Business ethics are more likely to be a way of self-control and regulation. And they involve many aspects such as environment, society, customers’ benefits and so on and they are not existing individually.
What I think is that business ethics are quite important for companies though they have a very strong brand name reputation in the world, because destroying is always coming faster than building something. Usually, large companies are paying more attention on the business ethics, cause it is more complicated for managers to control, so the regulation systems in that company must be developed.
Nowadays, there are various approaches for business to advertise their products right after the invention of the internet. However, we could commonly see how business participants disobey the ethics. For example, some online sellers cheat consumers by posting attractive pictures which are not mostly the same as what consumers get. And I think building a great image of your company no matter it is big or small can help you get more profits, cause consumers trust you and they are willing to do more business with you.
There is an interview that is based on the business ethics and the online businesses’ reputation.
http://www.reputation.com/reputationwatch/blog/expert-interview-business-ethics-chris-macdonald