Tracking Innovations Commitments to Customers and Business Partners
Our customers and business partners are essential to our success, and we are dedicated
to preserving the trust they have placed in us. We must treat our customers and
business partners with fairness and respect at all times. As such, we endeavor to
always deal fairly, to compete ethically and to carefully protect our business partners’
confidential information.
Dealing Fairly
As a new organization, we must compete vigorously in order to gain a strong foothold
in the marketplace. However, at no time may our competitive methods be anything
other than ethical and lawful. This requires that we be truthful and honest when
interacting with others on Tracking Innovations’ behalf.
In particular, our marketing and sales practices must always be fair. This means
we may not misrepresent the quality, features or availability of our products and
services. In addition, we may never make statements about our competitors’ products
or services that are false or misleading, or make comparisons that are unfair or
unsupported.
Dealing fairly also means we keep our word to our customers, vendors and other business
partners and fulfill all contracts according to their exact specifications. We always
use honorable means to meet and exceed these parties’ reasonable expectations. In
the same spirit, we do not take on work that we are unable to fulfill. At all times,
we strive to establish our Company’s reputation in the marketplace as an organization
that is fully committed to doing business with integrity.
Following Competition Laws
We are striving to become key players in the global marketplace. As such, we must
strictly follow free market rules, which ensure that only objective factors (such
as quality and price) determine who succeeds and who fails. In short, this means
we may never violate applicable competition laws, which include U.S. antitrust laws
and competition laws in effect in the other countries where we do business.
Competition laws prohibit us from entering into discussions with our competitors
regarding fixing prices, allocating markets, dividing customers or otherwise restricting
competition. In addition, we may not enter into formal or informal agreements with
customers, vendors or other business partners that may limit competition, such as
agreements to tie products, fix resale prices or refuse to sell to particular customers
or buy from particular vendors.
We must always exercise particular caution when attending industry association meetings,
as conversing with competitors carries a risk of violating competition laws. These
meetings provide excellent opportunities for networking and business development,
but you should be careful to avoid both formal and informal discussions regarding
prices, discounts, boycotts, terms and conditions of sale, standardization of terms,
warranties or product specifications. If any of these topics arise, you should stop
the conversation immediately and report the situation to our CIO.
Gathering Competitive Information
To compete effectively, we must know what our competitors are doing. Although it
is certainly appropriate to gather competitive information, we must always make
sure we do so ethically and legally. Generally speaking, we may gather and use competitive
information that is publicly available, including information from newspaper or
magazine articles, corporate financial reports and non-confidential proposal information.
However, it is inappropriate to use inadvertently disclosed confidential information
or competitive bid information. In addition, it is unethical and oftentimes illegal
to seek to obtain such information. If you possess competitor information that you
believe was sent to you inadvertently or was obtained in an unethical or illegal
manner, contact our CIO immediately.
Always be cautious when requesting competitive information from a fellow associate
about a prior employer. Confidential information about prior employers should stay
confidential even after that employment relationship ends.
Keeping Customer and Third-Party Information Secure
We are also responsible for protecting confidential information belonging to our
customers, vendors and other business partners that we acquire through the work
we do on behalf of Tracking Innovations. We must never disclose this information
to unauthorized persons, even after our employment with our Company ends.
In addition, we must respect all intellectual property belonging to others, including
information relating to software licenses and publications. When an invention, product,
idea, written work, logo or name is owned by another company or an individual, we
may only use that property if we have obtained prior express permission from its
owner.
If you have any questions regarding your responsibility to protect third-party confidential
information, please consult our CIO.