Although it might not be mentioned often, it’s long been apparent to me that there is a clear divide between two definitions of “business-person”. For many, business people are simply in it for the money; that business ethics are regarded with a certain stigma. A good example of this was the ethical issue stated within the article I read; many people disagreed with how “Finance Minister Paul Martin was balancing the nation’s books by taking a hatchet to social services.”
Perhaps the cuts “would hurt a lot of people” (according to the groups against them). However, economically, the cuts were quite sound.. at least according to the business community. As mentioned in the article, “business people were pleased that the finance minister was behaving responsibly…trim[ming] Canada’s ballooning deficit..”
Despite the social norm per se, I regard business people as workers who choose to place more importance on financial stability (and basic needs) than on wants and desires, in comparison to workers in other sectors. At the end of the day, it all boils down to a fundamental characteristic of market economies; that individuals’ every day actions spur from self-interest. In other words, everybody thinks about themselves.
Picture: Courtesy of Microsoft Office Clip Art
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own neccessities but of their advantages.” – Adam Smith