Corporations, from Coca-Cola to Disney to Apple, make billions of money off of us. Given that a lot of people’s income goes to corporations like these, do they have a responsibility to act in an ethical manner? Should they be allowed to release products such as the Samsung Note 7 which repeatedly caught on fire? It is my opinion that they should not, that corporations should have the responsibility to act in an ethical manner as it would lead to the overall greater good.
The issue of businesses action in an ethical manner is controversial as there is the larger question of what do they get out of it? As Caroll and Shabana eloquently said in their article, “economic and legal responsibilities are ‘required’, the ethical responsibilities are …show more content…
From this point of view, businesses are only required to follow the law and make profits for their shareholders/owners; so why bother to be ethically and philanthropically responsible? The position that will be taken in this essay is that, given that businesses make large profits off of us, they should have the responsibility to act ethically; this would then lead to the overall greater good. Everyone would be affected by businesses being ethically responsible as customers are the ones who spend money on corporations; as such, the public should be able to have some trust that said corporations will act ethically, unlike the Samsung phone example.
Corporations should act in an ethical manner given that it is what the public wants. Corporations make products that they think the public want and will purchase; ethical responsibility is a “product” …show more content…
Beyond the aforementioned benefits of lower regulation and taxing as well as a better reputation, companies acting in an ethical manner could have a competitive advantage. By having ethical responsibilities for their workers and communities, corporations would most likely have a higher retention rate for employees which means more experienced workers with higher loyalty (Caroll and Shabana, 101). As such, acting ethically does not yield benefits solely for the public but also for the company. A such instance of how businesses could be more ethical is through veteran employees; according to Joel J. Davis’ survey on workers in the advertising field, the youngest and least experienced workers were mostly concerned with businesses considerations when making ads, the slightly older and more experienced were mostly concerned with legal considerations while the oldest and most experienced workers were mostly concerned with ethical considerations (380). In this example, the aforementioned higher retention would lead to more experienced workers staying where they work longer and consequentially, they, and the corporation, could teach younger employees ethical considerations. These younger employees would in turn be acting in an ethically responsible manner; thereby leading to overall greater
The issue of businesses action in an ethical manner is controversial as there is the larger question of what do they get out of it? As Caroll and Shabana eloquently said in their article, “economic and legal responsibilities are ‘required’, the ethical responsibilities are …show more content…
From this point of view, businesses are only required to follow the law and make profits for their shareholders/owners; so why bother to be ethically and philanthropically responsible? The position that will be taken in this essay is that, given that businesses make large profits off of us, they should have the responsibility to act ethically; this would then lead to the overall greater good. Everyone would be affected by businesses being ethically responsible as customers are the ones who spend money on corporations; as such, the public should be able to have some trust that said corporations will act ethically, unlike the Samsung phone example.
Corporations should act in an ethical manner given that it is what the public wants. Corporations make products that they think the public want and will purchase; ethical responsibility is a “product” …show more content…
Beyond the aforementioned benefits of lower regulation and taxing as well as a better reputation, companies acting in an ethical manner could have a competitive advantage. By having ethical responsibilities for their workers and communities, corporations would most likely have a higher retention rate for employees which means more experienced workers with higher loyalty (Caroll and Shabana, 101). As such, acting ethically does not yield benefits solely for the public but also for the company. A such instance of how businesses could be more ethical is through veteran employees; according to Joel J. Davis’ survey on workers in the advertising field, the youngest and least experienced workers were mostly concerned with businesses considerations when making ads, the slightly older and more experienced were mostly concerned with legal considerations while the oldest and most experienced workers were mostly concerned with ethical considerations (380). In this example, the aforementioned higher retention would lead to more experienced workers staying where they work longer and consequentially, they, and the corporation, could teach younger employees ethical considerations. These younger employees would in turn be acting in an ethically responsible manner; thereby leading to overall greater