ethics for success

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Ethics for Success

Every American loves going to the Wal-Mart, the biggest retailer in America and shopping for their family on a limited budget. But how come a company can provide the lowest price on its products and be the most profitable of all retail stores at the same time? According to a documentary called “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price” by Robert Greenwald, the company acts unjust in all aspects. The retail empire is known for being against unions and was sued for sex discrimination several times. Annual income of a Wal-Mart employee is $14.000, lower from the U.S. poverty line. When a Wal-Mart store opens in a town, small family businesses that have been around for years are forced to close; basically because they can’t compete against a company that has factories in Bangladesh, paying workers 7 cents an hour. Capitalism can justify these statistics, but there are counterexamples like Costco and Trader Joe’s which prove a business can be profitable and can value its employees simultaneously. Businesses should be socially responsible and give back their earnings back to the community; although their aim is to maximize profit, at a continuous process business ethics is gainful for both corporations and society.

It is contended that a business should only focus on making profit and most of the businesses think business ethics costs too much to put up with, but being ethical and socially responsible is necessary for companies. Business ethics is a group of moral principles in the business environment. Many factors of business environment can cause corporates to act unethical such as competition, the urge to make profit and selfishness. Generating revenue is vital for corporates, that’s unquestionable, but competi...

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...In third world countries where business ethics are ignored, the gap between the rich and the poor is widened every day, and as a result, their bonds between the community are weak.

In conclusion, a business should act ethical and socially responsible in order to make our world a better place, just for the goodness. Acting according to business ethics may result more profits in the long process but it is not ethical to be ethical for the rewards, therefore it shouldn’t be a goal. Businesses need to build good reputation and it is possible by corporate social responsibility and ethical behavior. In this new era of a new media, unethical acts of companies don’t go unnoticed and unpunished; therefore they need to be more careful. Although they can just comply by regulations and put aside corporate social responsibility, business ethics can turn out well for everyone.

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