Are businesses focused on ethics or profit?

Question

--top priority = money to be made OR serving the public good.

Answer 1

Both.



You have to pay the owners of the company or you would have no one founding companies. You have to share the profits with the employees, or you would have no work force. You have to provide value to the customer, or you will have no customers.



Seems to me that when the owner, employees, and customers are all doing well on your products and services, then you are making money AND serving the public good.

Answer 2

Ethics is different than doing things for the public good. Ethics requires that you do business in an upstanding say, whether it's for the public good or for profit. Most of the companies I've worked for have tried to do both. In fact, a primary purpose for being in business is to make a profit. The IRS even requires that a company make a profit in two years out of five. If you own stock, you probably hope they make a profit, too.

Answer 3

Corporations are formed and operate on the premise that they will give returns to the stockholders ( owners )...but part of making these profits is based on the actions of the corporation as a good citizen. Unfortunately today with so many goods being made globally many of the mega US operations have little knowledge of the viability of the corporations they buy goods from. They rely on marketing and advertsing that these sub-contractors themselves produce which may or may not be accurate. Ethics are thrown aside when you are subcontracting for merchandise and have no knowledge of these organization's methods of producing goods. Thus sadly is the case of such companies as Nike, Wal Mart, General Motors, etc.... It is also difficult to compete when you are up against a non moral

entity who makes their goods so much less expensive due to the non observation of human rights.

Answer 4

For a corporation it is generally money. Watch "The Corporation" for one side of the story and if you want more information try your local Uni library ^__^



Considering that if a corporation runs outa money it goes bankrupt and cannot continue, it does have to consider profits - but with Corporate Governance and big fines (ha, not big enough) for "bad stuff" (like pollution) companies are starting to pull up their socks. Plenty of cases where they don't though.



However - that is only one side of the story, smart corporations know that if they want to suceed these days they need to keep the public good in mind because we're becoming more savvy to their lil tricks. Well, some are, some are still the mindless drones buying without thinking but oh well.



And you know, some of them are doing very good things - something some do for their own good and some do for "good publicity" which I think is better than nothing.



WOW ARENT I KNOWLEGABLE! ... ahem... ask a college professor!