Ethisphere Magazine, which insists that ethical behavior and profitable businesses are not mutually exclusive, recently released its annual ranking of the world's most ethical companies, and there are a few surprises on the list of those companies that use ethical leadership to drive profits.

To make the list for consideration, companies are first peer-reviewed according to standards in 9 separate criteria sets for 30 different categories of industry. Those criteria, not equally weighted, are legal and regulatory compliance, governance, corporate citizenship, internal ethical systems, transparency, perception and reputation, industry leadership, executive leadership, and innovation. What the companies on the list seem to share is a commitment to corporate social responsibility that far exceeds mere regulatory compliance. Ethical standouts are generally led by senior management that is willing to make ethical decisions on economic, social, and environmental factors despite unfavorable short-term consequences. These companies consider themselves as stakeholders in their own reputations.

Surprises on the list include McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD), though even small changes in corporate behavior can have a enormous result given the size of the company. McDonald's offers minorities special opportunities to own franchises in the company, and is becoming increasingly aware of environmental consequences of its production and packaging policies. Also a surprise on the list is Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), a company with virtually no consumer privacy protection policies. Surprising because of their absence from the list are Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), which has a comprehensive computer recycling program, and Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM), which sponsors educational programs for children living near its mining operations in developing countries.

Also included on the list are the Kellogg Co. (NYSE: K), which has produced nutritious products in recycled packaging since 1906 and has had a Social Responsibility Committee in place since 1979; and Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX), which is the world's largest seller of Fair Trade Certified Coffee since 2000.

Are Dell's darkest days behind it or ahead of it? That's all based on perspective. I think Dell, while undergoing some tough times right now, is poised to do just fine. Several pundits have said that Dell needs to depend less on its commodity PC business and concentrate more on higher-margin categories like flat-screen televisions and consumer electronics.

That's kind of a tough gamble, seeing as consumer electronics is one area where there are huge global companies with incredible economies of scale to compete with. Dell's answer so far? Private-label much of this merchandise and sell it under the Dell moniker. That sounds kind of like the opposite of its vertically-integrated computer business model, except with notebooks, (which are contracted out for the most part).

Has Dell really just paid attention to cost-cutting and making sure every possible cost was wrenched out of its company instead of adapting to a changing business and consumer environment, as many critics say? Perhaps -- but cost cutting is a way of business (and should be), not a knee-jerk reaction to pleasing Wall Street. Michael Dell built the business giving customers what they wanted -- easy ordering without the frustration of cheeseball salesmen in stores and the lowest prices possible. He's maintained that model even in the face of change by the industry and competitors. I think Dell, in the midst of dark days, will have more brighter ones ahead.

Shares of the world's largest computer manufacturer, Dell, started dropping like a yacht anchor this morning after its latest quarterly earnings dropped by 50% compared to the year-ago quarter. Dell also disclosed its cooperation with an informal SEC investigation that had been in progress for the last year. Dell shares plunged by 7% in pre-market trading this morning, and with the market just now opening up, I'll be stuck to the monitor to see if any more damage is headed Dell's way insofar as a share plunge beyond the 7% from this morning.

In brighter news, Dell finally let up on the stranglehold it has on Intel processors and announced late yesterday that it would being using CPUs from Advanced Micro Devices based on performance and customer request. Customers have been requesting that Dell use AMD chips for years now, as AMD's Athlon and Opteron platforms were outpacing Intel's offerings all over the map, and were very competitively priced to boot. Just a few months ago, Dell announced that it would integrate AMD chips into some of its server offerings, but yesterday's announcement is quite a bit more broad, as AMD chips will be used in Dell's desktop computers -- quite a larger market than its server products.

Dell CEO Kevin Rollins announced that Dell had earned $502 million in the latest quarter, compared to $1.02 billion from the year-ago quarter. Profits fell on pricing pressures and not enough cost cutting (apparently). The resurgence of Hewlett-Packard under operational wunderkind Mark Hurd is putting the most pressure on Dell most likely, as HP released better-than-expected results this week. Seems like Rollins has a formidable competitor in Hurd, and these two company leaders should be duking it out for years to come.

Brian White has worked in various executive positions in technology and telecommunications and now focuses on editing and writing.