In current time,when the global economy is in the severe recession, many companies stop operation,many corporations go bankrupt and countless people are unemployed,the relationship between the business ethics and profit is the top sensitive issue.In other words,keeping ethics in business has won the concern of the society.
A business will not only generate profits for individuals,but also create public values.In other words,business’s goal is not only a personal or organizational enrichment,but also to contribute to a country’s development.Hence,organizations also have responsibilities to the society. However, for those who still have an old wrong perception about business, “unethical” is the word they use to describe a business’s characteristic.
Recently, unethical,illegal businesses have been exposed and reported by several media.In order to gain more profits,many firms ignored the laws and ethics standards.For example,soy sauce contains 3-MCPD exceeding the limitation;fruits and vegetable contain growth stimulants,which was exposed in Shenyang City-Liaoning province in 2011 with tons of sprouts contain sodium nitrite;“extra lean” pork was laced with clenbuterol from Henan and Jiangsu;rancid food;milk containing melamine from Sanlu Group;poor-quality gasoline;and hazardous industrial waste was discharged into the environment.The evidence above is only the tip of the iceberg as there are many fraudulent companies have not been detected yet.We can see that sanitation and food safety,as well as business ethics have never been in such an alarming situation like before. Meanwhile,unhealthy competition,the exploitation of labor ... also caused many consequences and implications for the society (e.g., labor exploitation in Foxconn Group which led to many suicides during several years has been condemned in 2011).
Doing business is not only creating profits for an organization, it is also associated with many ethical and legal factors as well as decide the development of economy and social welfare.Business ethics is one of the factors that help guiding an organization’s development strategy,business principles.It also contributes to regulate the behavior of the organization, hence,increase the quality of the providing products or services. Cheating businesses sometimes may bring back huge profits, but its survival surely will not take long because there is no crime that can hide forever.In this competitive market,the word \"reputation\" in business has become more important than ever.Faithfulness should not only be created between enterprises and their partners,it must also be created between enterprises and consumers.Talking about \"business ethics\" means talking about the honest and respect for people,being responsible to the community and the enterprise’s products.
There are many reasons led to the unchained of unethical businesses:the existent of legal holes, the irresponsibility of some government officers in monitoring the businesses,the lack of consumers’ knowledge as well as consumers’ greed of cheap products.But the main reason is that these firms are running after business profits,left behind profits for consumers and society.However,there is a good sign that some organizations still keep putting“business ethics” upon operation.They concern about product quality and customer’s trust,such as General Electric,Midea,Lenovo…
In a preliminary survey of the writer with 110 Chinese enterprises from different industries and scales,there are up to 73% of respondents said that their companies have a corporate culture policy.In other words, these firms do pay attention to business ethics at a certain level. According to the survey,some main issues that can help building a strong corporate culture in a corporation were proposed,such as:
*Share market and competitive information between departments so that firms can capture consumer's needs.
*Emphasize employees' speaking role in the process of decision making in order to help strong connection between consumers and top managers.
*Create a good innovative working environment to increase performance.
* Emphasize new product development and service innovation.
As business ethics is one of the factors that make a corporate culture, the above issues are directly helpful for building a strong business ethics.
When competition is getting fierce, customer’s demands and requirements are increasing,society looks at businesses more strictly,etc… in order to sustain development,firms should be operated along with the standards of environmental protection,labor safety,food hygiene.They also should contribute to the community development. Every business needs to attach its profit with the community responsibility.