The Financial Impact of Corporate Ethics: Positive for Some, Not for All

Ethics can be addressed within financial performance in stating how companies remain consistent by implementing corporate social performance and how recent trends can impact the result. In the book ‘A Study of the Link Between a Corporation’s Financial Performance and its Commitment to Ethics’ presents the latest trends companies implement in an ethical approach. “26.8% of US 500 largest corporations commit to ethical behaviour towards their stakeholders or emphasise compliance with their code of conduct.”(Verschoor 1997 p.1509) Although, a small proportion of major companies in US apply ethics, demonstrates that this is considered to be a significant factor through financial

Businesses today face a plethora of ethical duties such as upholding corporate governance, maintaining stakeholder relationships, and presenting an image of social responsibility. In review of Company Q’s (Q) current ethics culture, its image in regards to social responsibility is not equivalent to that of its competitors. In a growing market faced with increasingly challenging competition, there are several areas that Q can and needs to address to bring the company to a level of social responsibility that exceeds stakeholder expectations. First, attention Q needs to address market demands for additional locations to better

The primary purpose of ethics and social responsibility is imperative to the way we do business and live amongst society. Ethics most commonly know as the rights and wrongs are principles and standards that establish what is know as acceptable conduct within an organization. Organizations have moral and legal duties to implement ethics when developing a strategic plan while considering stakeholders and consumers, they do not want to be lied to or cheated into buying a false product. Unethical companies will use aggressive sales tactics and mischievous ways, of doing business to sell, promote and profit from vulnerable consumers. Unethical organizations believe in these tactics

There have been several breaches of ethical conduct since the passing of Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. This Act was placed into law to protect the consumer against fraudulent activity by organizations. This paper will provide a brief history of the law and discuss some of the ethical components and social implications on corporations. This research will provide information on how the Sarbanes-Oxley Act affects smaller organizations and how it encourages employees to inform of wrong doings.

We will look at the Enron Corporation and discuss its application of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or in actuality its irresponsible behavior as related to social responsibility. We will revisit what CSR is and discuss Enron’s philosophy regarding its use and function within the corporation. We will discuss the consequences of Enron’s irresponsible behavior and the far reaching effects it had on society.

Breaking down an overview of Lockheed Martin’s organization leads to Terris’ elaborate plan to gain a general overview of the evolution of business ethics and revealing a balance between profits and stakeholder concerns. Responsibilities of top leadership involve several different form of involvement. These leaders have to be aware, decisive, honest, focused and inspiring. A top leader is usually referred to as a chief executive officer, CEO. CEOs have helped throughout the history of business ethics by seeking unfair advantages through immoral arrangements and creating new ways of business. With business changing occurring, welfare capitalism becomes a major aspect in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. As a result of issues with welfare capitalism, corporate social responsibility has made its appearance in the twentieth century. Programs of corporate social responsibility now form many of corporate America’s largest advertising campaigns, especially in industries that have been vulnerable to public criticism for their social impact (Terris, 2005, p.42).

As recently as a decade ago, many peoples,companies or organizations viewed ethics,social responsibility,business ethics only in terms of administrative compliance with legal standards and adherence to internal rules and regulations. Today the situation is different. Attention to them is on the rise across the world and many companies or organizations realize that in order to succeed, they must earn the respect and confidence of their customers. Like never before, corporatons are being asked, encouraged and prodded to improve their business practices to emphasize legal and ethical behavior. Companies, professional firms and individuals alike are being held increasingly accountable for their actions, as demand

Jeffrey Gitomer once said, “Great people have great values and great ethics.” These great people start ethical companies with great values with great ethics of course. The meaning of ethics can sometimes be unclear, but the general idea of ethics is choosing between right and wrong. There are many ethical companies that treat their company and consumers well such as Levi & Strauss Co., The Hershey Company, and 3M. Despite these companies that are successful and don’t attempt to cheat the world of business, there are others that aren’t so ethical. These include: Wells Fargo, Nestle, and Chevron.

Companies that include ethics and social responsibility into the company's mission and vision statement have a greater chance of succeeding. Ethics is based on an individual's actions. These individual actions affect the business. Adelphia, one of The United States largest cable company, failed because

jEthics can be addressed within financial performance in stating how companies remain consistent by implementing corporate social performance and how recent trends can impact the result. In the research article ‘A Study of the Link Between a Corporation’s Financial Performance and its Commitment to Ethics’ Verschoor (1997). He presents the latest trends of companies that are within an ethical perspective. “26.8% of US 500 largest corporations commit to ethical behaviour towards their stakeholders or emphasise compliance with their code of conduct.”(p.1509). Although a small proportion of major companies in US apply ethics, this demonstrates that competition is considered to be a significant factor through financial performance. Hence, in establishing corporate social responsibility this examines the level of ethics within the balance of standards between right and wrong through a financial performance perspective.

Companies that include ethics and social responsibility into the company's mission and vision statement have a greater chance of succeeding. Ethics is based on an individual's actions. These individual actions affect the business. Adelphia, one of The United States largest cable company, failed because

Business ethics and corporate social responsibility are at the maximum ranks for companies and consumers. Big businesses are faced day-to-day with different questions from customers and shareholders concerning a company’s ethical and social responsibility. Business ethics can consist of everything from the way the company employs or how a company can make their assertions in public relations. Businesses rest on on their employees who exemplify the business in public and on their consumers to epitomize an honorable appearance that is linked together with the objectives and purposes within the company.

It seems like business morals and ethics are being whisked to the side in lieu of the ever growing demand of higher stock prices, rising budget goals and investor profits. Despite the increased regulation of corporations through legislation, such as, Sarbanes-Oxley, some corporations still find themselves struggling to maintain ethics and codes of conduct within the workplace. In reviewing the failings of the Enron Scandal, one can heed the mistakes that both individual and organization malaise, such as, conflicts of interest, lack of true transparency and the sever lack of moral courage from the government, executive board, senior management and others, contributed to the energy giant’s downfall.

The argument of whether or not “values”, ethics, and social responsibility should be included in the business world is a fiercely debated subject. Some are completely against including ethics within the business sphere and that in order to stay competitive, a company should do whatever it takes to survive in the dog eat dog world. The proponents of keeping ethics separate from business would claim that going for profit in perfectly competitive markets will work so that society will be served in a way that benefits the most. Milton Friedman would argue that the only social responsibility that a business should have is to increase its profits. Others argue that some system of values need to be included in the world of commerce, especially in the wake of huge financial scandals such as Enron and claims of inhumane factory conditions and child labor in third-world countries by major multi-national enterprises such as Nike and GAP. By focusing solely on shareholders and increasing profits, businesses may start out with small unethical actions that gradually grow larger and larger as they slide down the slippery slope of deceit. Ethics should not be treated as a side note to be considered after generating profits, but integrated into the foundation and basis of business. The question that needs to be addressed is which values need to be incorporated into the foundation and goal of actions and decisions. The values selected need to be chosen not because “we thought they

Every organization also has a profession responsibility to conduct business honestly and ethically. Our readings reported, “Experts estimated that U.S. companies lose about $600 billion a year from unethical and criminal behavior” Kinicki and Kreitner (2009). The organization could avoid having ethical issues by meeting the