Business Ethical Practice in Business

Business Ethical practice in business Ethical practice in business is a contentious issue. There are many who argue that businesses can operate in a purely self-interested, Machiavellian fashion without incurring any deleterious consequences. Certainly, there are businesses that operate in an ignoble manner without any punishment. However, examples such as the Bernie Madoff and Enron scandals exemplify how businesses who act in their own self-interests and ignore virtuous ethics will generally suffer negative consequences. To this end, successful businesses typically act in an altruistic spirit.

Such corporate altruism is referred to as corporate social responsibility, and in order to become successful, businesses must deploy corporate social responsibility practices. There are many manifestations of corporate social responsibility, all of which refer to the ways in which businesses toward the improvement of society. There are three tenants of corporate social responsibility, including the role of the manager as a public trustee, the necessity of balancing competing claims to corporate resources, and the need for corporate philanthropy (Carroll, Shabana, 2010).

These three aspects reflect the way in which corporate social responsibility makes the business inextricably linked with society. The business does not exist in a self-interested vacuum but instead must act with an aid to society. The contemporary business climate is replete with examples of businesses that have embraced corporate social responsibility. For example, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Saints enacted a Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund that raised money to assist the victims of the massive natural disaster.

The decision to establish the relief fund was ethically sound in that it assisted the collective welfare of society. Through raising money, the Saints organization acted as corporate philanthropists and raised over one million dollars in relief aid. One of the questions that invariably arise following instances of corporate philanthropy involves whether or not such philanthropy equates with good business, and the Saints example reflects the way in which sound ethics corresponds with sound business practice.

Not only did providing hurricane relief assist the New Orleans community, but it assisted the fan base that is relied upon by the Saints organization. Had the Saints not engaged in corporate social responsibility, they likely would have abdicated a significant proportion of their market base. Another example of corporate social responsibility is the recent campaign by Coca Cola to save polar bears, which are an endangered species. The polar bear effectively represents the mascot for the Coke brand, and so Coke has a (manufactured) affiliation with the species.

By financially assisting the global effort to save polar bears, Coca Cola acts as corporate philanthropists while at the same time garnering positive publicity for their efforts. In this regard, good ethics are again equated with productive business (Burton, Goldsby, 2010). Alternately, companies that disregard corporate social responsibility experience substantial corporate loss. For example, the Miami Marlins baseball team convinced the city of Miami to publicly fund their stadium, under the premise that they would spend ample amounts of money to field a competitive baseball team.

After their stadium was funded the team spent substantially on players, only to trade many of them less than one year.