It is often said that the only goal of business is to gain profit and many feel that this causes businesses to act unethically when making decisions, however in most cases it is in the best interest of a business to act ethically as ethical decisions are often the most profitable in the long-term. This is because ethical decisions ultimately lead to favorable media attention, stronger brand loyalty, and a lack of costly legal bouts. A very famous example of the negative impacts of unethical behavior was the media attention generated around the Gap clothing company in 2007, where Gap was discovered using offshore child sweatshop labour in India and Bangladesh. This news became a widespread media scandal which hurt the company’s reputation dramatically and negatively affected there sales. This coverage resulted in boycotting and public outrage that proved a competitive disadvantage for the firm. Gap currently has had to initiate a number of investigations into their production facilities to prevent further abuses and has endorsed charitable programs in Africa like ‘Project Red’ all in an effort to rebrand themselves as a socially ethical firm. Indeed, if a company wishes to have a positive impact on their community and if they wish to turn the most profit, a strong understanding of, and adherence to business ethics is vital.
Sources:
Article: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2007/oct/28/ethicalbusiness.india
Image 1: http://ww1.hdnux.com/photos/10/26/00/2187324/5/920×920.jpg
Image 2: http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38492000/jpg/_38492751_gapprotestap300.jpg
Comments on other blogs:
http://blogs.ubc.ca/abalogh/2015/09/10/hello-world/#comment-2
http://blogs.ubc.ca/pixiecheng/2015/09/16/analysis-of-business-news/#comment-2
(Under User: LewD) :http://businessethicsblog.com/2015/08/22/the-ashley-madison-sleazy-attack-on-a-sleazy-business/#comment-78786
