Attention to business ethics can bring significant benefits to a company. Companies with a strong code of ethics can create strong customer and employee loyalty. Observing ethical practices now can avoid later litigation costs. Companies in business for the long term find that it pays to treat all of their constituents honestly and fairly. Furthermore, a company that values people more than profit and is viewed as operating with integrity and honor is more likely to be a commercially successful and responsible business. These observations are supported by a 1997 U.S. study and a more recent 2002 U.K. study concerning ethics and financial performance. Both studies found that publicly held firms with an emphasis on ethics outperform firms without any such emphasis. (Emphasis is measured by a management report mentioning ethics for the U.S. study and by the presence of an ethics code for the U.K. study).