In the compliance and ethics (C&E) realm, culture often refers to the culture of a specific organization. C&E-related culture also commonly means the culture of a given geography. (It features, of course, in many anti-corruption cases.)

However, there is also a third dimension to the intersection of C&E and culture that is too frequently overlooked: industry culture.

A well-known example from some years ago: In the chemical industry there seemed to be a culture that encouraged the sharing of information among competitors. This cultural attribute evidently contributed predictably to a high incidence of antitrust violations.