Page 1 of 9 | Topic 6 Business Ethics, Ethical Dilemmas, and Advocacy Against Corruption
[Papa, Czirelle Dominique E]; ACC
Chapter 6
What is Business Ethics?
Business Ethics refers to the standards of moral conduct, behavior, and judgment in
business. Moreover, the role of business ethics in business transactions are often
indispensable since it ensures making the right and moral decisions to be made.
How is Business Ethics related to CSR?
Business Ethics can be related to CSR under the premise that business are legally–
bound and socially-obligated to conduct business in an ethical manner whilst giving
back to the community.
What is the basis of Business Ethics?
The primary basis of business ethics vary from person-to–person. This denotes that a
person’s view about what is ethical may be subjective and relative. As such, the way
one conducts business and its way to achieve profit may also differentiate.
Main Purpose of Business Ethics.
The primary purpose of Business Ethics is to guide businesses to be able to conduct
their operations within the bounds of ethically-sound practices. Moreover, business
ethics would also serve as an avenue for businesses to make ethically-sound
decisions.
Special Purpose of Business Ethics.
Business Ethics guide businessmen to realize that their actions should not be
subjected to double standards – what they think is wrong for others to do must also
be applicable to themselves. In addition, business ethics would be viewed as the
standard or ideal in the conduct of business operations.
Is there a Universal Standard for Code of Ethics?
As of the moment, there is no universal standard for code of ethics, this is primarily
due to the relativeness and subjectivity of ethics as a whole. Moreover, because of
this matter the evaluation of actions to be executed needed to be based on one’s
own values and perception of what is right and wrong.
What does Business Ethics involve?
Business Ethics involves making decisions based on the established standards of
what is right and wrong. Also, the decisions made by the decision-making body then
be applied in the conduct of business.
Page 2 of 9 | Topic 6 Business Ethics, Ethical Dilemmas, and Advocacy Against Corruption
[Papa, Czirelle Dominique E]; ACC
What is the impact of Business Ethics in the economy, society, environment,
and business managers?
• Economic Impact. Through lawfully paying taxes, companies contribute to
the development of a country since the money collected will then be utilized in
executing government projects/services that generally improve the quality of
life of its constituents. In addition, through lawful remuneration of their
employees, businesses stimulate the economy through granting their
employees with purchasing power to buy goods that keep the cyclical
movement of the economy.
• Social Impact. Through considering business ethics, companies tend to be
ethical in its business conduct. As such, through initiatives in their CSR, they
are able to give back to the community.
• Environmental Impact. Through energy-efficient initiatives of companies, the
carbon footprint of corporation would be greatly reduced. This results to
gradual healing of the environment, preservation of non-renewable natural
resources, and strengthened support for the reproduction of flora and fauna.
• Business Managers. Primarily, since business managers make the decisions
on behalf of the company, they need to consider its best interest; however,
they must still act on choosing the course of action that does not require illicit
actions to be performed.
What are the Challenges in today’s world?
In the advent of technology, the modes for fraudulent and illicit activities have
evolved further. In this sense, it is imperative for people to setup security measures
to combat against the aforementioned problems.
Chapter 7
What are the common unethical practices that businesses commit? Classify
and summarize each.
1. Direct Misrepresentation. Blatant execution of deception to the customers.
Included below are examples of direct misrepresentation:
a. Deceptive Packaging. The usual practice of placing products on much
larger packaging to seemingly present that the contents of the product
has more quantity than other brands.
b. Misbranding or Mislabeling. The practice of imitating how the
branding of a product looks in order to deceive consumers.
c. False Advertising. Exaggerates the qualities of the product in order to
entice the customers to buy.
d. Adulteration. The act of tampering a genuine product by replacing a
portion of its contents with inferior products, for the purpose of larger
profits.
e. Weight Understatement. The weight presented on the packing is not
the same with the actual content. Moreover, the instruments used to
measure are also tampered to seemingly show that the weight
presented is genuine.
f. Quantity Understatement. The actual quantity inside the product
