BP accident How do we judge if a business is a good global citizen?

Reference source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/analysis/once-lauded-bp-exposes-corporate-citizenship-sham/385622

In this case, BP should be blamed and accountable for its blind pursuit of profit, exploitation of environment and death of workers in US. And of course, BP is now paying for cutting the costs that should not be cut. It loses brand image and customer loyalty that cost it even more to recover.

However, one should not simply judge the ethics of a business by only one or two events. A responsible business does not only work hard to be legal or avoid negative externalities, but also trys to provide employment opportunities, taxes for governments to spend on meaningful projects, operate efficiently to offer world-wide customers cheap products with high quality in a mutually beneficial way. Creating social wealth, improving people’s living quality and happiness are also crucial. Theoretically,  if social benefits exceed social costs associated with the business activities, no matter where they operate, the company is definitely a “good” global citizen, and vice versa. I agree that actions like protecting environment, saving eco-system, and ensuring workers’ safety are perfectly moral. Nevertheless, it’s hard to analyse and quantify the potential externalities like safety risks. Theories sometimes ignore the unpredictable benefits and costs, but time will tell.