Business ethics are becoming more and more prevalent in today’s business world. Business ethics is a form of applied ethics that studies ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. There are an array of issues that have come under scrutiny, including community responsibility, pollution, whistle blowing, and sustainability. Business ethics is the conduct that a business adheres to in its daily transactions with the world. The ethics of a particular business can be different. They pertain not only to how the business interacts with the world at large, but also to their one-on-one transactions with a consumer. Many businesses have obtained a bad reputation just by being in business. To most people, businesses are only concerned with making money, and that is the bottom line. Making money is not wrong in itself. It is the behavior in which some businesses conduct themselves that brings Continue reading
Business Ethics
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 arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and business organizations as a whole. Business ethics can be both a normative and a descriptive discipline. As a corporate practice and a career specialization, the field is primarily normative. In academia descriptive approaches are also taken. The range and quantity of business ethical issues reflects the degree to which business is perceived to be at odds with non-economic social values.
Ethical Issues in Cost Allocation
A cost is generally understood to be that sacrifice incurred in an economic activity to achieve a specific objective, such as to consume, exchange, or produce. All types of organizations- businesses, not-for-profits, governmental- incur costs. To achieve missions and objectives, an organization acquires resources, transforms them in some manner, and delivers units of product or service to its customers or clients. Costs are incurred to perform these activities. For planning and control, decisions are made about areas such as pricing, program evaluation, product costing, outsourcing, and investment. Different costs are needed for different purposes. In each instance, costs are determined to help management make better decisions. When incurred, costs are initially reviewed and accumulated by some classification system. Costs with one or more characteristics in common may be accumulated into cost pools. Costs are then reassigned, differently for specified purposes, from these cost pools to one or more cost objects. Continue reading
Areas of Social Responsibility
Even though corporate responsibility for increasing the wealth of stockholders is well recognized, other social responsibilities are only beginning to be accepted. Below is a brief list of the many areas in which corporations have acknowledged their social responsibility and established programs to deal with them. Responsibility for protecting the natural environment: includes judicious use of natural resources, energy conservation, limiting polluting emissions, and waste management. Responsibility toward consumers: includes creating safe products and pack ages, educating consumers on product use and disposal, being truthful in advertising, and establishing a procedure for dealing with consumer complaints. Responsibility toward employee welfare: includes providing fair compensation and benefits and safe work environments, eliminating discrimination, pro viding opportunities for personal and professional development, and having progressive human resource policies. Responsibilities toward local, state, and federal government agencies: include fulfilling obligations under regulations and statures of these agencies, cooperating in planning and investigations, and Continue reading
Examples of Unethical Behavior by Organizations
Unethical Behavior by Organizations Anything that a businessman can do in the best interest of society is to be a good businessman. It means that they should try to maximize the profit which is the ultimate target of any business. Here is the point when businessmen think that instead of wasting time and resources with ethics they should focus on finance, marketing and business operations. As long as a business is operating within the rules, the only social responsibility of business is to increase its profit with the use of business resources. Concisely it can be said that remain in open and free competition without being involved in fraud or deception. Multinational corporations operate in countries where bribery, sexual harassment, racial discrimination, and lack of concern for the environment are neither illegal nor unethical or unusual. The company must decide whether to adhere to constant ethical principles or to adjust Continue reading
Social Entrepreneurship in India
Social entrepreneurship as the concept was coined long ago but has been in the corporate parlance in just the recent past. Traditionally, entrepreneurship has been associated with profit making individuals who aim high and achieve a lot for themselves in the world of tough competition. And the success of enterprise was and is being judged on parameter like return on investment and net income margins. But, with the empowerment and awareness of the citizens of the developing world, a new revolution has started, particularly among the youth of the world. This revolution is the growth of Social Entrepreneurship – the form of entrepreneurship where profits are not the end result, but just the means to achieve the end result of social upliftment and further empowerment. Social entrepreneurs play the role of change agents in the social sector by adopting a mission to create and sustain social value, by recognizing and Continue reading
The Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility in Business
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a hot issue among companies and CEOs like talking about what their company gives back to society. CSR encompasses an organization’s commitment to behave in an environmentally sustainable manner while honoring the interests of its stakeholders. Firms have realized that socially-responsible business practices are beneficial not only for their employees but also the society at large. Social responsibility reshapes the way business is done, both for profit and when not-for-profit. Corporate Social Responsibility is a concept that frequently overlaps with similar approaches such as corporate sustainability, corporate responsibility, corporate sustainable development and corporate citizenship. Many see CSR as the private sector’s way of integrating the social, economic and environmental activities. In addition to integration into corporate structures and processes, CSR also frequently involves creating innovative and proactive solutions to societal and environmental challenges, as well as collaborating with both external and internal stakeholders to improve Continue reading