- "Business ethics (also known as corporate ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics, that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment."
Principles and values that shape ethical decision-making in business.
Foundations of Ethics: An introduction to the principles and theories that are the basis of ethics, including consequentialism, deontology, virtue ethics, and care ethics.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): The concept that companies have a responsibility to ensure their practices and operations have a positive impact on society, the economy, and the environment.
Stakeholder Theory: The idea that businesses should consider and prioritize the needs and interests of all stakeholders, not just shareholders, in their decision-making process.
Ethical Decision Making: The process of considering the potential consequences and impact of a decision on all stakeholders to ensure it aligns with ethical principles.
Cultural and Global Perspectives: Recognition of cultural and global differences in ethical standards and practices, including understanding the cultural norms, laws, and business practices of different countries.
Whistleblowing and Ethical Leadership: The importance of leaders to establish a culture of ethics and encourage employees to speak up when they witness behavior that violates ethical standards.
Codes of Conduct and Ethical Oversight: The implementation of codes of conduct and oversight to ensure organizations adhere to ethical principles, including monitoring, reporting, and disciplinary actions.
Legal and Regulatory Compliance: The importance of organizations to comply with laws and regulations related to ethics, including anti-corruption laws, privacy laws, labor laws, and environmental regulations.
Corporate Social Responsibility: This subfield focuses on the ethical obligations of organizations towards society and the environment beyond the basic legal requirements.
Environmental Ethics: This subfield deals with the moral responsibilities of businesses towards the environment, which includes issues such as pollution, resource depletion, and climate change.
Business and Human Rights: This subfield focuses on the ethical responsibilities of businesses in regards to their impact on human rights, including labor rights, privacy rights, and consumers' rights.
Business Ethics Education: This subfield focuses on educating individuals and organizations about ethical principles and issues related to business and management.
Ethical Leadership: This subfield focuses on the ethical responsibilities of leaders and managers in creating a culture of ethics within their organizations.
Ethics in Accounting and Finance: This subfield deals with ethics in financial reporting, accounting practices, and investment management, including issues like insider trading, fraud, and conflict of interest.
Ethics in Marketing: This subfield deals with the ethical issues related to advertising and marketing, including issues such as deceptive advertising, persuasion techniques, and targeting vulnerable populations.
Global Business Ethics: This subfield focuses on the ethical responsibilities of businesses operating in different cultural and political contexts around the world, including issues such as bribery, corruption, and fair trade.
Intellectual Property Rights: This subfield deals with the ethical issues related to protecting intellectual property rights, including issues such as piracy, copyright infringement, and patents.
Social Entrepreneurship: This subfield focuses on businesses that have a primary goal of creating social and environmental impact, while still being financially sustainable.
- "It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and entire organizations."
- "These ethics originate from individuals, organizational statements or the legal system."
- "These norms, values, ethical, and unethical practices are the principles that guide a business."
- "Business ethics have two dimensions, normative business ethics or descriptive business ethics."
- "Academics attempting to understand business behavior employ descriptive methods."
- "The range and quantity of business ethical issues reflects the interaction of profit-maximizing behavior with non-economic concerns."
- "Interest in business ethics accelerated dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s."
- "Most major corporations today promote their commitment to non-economic values under headings such as ethics codes and social responsibility charters."
- "Adam Smith said in 1776, 'People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.'"
- "Governments use laws and regulations to point business behavior in what they perceive to be beneficial directions."
- "Ethics implicitly regulates areas and details of behavior that lie beyond governmental control."
- "The emergence of large corporations with limited relationships and sensitivity to the communities in which they operate accelerated the development of formal ethics regimes."
- "Maintaining an ethical status is the responsibility of the manager of the business."
- "According to a 1990 article in the Journal of Business Ethics, 'Managing ethical behavior is one of the most pervasive and complex problems facing business organizations today.'" (Note: There were not enough specific quotes to address additional questions beyond this point.)