What Is Ethical And Unethical Business?

The concept of business ethics refers to a set of guiding principles that encourage individuals in an organization to make decisions based on the company’s stated beliefs and attitudes toward business practices within its industry(Lisa McQuerrey., 2016) . Ethical and Unethical business decisions have long been a predicament encountered by organisations, these practices are concerned with how the companies interact with the global business world, and to their one-on-one dealings with individuals(Garry Crystal,. 2016.) The concept of ethics and social responsibility emerged into the business world in the early 1970s after the end of World War I saw these organisations become more profit driven resulting in negative impacts on society at large.

One of the major studies regarding the national values has been conducted by Hofstede in 1983,According to the research he conducted, based on cultural indicators including; individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity, there is an exceeding number of inconsistencies among the morals and values that stem across different nations and consequently how companies define their business ethics. In modern society, where business transactions have become multifaceted and internationalised due to globalization, unethical behaviour conducted by businesses has become increasingly apparent to the public, therefore becoming more challenging to assess due to increased transparency and complexity. As a result of globalization, Outsourcing labor markets have become increasingly intergraded and has become an efficient way to reduce a company’s costs and is often necessary to remain competitive. However, the practice has had its critics as seen by the damage to the reputation and prestige associated with products created by Apple Inc. due to managerial actions implement by their major suppliers Foxconn. Foxconn was under the spotlight since 2012 (Pratap et al., 2012) because of its unethical management and working conditions which has been considered as the root cause of the deaths and suicides in the past one year. Apple’s code of conduct states; ‘Apple suppliers