A requirement of business, alongside ethics requires a choice to be made. Firms make conscious decisions towards maximizing profits in lieu of an ethical counterpart. As globalissues remarks in the pharmaceutical industry, “diseases and illnesses affect the (most) poor” and thus are “ignoring this market because they can’t pay.” In order for the pharmaceutical companies to become arguably “ethical” executives must sacrifice a degree of profit from their product(s) in order to supply potentially life-saving medicine to people in need. Yet the companies themselves rely on profit for the production of their drugs that otherwise would not exist to theoretically save those who could afford the medicine. Thus, in any business there must be a degree of sacrifice between ethics and profit.

Is it possible then, to achieve profits alongside being ethical?

Communism embodies that very idea, the ultimate policy in social equality. Shared wealth, land and class, yet sacrifices all profits. Therefore, is the concept of capitalism entirely unethical whose entire purpose is to make a profit?

Opinions may vary upon the definition of ethics or what constitutes the superior form of government. However, I see it not as an argument discussing whether one thing or the next is more ethical than the last. But that in any situation it is appropriate to identify ethical issues and attempt to mitigate them in order to achieve the lowest degree of harm and strive for a balance between profit and morality.