Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/06/business/cvs-plans-to-end-sales-of-tobacco-products-by-october.html?_r=0
How far can a person go before their own personal ethics is jeopardized? It would be easy to say “I am a religious man, so I will never commit sin,” but what if someone gave you ten million dollars to murder your family dog, and gave you protection from law enforcement. What would your choice be? To follow your ethics or do what is most profitable.
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his decision to some extent is what businesses go through on a regular basis. Take CVS for example, they want to sell and focus on health products so they chose to stop the sales of cigarettes even though tobacco generates a huge profit for them. The CVS executives from a number standpoint should have continued the selling of tobacco, but due to the companies image and brand ethics they chose not to.
Ethics (social ethics, professional ethics etc.) are important in a business as a company that is viewed with littleor no ethics may be seen as untrustworthy, and in extreme cases may even lose customer loyalty. A business is like a person, if either of the person or the business chose to abandon their ethics they could potentially lose the trust of stakeholders (customers, parents, friends).