journal article
Do Businesses Have Moral Obligations beyond What the Law Requires?Journal of Business Ethics
Vol. 15, No. 4 (Apr., 1996)
, pp. 457-468 (12 pages)
Published By: Springer
//www.jstor.org/stable/25072768
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Journal Information
The Journal of Business Ethics publishes original articles from a wide variety of methodological and disciplinary perspectives concerning ethical issues related to business. Since its initiation in 1980, the editors have encouraged the broadest possible scope. The term 'business' is understood in a wide sense to include all systems involved in the exchange of goods and services, while 'ethics' is circumscribed as all human action aimed at securing a good life. Systems of production, consumption, marketing, advertising, social and economic accounting, labour relations, public relations and organisational behaviour are analysed from a moral viewpoint. The style and level of dialogue involve all who are interested in business ethics – the business community, universities, government agencies and consumer groups. Speculative philosophy as well as reports of empirical research are welcomed. In order to promote a dialogue between the various interested groups as much as possible, papers are presented in a style relatively free of specialist jargon.
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Springer is one of the leading international scientific publishing companies, publishing over 1,200 journals and more than 3,000 new books annually, covering a wide range of subjects including biomedicine and the life sciences, clinical medicine, physics, engineering, mathematics, computer sciences, and economics.
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MKT 3305 – Chapter 3 Notes
Summary:
Ethics refers to the moral principles or values that generally govern the conduct of an individual or a group. Ethics also can
be viewed as the standard of behavior by which conduct is judged. Standards that are legal may not always be ethical, and vice versa.
Laws are the values and standards enforceable by the courts. Ethics, then, consists of personal moral principles. For example, there is
no legal statute that makes it a crime for someone to cut in line. Yet, if someone doesn’t want to wait in line and cuts to the front, it
often makes others very angry.
If you have ever resented a line-Cutter, then you understand ethics and have applied ethical standards in life. Waiting your turn in line
is a social expectation that exists because lines in short order and allocate the space and time needed to complete transactions.
Waiting your turn isn’t expected but unwritten behavior that plays a critical role in an orderly society.
So it is with ethics. Ethics consists of those unwritten rules we have developed for our interactions with one another. These unwritten
rules govern us when we are sharing resources were honoring contracts. Waiting your turn is a higher standard than the laws that
are passed to maintain order. Those laws apply when physical force or threat are used to push to the front of the line. Assault,
battery, and threats are forms of criminal conduct for which the offender to be prosecuted. But the law does not apply to the stealthy
line-cutter who simply sneaks to the front, perhaps using a friend and a conversation as a decoy. No laws are broken, but the notions
of fairness and justice are offended by one individual putting himself or herself above others and taking advantage of others’ time
and position.
Ethical questions range from practical, narrowly defined issues, such as businessperson’s obligation to be honest with customers, two
broader social and philosophical questions, such as whether a company is responsible for preserving the environment and protecting
employee rights. Many ethical conflicts develop from conflicts between the differing interests of company owners and their workers,
customers, and surrounding community. Managers must balance the ideal against the practical—that is, they need to produce a
reasonable profit for the company’s shareholders against honesty in business practices and concern for environmental and social
issues.
Chapter Outline
1)The concept of ethical behavior
2)Ethical behavior in business
a.Morality and business ethics
b.Ethical decision-making
c.Ethical guidelines
d.Ethics in other countries
3)Corporate social responsibility
a.Sustainability
b.Growth of social responsibility
c.Green marketing
4)Cause-related marketing
Points of Interest
1)There is a difference between legal and unethical.
2)Ethical applies not only to individuals, but to organizations as well.
3)Ethical decisions can be difficult and people will find ways to justify unethical behavior.
4) Creating a Code of Ethics is a good idea.