370). On the subject of shareholders and adverse publicity, in the book Corporate Ethics and Corporate Governance, the authors mention how much investors / shareholders "hate" surprises, in particular when the surprises are caused by the "unethical behavior of senior managers…" (Zimmerli, et al., 2007, p. 155). In today's mass media environment it is a sure thing that some blogger, local newspaper reporter or national cable news talking head is going to find out that company X has hired a lobbying firm to basically bust the competition. When this story hits the 24-hour news cycle -- and the media today is extremely competitive, so it is a given that several media outlets will dig deeper into the story and be less than objective in their reports -- the shareholders will be hit with the surprise they did not want to be hit with.

An embarrassing public relations disaster like this may take years for company X to overcome, and meantime the community and all the stakeholders will be held accountable for the...

Reporters will dig into company code of ethics, into the mission statements, into other records (under the Freedom of Information Act) that perhaps will reflect fines that company has previously been slapped with, or misbehavior by executives within the company.
Conclusion: Ethics encompasses many aspects of corporate behavior, not just Enron-type blatant corruption, or Bernie Madoff- style scams. When company X pulls off a shifty, risky maneuver to try and beat the competition, it violates ethical standards and causes a loss of accountability and a loss of trust for company X.

Works Cited

Baglini, Norman a. (2001). Ethical Behavior, Corporate Culture and Financial Services. The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance, 26(3), 367-372.

Zimmerli, Walther Christoph, Zimmerli, Walther C., Richter, Klaus, and Holzinger, Markus.

(2007). Corporate Ethics and Corporate Governance. New York: Springer.