Every so often, a company changes our lives, not just with its products, but with its ethos. This is why, following Coca-Cola’s 13-year run at the top of Best Global Brands, Inter-brand has a new No. 1 — Apple.

According to the annually report from BrandZ, the Most Valuable Brand’s first place has been replaced by Apple. What is interesting is that Top 3 on the list are Apple, Google and IBM separately which are all technology companies.

Although “Coca-Cola is an efficient, outstanding brand marketer, no doubt about it,” Mr. Frampton said, Apple and other leading technology brands have become “very much the poster child of the marketing community.”

Actually, this result is not surprising. Apple’s arrival in the top spot was perhaps “a matter of time,” Jez Frampton, global chief executive at Interbrand, said in a recent interview. Apple was No. 2 last year, climbing from No. 8 in the 2011 report.

Resource from:

STUART ELLIOTT, “Apple Passes Coca-Cola as Most Valuable Brand”, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/30/business/media/apple-passes-coca-cola-as-most-valuable-brand.html?ref=business&_r=0

2013 BrandZ Top 100, http://www.wpp.com/wpp/marketing/brandz/brandz-2013/

In a free society, it is hard for “evil” people to do “evil”, especially since one man’s good is another’s evil.

-From economist Milton Friedman

When we consider business ethics, some common topics such as pollution, integrity and culture conflicts are really easily defined right or wrong by moral strandards and laws. However,some problems cannot be simply classified as right or wrong in the business world. These situations conduct to one basic question: what are ethics in business?

Maximize company’s longrun profits within legal limits.

-From Economists Adam Smith, Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell

In other words, companies interpret ‘business ethics’ as they like within legal limits and aim to the maximum profit.  Ethicists do not always agree about the purpose of business in society – some see the main purpose of business is to maximize profits for its owners or its shareholders. 

However, business ethics also influenced by consumer expectations nowadays. These  have been instrumental in bringing about change: consumers expect businesses to demonstrate ethical responsibility in its widest sense – affecting the treatment of employees, the community, the environment, working conditions etc.

Welcome to UBC Blogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!