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Business ethics operates on the premise, for example, that the ethical operation of a private business is possible—those who dispute that premise, such as libertarian socialists (who contend that "business ethics" is an oxymoron) do so by definition outside of the domain of business ethics proper.
The function of developing and implementing business ethics in an organization is difficult. Due to each organization's culture and atmosphere being different, there is no clear or specific way to implement a code of ethics in an existing business. Business ethics implementation can be categorized into two groups; formal and informal measures.
In business ethics, Ethical decision-making is the study of the process of making decisions that engender trust, and thus indicate responsibility, fairness and caring to an individual. To be ethical, one has to demonstrate respect, and responsibility. [ 1 ]
Friedman introduced the theory in a 1970 essay for The New York Times titled "A Friedman Doctrine: The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits". [2] In it, he argued that a company has no social responsibility to the public or society; its only responsibility is to its shareholders. [2]
Ethical codes are adopted by organizations to assist members in understanding the difference between right and wrong and in applying that understanding to their decisions. An ethical code generally implies documents at three levels: codes of business ethics , codes of conduct for employees, and codes of professional practice.
From an ethical perspective, some businesses will adopt CSR policies and practices because of the ethical beliefs of senior management: for example, the CEO of outdoor-apparel company Patagonia, Inc. argues that harming the environment is ethically objectionable. [11]
Some ethical considerations which may become apparent in the durability of contracts are cultural relativism and moral relativism. Grace and Cohen (2005, 200) describe cultural relativism as the extent to which different societies and cultures have different values and ethical standards in the fields of business and organisational life.
Ethical marketing is a positive influence on companies, and their response is to market their products in a more socially responsible way. The increasing trend of fair trade is an example of the impact of ethical marketing. In the Ethical Shoppers Price Index Survey (2009), fair trade was the most popular ethical badge products could have.