This issue has made newspaper
headlines over and over again:
scandals involving multinationals like Enron, Worldcom,
Siemens, ABB, Alstom, Parmalat and many pharmaceutical
companies, among others, have often been in the news in recent years.
Consequences for companies, officials, employees and shareholders have been
devastating. And this explosive risk does not only endanger multinational
corporations but also threatens many companies – even if they do not make
the headlines. Businesses in emerging countries are no exception, and
organizational exposure is growing. Failing to recognize the importance
of business ethics or, as many firms have done so far, turning a blind
eye to these concerns is no longer a viable strategy. The question facing
CEOs, board members and shareholders is whether they want to deal with
this issue before or after a crippling scandal?
The purpose of this article is to offer a brief introduction of this topic,
putting forth leading academic and business stances as well as describing
the key traits of suitable ethics systems.
While everyone talks about business ethics, its contents and boundaries
are not easy to determine. It may be safe to assume that ethics involves some
hard features, like duties and rights (most
of them legal), that are mandatory for all, and soft components, like values,
aspirations or best practices, that are desirable but not compulsory and
can vary from one organization and person to the next. Generally
speaking, laws and regulations just set a minimal ethical standard required for
the orderly working of societies. The distinction between what is
ethically compelling – and not mandatory by law – and what is just desirable
does not only seem blurry and hard to pinpoint but also changing – it often
depends on cultural settings and specific scenarios. |
