a new waterless valet scheme.

• Promoting hybrid vehicles as company car options.

• Actively assessing vendors’ environmental policy as part of the procurement process.

• Using hydroelectric power when possible.

• Aggressively recycling paper goods.

• Offering environmental awareness training to all employees.

• Purchasing energy from sustainable resources.

Climate Savers Computing Initiative: As a member of Climate Savers, Oracle has committed

to improve energy efficiency by purchasing initiative-compliant, high-efficiency computers and

servers, and enabling their power management capabilities.

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Oracle’s Green Business Practices

Supply Chain and Suppliers: In addition to becoming more conscious about its own impact on

the environment, Oracle also considers if its key suppliers are doing the same. Examples of how

Oracle works with its suppliers include the following:

• Included environmental selection criteria within its Managed Supplier Partner program. Oracle

evaluates tier 1, 2, and 3 suppliers, in part, on their environmentally friendly policies and

practices.

• Changed PC procurement to ensure suppliers preinstall power-saving enablers on every PC

delivered to Oracle.

• Implemented dual-sided printing, thereby reducing paper consumption. • Extended the use of

remanufactured toner cartridges.

Products and Packaging: Oracle has reduced the environmental impact of internal

manufacturing and distribution operations by consolidating warehouse facilities and moving to

electronic delivery of software and documentation. After moving to electronic distribution in

1998, Oracle has reduced the amount of printed documentation it ships by

more than 96 percent.

Recycling: Almost since its founding, Oracle has had a formal program to recycle waste by-

products found in most office environments: batteries, bottles, cans, cardboard, CDs, computers,

paper, toner cartridges, and more.

Examples of Oracle’s efforts in this area include the following:

• Approximately 71 tons of paper, cardboard, cans, bottles, and plastic are recycled each year at

its headquarters in California.

• Oracle builds global partnerships with leading IT hardware recycling companies to retire all

Oracle IT hardware and technology assets in an environmentally friendly manner. Oracle has set

a high global standard, using the U.S. and Singapore environmental laws as a basis, regardless of

whether other countries have lower standards. Oracle also works with its partners to donate

refurbished computers, where feasible, to nonprofit organizations.

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Transportation Alternatives: Oracle is committed to decreasing the number of cars on the road

and has established alternative commuter programs. Oracle has been consistently recognized as

one of the “Best Workplaces for Commuters” by the EPA. Oracle sponsors shuttles to and from

local train stations, and provides bicycle lockers, priority carpool parking, OraBikes for local

use, vanpool programs, and discounted public-transit tickets for employees.

Marketing Events: Oracle Marketing has made its large global conferences more eco-friendly

by, for example, using recycled carpeting, making materials available online, encouraging use of

Nalgene water bottles, printing all items on recycled paper, and increasing the use of hybrid

vehicles for customer and executive transportation.

ORACLE and ENERGY MANAGEMENT

Oracle must extend energy-saving efforts to all regions so that the same energy-performance

criteria apply to all Oracle facilities. Oracle is working to decrease its environmental impact by

reducing the amount of energy it uses to heat, cool, light, and maintain its corporate offices. In

addition to adopting simple conservation measures such as turning off monitors overnight,

reducing lighting in hallways and stairwells, and replacing incandescent lighting with fluorescent

lights, Oracle also incorporates cutting-edge energy saving features in the design and

construction of new facilities. Using Renewable Power Oracle recognizes the importance of using

renewable sources of energy. As part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA)

Green Power Partnership Program, Oracle pledged to purchase power from renewable sources

such as wind, solar, and geothermal for its Austin, Texas, data center. Because Oracle committed

to purchasing more than 10 percent of its power for the data center from renewable sources—far

more than the minimum 3 percent required to be a certified Green Power partner—the EPA has

honored it with membership in the Green Power Leadership Club. The Austin data center was

designed to include modern energy-saving features such as an airflow management system that

adjusts airflow according to the number of servers running. This allows center managers to use

the minimum amount of power necessary for maintaining suitable conditions for the equipment.

Rising to the Challenge Because energy management is a global issue, Oracle’s conservation

efforts extend across all regions. During the California energy crisis of 2000–2001, for example,

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Oracle implemented stringent conservation and efficiency measures. As a result, the company

was able to cut energy usage at its Redwood Shores headquarters by 10.5 percent in 2001—and

has continued to achieve savings of 9.3 percent, 11.5 percent, and 12.4 percent in 2002, 2003,

and 2004, respectively.

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CHAPTER 5 : ORACLE ON SOCIETY

Oracle has a long history of employee volunteerism, charitable giving, respect for the

environment, and a strong commitment to improving education. But we have never taken the

step of recording our efforts for the benefit of our employees, shareholders, customers, and

policy makers around the world—that is, until now. Programs such as ThinkQuest, is a global

competition for students to create educational Web sites and thereby build understanding across

cultures, and Oracle Academy, which works in partnership with secondary schools to educate

students, are just two examples of our creative efforts.

Oracle Volunteers: provides opportunities for Oracle employees to actively address social

needs and make a measurable, positive impact in the community. Oracle volunteers lend their

time and talents to not only serve underserved populations, but also to enrich the quality of life in

the communities where we live and work. Volunteers teach basic safety and life skills lessons to

the blind, protect native habitats for endangered wildlife, tutor and mentor disadvantaged youth,

provide companionship for lonely and isolated elders, and build playgrounds and housing for

low-income families to revitalize neighborhoods in transition. Oracle Volunteers engages

employees in a variety of volunteer opportunities throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and

worldwide. This year, Oracle employees at the company’s headquarters participated in over 85

projects, logging over 3,400 volunteer hours to support Bay Area organizations. During Oracle

Global Volunteer Days, a company-wide service initiative to further Oracle’s commitment to

social responsibility, more than 2,400 volunteers in 28 countries contributed more than 14,700

volunteer hours to benefit local communities around the world.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Oracle offers a complete set of CRM applications that manage all of the business processes and

associated systems that touch a customer, including: billing and delivery; sales solutions that

provide a single repository for customer and supply chain information; and service solutions that

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increase customer satisfaction by providing visibility into customer billing and order

information.

Oracle Volunteers Rebuild a School Devastated by the Tsunami

As the world watched in horror during the days following the tsunami in South Asia on

December 26, 2004, people everywhere thought: “What can I do to help?” For Oracle employees

living and working near the devastated areas, as well as those living half way around the world,

the answer was simple enough. With Oracle’s help, the employees organized funds and relief

efforts within hours of a disaster that had left more than a million people homeless.

The donations helped fund initial relief efforts by specially trained disaster relief workers

focused on providing critical aid to survivors. In addition to monetary contributions, Oracle

employees in the Asia Pacific region were able to volunteer to help rebuild some of the more

devastated areas. One in particular is the Ban Bang Bane School in Thailand. The school was

severely damaged, and Oracle staff in Thailand visited the Ranong Province to help rebuild the

school. Fifty-five volunteers worked for several days to rebuild the school, which opened to 120

children and 20 teachers and staff in the new school year. “We are glad that Oracle selected Ban

Bang Bane School to repair after the tsunami,” says Manut Chansakul, principal. In March 2005,

Oracle rebuilt two teacher housing units on school grounds. Most of the teachers are from other

provinces, and traveling to and from the school is difficult. “Before the living quarters were

rebuilt, teachers had to travel 15 kilometers between the school and town each day,” Chansakul

says. “They are very appreciative and grateful to the Oracle volunteers who dedicated their

time and efforts to help us out following the disaster.” Volunteers’ efforts in March made it

possible for the school to open for the second semester in May 2005. “Oracle Thailand

employees were pleased we had the opportunity to help reconstruct the school,” says Khun

Natasak Rodjanapiches, managing director for Oracle in Thailand. “This effort will help ensure a

brighter future for these students,” he said.

Oracle sponsors five brilliant Romanian PhD students

Funding from Oracle Romania is enabling five outstanding students at the University Politehnica

of Bucharest to complete PhD research projects into aspects of Grid computing technology. The

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research projects not only highlight Romania's advanced IT skills, but will also help to establish

Bucharest as a centre of R&D excellence in the area of large-scale computing for the academic,

scientific and enterprise sectors.

Founded 180 years ago, the University Politehnica of Bucharest (UPB) is the most important

technical university in Romania. It has 14 engineering, biotechnical and chemistry faculties and

more than 30 research centers.

Historically, local and international companies operating in Romania have not sought to forge

partnerships with the country's academic and research sector. In 2006 Oracle bridged this divide

by becoming one of the first companies to offer sponsored PhD grants for five brilliant UPB

students. The partnership was made possible due to the strength of the collaboration between

Oracle and the University, and because of the talent showed by the young Romanian researchers.

Under the terms of the collaboration, Oracle will fund grants for the next three years to enable

five promising young Romanian researchers at the Faculty of Automatic Control and Computer

Science to complete their PhD research projects. The five researchers represent Romania's

technological and academic elite, and will be key assets for the future of the country as an EU

Member State.

The research topics for each PhD were agreed by Oracle and UPB. Each will focus on a different

aspect of Grid technology and related issues. Building on UPB's existing extensive experience in

the areas of scientific and academic Grids, students will investigate deeper Grid systems

optimization and resource monitoring in their R&D environment. At the same time they will

develop more experience with Enterprise Grids, which differ from scientific and academic grids

in terms of their drivers, focus and implementation.

In the medium and long term, the Oracle-UPB collaboration aims to address the gap between the

two Grid approaches and exploit areas of convergence for mutual benefit.

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CHAPTER 6 : ORACLE FOR EMPLOYEES

In an increasingly global economy, it is not surprising that a company that serves customers

around the world would need staff to support those customers—wherever they are. Oracle uses

resources to develop and deliver quality products and services to the global market. Oracle

employs people around the world in global development, sales, and services in order to meet the

needs of our customers. Using a geographically dispersed workforce allows Oracle and other

global companies to continue to drive innovation, improve the economic status of workers

around the world, and build the global economy. Additionally, customers running Oracle-based

enterprise systems require access to technical support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a

year—often delivered in the customer’s native language. Employing a global workforce allows

Oracle to address these demands and ensure that our clients receive the level of attention they

require to keep their mission critical computing systems online. The number of employees by

region and the revenue generated in those regions remain in balance. Oracle seeks to build an

inclusive workforce and work environment. It make every effort to attract, invest in, and develop

the talents of a diverse group of people who reflect the society and community in which we live.

We welcome and support people of all races, ethnicities, cultures, and religions, and seek to

foster teamwork and effective partnerships among our employees. Oracle seeks to build an

inclusive workforce and work environment. We make every effort to attract, invest in, and

develop the talents of a diverse group of people who reflect the society and community in which

we live.

ORACLE ’S GLOBAL WORKFORCE

Oracle at Work

Oracle provides an official Code of Ethics and Business Conduct to its employees worldwide for

their guidance in addressing the legal and ethical issues they encounter when conducting Oracle

business. Although employment by Oracle is subject to terms and conditions established by local

organizations, employees are required to abide by the standards set forth in this Code. These

standards cannot anticipate every situation that may pose an ethical or moral issue, but Oracle

expects each employee to exercise sound judgment when evaluating an issue of conduct. When

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in doubt, employees are encouraged to seek counseling prior to taking any action that may

compromise either personal ethical standards or those of Oracle. To support employees in the

pursuit of superior business ethics and conduct. Oracle has designed global courses, based on

the Code, which new employees are required to take within the first 30 days of employment.

Both the Code and the courses have been translated into many languages. These courses include

the following:

• Ethics and Business Conduct – A required online self-study course that provides employees

with information to aid them in understanding and abiding by the Code. It is offered in eight

languages.

• Ethics and Business Conduct- Supplemental – A required course for employees involved with

government and higher education.

The standards set forth in the Oracle Code of Ethics and Business Conduct are governed

by the following business values:

Integrity — Oracle employees demonstrate honesty and sound ethical behavior in all business

transactions and personal integrity in all dealings with others.

Mutual Respect — Oracle employees consistently treat individuals with respect and dignity.

Teamwork — Oracle employees work together as a team for the collective interests of Oracle.

Communication — Oracle employees share information widely and effectively with one another,

except when confidentiality is required.

Innovation — Oracle employees seek innovative and creative approaches to problem solving.

Customer Satisfaction — Oracle employees consistently treat customer satisfaction as a top

priority.

Quality — Oracle employees make excellence and qualities a part of their day-to-day work

processes and seek continuous improvement in all that they do.

Fairness — Oracle employees are committed to dealing fairly with customers, suppliers, and one

another.

Compliance — Oracle employees comply with all laws and regulations that govern Oracle’s

business.

Business Conduct — Oracle employees observe the standards that have been established by

Oracle and act ethically in their approach to business decisions.

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CHAPTER 7: RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT AT ORACLE

It is innovation that drives Oracle's success. Oracle was one of the first companies to make its

business applications available through the internet—an idea that is now pervasive. With the

release of Oracle Fusion Middleware, Oracle has begun debuting new products and functionality

that reflect the company's goal: connecting all levels of enterprise technology to help customers

access the knowledge they need to respond to market conditions with speed and agility. Today,

Oracle Real Application Clusters, Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle Grid Computing, support for

enterprise Linux, and Oracle Fusion all fuel a commitment to innovation and results that has

defined Oracle for thirty years.

What's in store for tomorrow? We will strive to become No. 1 in middleware and No. 1 in

applications, just as we've done in database. Our goal is to continue to innovate and to lead the

industry—while always making sure that we're focused on solving the problems of the customers

who rely on our software.

Today, Oracle is the largest business software company in the world, with more than 320,000

customers—including 98 of the Fortune 100—and supports these customer in more than 145

countries.

Oracle spends 1.8 billion on research & development in 2006

Oracle spent nearly two billion dollars in 2006, ranking Oracle #6 in the top IT spenders on

research and development, ahead of Google.

This demonstrates Oracle's commitment to hang-on in the competitive relational database market

and to expand their presence in the ERP space, some money being spend on "project fusion" to

integrate their diverse family of acquired ERP products like Peoplesoft and J. D. Edwards.

The highly anticipated Oracle 11g software promises to be revolutionary, building the foundation

for a self tuning database and accommodating the new movement toward massive database

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consolidation onto large monolithic servers.  Oracle 11g also has features for predictive

modeling, using historical workload data to predict future performance trends.

RANK COMPANY BUSINESS R&D SPENDING IN 2006 (millions)

1 MICROSOFT Software $6,584

2 IBM Computers $6,107

3 INTEL CORP Semiconductors $5,873

4 HEWLETT PACKARD Computers $3,591

5 TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC Semiconductors $2,195

6 SUN MICROSYSTEMS INC Computers $2,046

7 ORACLE CORP Software $1,872

8 SAP Software $1,781

9 GOOGLE INC Software $1,228

10 ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES Semiconductors $1,205

Oracle Playing Key Role in EC-Funded Data Privacy Research

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Funded by the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for Research and

Technological Development (FP7), the PRECIOSA research project aims to demonstrate that

data privacy is possible even in Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), specifically Co-operative

Systems. In line with its commitment to supporting innovation in Europe, Oracle is playing a key

role in its development

Oracle and CERN Celebrate 25 Years of Partnership and Innovation

Oracle has been collaborating with the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) for

the past 25 years. A celebratory event held in February looked back at the past successes arising

from the partnership, and looked forward to new challenges that can be addressed through

continued successful co-operation between academia, industry, governments and the scientific

community.

For 25 years of its 30-year history, Oracle has been providing technological support, expertise

and advice to CERN, the world's largest particle physics laboratory and the birthplace of the

World Wide Web.

In that time, Oracle has furnished CERN with solutions to its massive processing power and

database needs and CERN has provided Oracle with a challenging environment in which to

innovate and push its technologies to the limit. The main event to celebrate this continuing

partnership, "From R&D to Innovation: Future Business Opportunities", was held on 6th

February 2008 inside the CERN Globe of Innovation.

Inspired by the benefits and breakthroughs that long-term collaboration has generated for both

Oracle and CERN, the event brought together around 50 senior leaders from public policy,

academia, research, and industry to discuss how open collaboration between all these sectors can

accelerate innovation and shape the technologies, markets and societies of the future.

Introducing the event, CERN's Chief Information Officer, Wolfgang von Rueden, outlined the

importance that collaboration with industry, and with Oracle in particular, has had for CERN:

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“In summer 2008,” he said, “CERN’s Large Hadron Collider [the world’s largest particle

accelerator and collider, expected to help us better understand the origins of the universe] will go

into operation. Oracle's expertise in data management technologies and its track record of

innovation in computing have been invaluable to CERN and its collaborating institutes around

the world. Oracle’s solutions help to support the deployment and operation of the immense

processing power, scalability, and system reliability needed to collect, distribute, and analyze the

huge volumes of data that will be produced by LHC experiments.”

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CHAPTER 8 : ORACLE’S CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

In today’s digital age, where information is the new currency, the protection of personal data and

assurance of identity on the internet are important elements of corporate policy. These

protections need to be deployed in the policies and practices of the company as well as in the

technologies that support them. Oracle has implemented corporate privacy polices and practices

to protect the personal information of its customers and employees. As part of the company’s

international policy advocacy, we are active participants in intergovernmental initiatives to

improve the state of privacy protection and develop workable policy solutions and best practices.

There is an emerging understanding that workable solutions need to provide effective privacy

protections to consumers and citizens while enabling the necessary and responsible information

flows that are the basis of today’s digital economy. They are working with other industry

participants as well as governments and nongovernmental organizations to develop solutions

that help us reach both of these objectives. Oracle technology also plays a role in privacy

protection. Privacy, by its very nature, is subjective. A doctor will have more personal

information that will be used, and possibly shared with other medical practitioners, than will an

auto mechanic. The nature of the job and the information processes associated with that job

dictate what is reasonable and necessary. In light of this need for tailoring technology to support

a variety of business practices and information preferences, Oracle provides tools that our

customers can configure to help support their own privacy policies and practices. Because both

privacy and security are focused on access control and protection of systems and information,

technology solutions for each are closely related and often depend upon similar technological

functions. Thus, many of Oracle’s privacy tools and functions are derived from some of the

security functionality that has been designed into the products. Although security and privacy

tools share similar technological roots, they are separate priorities that must be considered when

configuring software functions, permissions, and roles. In order to help our customers address

these issues, Oracle has begun to develop guidance documents to help customers understand

which parts of our technology may have privacy applications. We highlight considerations in

configuration and application, but we leave it to customers to make the final decisions, because

those decisions must be rooted in intimate knowledge of business priorities and practices.

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CHAPTER 9 : CONTROVERSIES

"Can't break it, can't break in"

Oracle Corporation markets many of its products using the slogan "Can't break it, can't break in",

or "Unbreakable". This signifies the increasing demands on information safety. Oracle

Corporation also stresses the reliability of networked databases and network access to databases

as major selling points. However, two weeks after its introduction in 2002, David Litchfield,

Alexander Kornbrust, Cesar Cerrudo and others demonstrated a whole suite of successful attacks

against Oracle products. Commentators criticized the slogan as unrealistic, and as an invitation to

crackers. But Oracle Corporation's chief security officer Mary Ann Davidson portrayed the

criticism as unfair. Rather than representing a literal claim of Oracle's products' impregnability,

she saw the campaign in the context of fourteen independent security evaluations that Oracle

Corporation's database server passed.

Relationship with John Ashcroft

In 2004, then- United States Attorney General John Ashcroft sued Oracle Corporation to prevent

a contract acquisition. Then, in 2005, Oracle hired Ashcroft's recently-founded lobbying firm,

The Ashcroft Group, LLC. Oracle, with Ashcroft's lobbying, then went on to acquire the

contract, a multi-billion dollar intelligence application.

Trashgate

In 2000 Oracle gained attention from the computer industry and the press after hiring private

investigators to dig through the trash of organizations involved in a antitrust trial involving

Microsoft. The Chairman of Oracle Corporation, Larry Ellison, staunchly defended his

company's hiring of an East Coast detective agency to investigate groups that supported rival

Microsoft Corporation during its antitrust trial, calling the snooping a "public service". The

investigation reportedly included a $1,200 offer to janitors at the Association for Competitive

Technology to look through Microsoft's trash. Asked how he'd feel if others were looking into

Oracle's business activities, Ellison said: "We will ship our garbage to Redmond, and they can go

through it. We believe in full disclosure."

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CONCLUSION

Oracle is the world’s largest enterprise software company. It develops, manufacture, market,

distribute and service database and middleware software as well as applications software

designed to help its customers manage and grow their business operations. Its goal is to offer

customers scalable, reliable, secure and integrated software systems that provide transactional

efficiencies, adapt to an organization’s unique needs and allow better ways to access and manage

information at a lower total cost of ownership.

Oracle provides an official Code of Ethics and Business Conduct to its employees worldwide for

their guidance in addressing the legal and ethical issues they encounter when conducting Oracle

business.

To support employees in the pursuit of superior business ethics and conduct. Oracle has

designed global courses, based on the Code, which new employees are required to take within

the first 30 days of employment.

Oracle Corporation also stresses the reliability of networked databases and network access to

databases as major selling points.

Thus , despite some controversies involving Oracle the increasing involvement of Oracle in

ethical practices like the employee volunteerism , green minded business policies , societiel

involvement and corporate governance are very good examples of its ethical business practices

for the betterment of society as a whole.

Oracle want to continually involve in innovative practices so as to improve the operations of the

firms , who are its clients . That’s why the 98 companies out of Fortune top hundred use the

database software supplied by Oracle.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. www.oracle.com

2. www.ethisphere.com

3. www.dba-oracle.com/oracle_news/news_oracle_research_development_2006.htm

4. www.sify.com/news/internet/fullstory.php?id=13349698

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