Business ethics refer to the set of practices and policies businesses abide by when making decisions regarding finances, negotiations and deals, corporate social responsibility initiatives and more. Business ethics also help companies build trust among consumers, employees and stakeholders.
Business ethicists have been slow to acknowledge the messy world of mixed motives in business. Instead, they have mostly taken an idealized moral high ground stance while failing to provide practical assistance for managers as other professions such as medicine, law or government have seen great success with ethics experts.
Profitability
Profitability refers to a business’s ability to turn sales or services into income by controlling expenses or increasing sales.
Profitable companies take full advantage of their infrastructure, investments, and staffing, helping them expand quickly. Furthermore, their profits are reinvested back into the company to further boost growth.
Profitability doesn’t always reflect how successful a company is doing overall; sometimes it can be due to strong economic conditions, competitor failure or an inadequate long-term strategy which fails to take into account any repercussions for business over the longer run.
Profits should not simply be seen as the end result of any specific business decision; managers must view them in relation to a larger picture. This might involve looking at long-term effects of specific strategies like charitable giving or employee volunteer efforts or simply comparing net profits with revenues generated during that same period.
Reputation
Reputation refers to how people perceive an individual, company, product, or service and is made up of their feelings, tastes, perceptions and hunches about it.
Marketing is one of the greatest drivers of human behavior. It determines who we purchase products or services from, how we utilize these items, and the degree to which we trust a brand.
Business ethics is an ethical field that examines issues encountered when engaging in business transactions, emphasizing consumer protection, sustainability, fairness and respect for others as core principles.
Businesses that practice ethical business practices tend to attract customers more readily, as they’re trusted more. Furthermore, such firms are less likely to face legal action or experience reputational damage that could tarnish their investments.
Values
Values are moral principles that help define right from wrong. By following them in daily decision-making processes and the workplace, values can make an enormous impactful statement about you and your enterprise.
Values that cannot be compromised for short-term economic gain include religious, ethical and familial principles; others such as friendship, family and community are seen as positive aspects.
Values in social science and ethics refer to collective conceptions of what is considered good or bad, desirable or appropriate within a culture. Well-known examples of values include wealth, loyalty, independence, equality justice and fraternity.
Business values encompass many elements, including fairness, innovation and community involvement. Furthermore, ethical practices within the workplace as well as attention paid to environmental, social and governance considerations should also be included within these values.
Sustainability
Sustainability refers to practices designed to ensure a business does not deplete natural resources, ecological systems remain balanced, and life on Earth continues to thrive. This concept has gained increasing traction within business circles and been implemented into numerous campaigns and strategies by various corporations.
Sustainability encompasses other crucial environmental considerations, such as economic and social sustainability. These aspects involve making sure people can access all the resources necessary for living as well as creating safe environments for children.
An organization committed to sustainability can draw in progressive customers while increasing shareholder and stakeholder value. Sustainability practices could include reducing emissions, purchasing products from fair trade organizations, educating employees about recycling efforts, etc.
Sustainable practices form part of triple bottom line theory, which broadens traditional business success metrics to encompass an organization’s contributions to social well-being and environmental health. But these three “P’s” don’t operate in isolation – rather, they all relate through systems theory lenses.
