Ethical Investments

Organizations that behave ethically are more apt to earn the trust of their customers, employees, and stockholders. Then there are companies that hide the true value of the company from possible investors, customers, employees, and the public at large showing a lack of ethically behavior. This does not all the time included just one company, but a group effort to hide, steal, and mislead everyone for personnel gains. Everyone that deals with any organization expects the upmost ethically behavior on all levels.

Ethics, ethical values, and social responsibility should all work in unison in a corporate business structure. These key traits are better defined as maintaining overall good business morals, obtaining employees who possess personal ethical values, and finally to behave ethically and with sensitivity toward social, cultural, economic and environmental issues. For a business to better ensure these quality business traits a code of ethics should be adopted by the business. In the cases of Bernie Madoff and Enron, the most well-known financial scandals in history, I feel, gave a major hand in pushing business all across America to have and enforce the code of ethics.

Yes, firms should behave ethically. When a firm behaves ethically then the public will “trust” them, and when a customer trusts a company they will be more likely to purchase their product/service or do business with them.

When an organization is not ethical, this will be seen through their work, employees, etc. A customer will lose confidence in a company quickly if they realize ethics are not a main priority for that particular business. If an organization wants to be in business for the long-run, they will realize their priorities should not be on getting rich quick but on setting standards and maintaining them; by following this rule, customers will continue to roll in, and the company will prosper.

When deciding what will benefit society, we evaluate if our actions are ethical or unethical. If the action is ethical, we would be considered socially responsible. Likewise, if the action is deemed unethical, then we would be considered socially irresponsible. A company that is focused on good ethics would be a company with strong social responsibility.

Ethical organizations experience the same fluctuations in business profit as any other organization due to economic downturns. Nevertheless, the smooth operation of an organization, its viability and the

Jeffrey Gitomer once said, “Great people have great values and great ethics.” These great people start ethical companies with great values with great ethics of course. The meaning of ethics can sometimes be unclear, but the general idea of ethics is choosing between right and wrong. There are many ethical companies that treat their company and consumers well such as Levi & Strauss Co., The Hershey Company, and 3M. Despite these companies that are successful and don’t attempt to cheat the world of business, there are others that aren’t so ethical. These include: Wells Fargo, Nestle, and Chevron.

It seems in todays world ethics can be the difference for a company succeeding or failing. With the way social media is today any small scandal a company has can be turned to worldwide news overnight. That is why companies take so much pride in their images in todays world and make sure that they are making ethical decisions and also being socially responsible.

Industries around the world, some more than other, have revenue and assets higher than the GDP of a number of nations. This makes them more powerful than those nations. These companies are run by Individuals who essentially make decisions on how the profit is made and how operations and activities are carried out. Their actions and decisions could potentially have an impact on a number of things, generally; the environment, national economies and even the lives of people somewhere on the globe. Making ethical decisions entails the decision maker(s) moral judgement about what is right and wrong and is carried out based on what they think is the right course of action. This may involve whiling away what could potentially increase a business’s yield financially but will also cause harm or pain for other stakeholder’s involved. This is why among many other reasons, ethics is very important for both the businesses and the society.

(Panza & Potthast, n.d.) Ethics is very important to a company’s success. Ethical behavior can bring benefits to a business. They can attract customers, which can lead to a boost in sales and profits. It can attract the right employees and increase productivity. It can also attract investors and keep the company’s share price high. Unethical behavior on the other hand can damage a company’s reputation and make it less appealing to stakeholders. It could also result in lower profits.

Ethics is defined as what is right and what is wrong. Every business should behave ethically. The moral principles that guide the way a business behaves are business Ethics. Ethics are moral guidelines to people or to an organisation which govern good behaviour. So behaving ethically is doing what is morally right. Doing an ethical business may always be not profitable but it will be more beneficial to company and the people involved in company as well as the people who are getting influenced by the company. If a company is acting ethically then it is trying to differentiate between right and wrong and then chose the right decision for everyone. It is very easy it identify any unethical

Ethics involve an individual's moral judgments concerning what is right and/or wrong. Individuals or groups of people are responsible for making decisions in an organization (shaw, 2008). Decisions within the organization are always emanate from the company's culture. However, the decision to act ethically and morally requires an individual judgment. Thus, members of staff are obligated to make decisions that reflect their right course of action (shaw, 2008). This involves rejecting the option that could lead to the greatest short-term gain. The leadership of most organizations stresses the need to adopt ethical behaviors and corporate social responsibility. Ethical dealings can earn the organization various benefits. For instance, it may attract more clients to the business thus boosting sales; employees could be motivated to stay longer in the organization thereby reducing recruitment expenditures. Ethical behaviors could also earn the business a favorable reputation that could attract investors. Categorically, a lack of social responsibility or unethical behavior may hurt the firm's reputation and scare away investors. Sales and profits could fall in the process.

Ackerman (2008). seems to believe that PepsiCo’s move to invest heavily in the Chinese market can appear to be “bullish,” yet “optimistic.” The author points out negatives concerning the venture, such as the value of the dollar in the market, economic downturns and sinking financial profit reports. However, perception of the author’s view of the company’s social responsibility is high, since she states that investing in China will create new employment opportunities due to expansion of R& D facilities, manufacturing capacity and sales force. “Thousands of new jobs are expected to be created in China because of the investments” (Ackerman, 2008, para. 11).

Social responsible programs are growing very rapidly. “Over the last two years, SRI investing has grown by more than 22% to $3.74 trillion in total managed assets, suggesting that investors are investing with their heart, as well as their head” (Chamberlain, 2013). Investors are caring about their

In the article “Doing well by doing good”, the words ‘business” and “ethics” has been pointed out that they can’t come together. Companies wondered where do ethics go and it has been widely wrath despite being taught in school. Ethics has been the custom yet uncertain. There are protesters in Washington, DC who were criticizing the immorality of a company including the IMF. Most people reacted that companies shouldn’t be in the business ethics at one’s convenience but should be concerned of their social responsibilities, morals and environment. The leader of market economics, Milton Friedman, stated that to increase the profits, the company has to use its resources and has to engage in activities.