According to the opinions of Milton Friedman, business ethics is just rhetoric, and the only responsibility of business is to increase profit. I definitely do not agree on his statements, and believe that the value of business ethics is to produce a win-win situation to the enterprise and the society.
Personally, I am convinced that the Stakeholder Theory should be adapted to the management of every corporation regardless of its size and industry. Since the corporation is an integration of personal and social relationships, it should take the combined social responsibility of its employees and employers, holding up a baseline of business ethics to benefit the stakeholders and the society. In addition, I don’t agree that the amount spent on responding social problems will decrease the income of the companies or the wages of employers. Rather, it may enhance the reputation, and eventually promote the sales of the products or services as people are now aware of the contribution of the business besides paying taxes to society.
In practice, most of the corporations around the world have considered business ethics as a dispensable value guide and theoretical resource. For example, the food and drink companies are taking the issue seriously as an article of CNN mentioned. They tried to benefit the stakeholders by “looking into transparency, women’s rights, farmers’ rights and land, water and climate sustainability” (Kottasova, Ivana). I believe that the attention paid to the business ethics like Oxfam’s “Behind the Brands” scorecard will be increasing as the society develops.