Business ethics is a kind of professional ethics that requires firms(or business managers)to take responsibilities  to all their stakeholders including consumers and the whole community.

Evidently,the goal of every corporations is to maximize profits in order to give maximum return to their stakeholders.However they should adhere to conventional standards of morality at the same time.The fact that most corporations ignore that has resulted in consequence that the contradiction between firms and consumers is intensified.A typical example is about food safety.For the sake of achieving maximum profits,some food corporations may add illegal additives(normally used in industry,which is much cheaper)to reduce the cost.KFC is reported to use Sudan Ⅲ(that is carcinogenic) in their product in April 23rd 2010,which resulted in serious credibility crisis.And the business ethics of the whole food industry was criticized for being dishonest.

Surely,a firm with a good business ethics will gain more consumers in the long term.Also,is has positive effect on employees’  engagement,which will increase the operating profit.

Reference list

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-03/17/content_425851.htm