WHAT IS BUSINESS ETHICS?

Business ethics considers the ethical relationship between businesses and consumers, between businesses and their employees. It also considers the impact of globalisation on the environment, and on society at large. Ethicists do not always agree about the purpose of business in society - some see the main purpose of business is to maximise profits for its owners or its shareholders. In this case, only those activities which increase profits are to be encouraged as this is the only way that companies will survive - this was the view of the economist Milton Friedman. Others consider that businesses have moral responsibilities to their stakeholders; Including employees, consumers, the local community and even society as a whole. Other ethicists have adapted social contract theory (based on the Ideas of John Rawls in his A Theory of Justice) to business, so that employees and other stakeholders are given a voice as to how the business operates. However, this view is criticised as businesses are property, not means of distributing social justice. Times have changed, however, and ethics in business and corporate social responsibility are becoming crucial. There are many reasons for this, driven by the social, political and economic developments in the world. Consumers have shown their dissatisfaction through taking to the streets, and there have been riots from Genoa to Seattle, bring together many different types of activists and protestors campaigning on a variety of business related issues from globalisation and human rights to third world debt. Stakeholders, and especially consumers, are becoming increasingly empowered and vocal, forcing businesses to review their strategies. Organisations like The Body Shop and The Co-operative Bank have led the way and brought business ethics and social responsibility into the public eye and onto the business agenda, championing key issues such as human and animal rights, fair trade and environmental impact. Consumers now expect businesses to be socially responsible, and businesses are increasingly thinking about what they can achieve by putting the power of their marketing behind some key social issues so that they can help make a positive social difference. However, business ethics is not a simple as it looks as there is no longer one agreed moral code and multinationals operate in different parts of the world, employing and serving people from different cultures. Profit will still be the main motivating factor for businesses and this affects all the people who work there, generating Its own culture with its own standards, so it becomes difficult for individuals to stand up against any attitudes and decisions theey disagree with. Modern technologies also create ethical dilemmas for businesses that never existed until quite recently - such as medical products and gene technologies: should parents be allowed to alter the genetic profile of their unborn child, and should businesses sell products to do this? All these issues pull businesses In different directions, so that many now set up their own ethical committees. Businesses that get caught acting unethically are publicised in the press, and pressure groups that oppose the activities of certain businesses are better organised, better financed, and so better able to attack such businesses. An extreme example of this is Huntingdon Life Sciences in Cambridge where the Animal Liberation Movement set up a splinter group called SHAC (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty) which started an international campaign to close the company down, often using ethically dubious methods; threatening employees and employees of shareholders and banks. The opponents of this business understand business and its weak points very well as the company nearly went bust, however, the company changed tactics, the public reacted against the extreme methods of SHAC, and in 2007 reported a 5% increase in profits, leading the managing director to plead with the banks to no longer treat the business as 'radioactive' (Financial Times 16.9.07)