Business Ethics vs. Capitalism Essay -- essays research papers

The concept of business ethics has tried to change the way businesses operate over the years. Business ethics is a form of ethics that governs the actions of businesses to circumvent the affects business has on every day society. But some question its effectiveness in the application of capitalism. Several case studies have shown that this is the case; many companies place the pursuit of money in front of the pursuit of virtue. Although, the majority of companies are not in the spotlight of acting unethically, can we conclude that they follow the ethical norms? It is natural for normal human beings to act ethical but businesses are on a completely different playing field. But could business ethics be clearly possible in capitalism?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In order to understand the debate of business ethics, one must understand the concept of capitalism. Capitalism in its purest form is free enterprise, meaning that the market functions with minimal interference from government and other forces. If this is possible then businesses compete with each other on an equal playing field and whoever has the upper hand can gain much of the market. Each business will fight for there own share of the market and it is basically survival of the fittest, whoever has the better product, price, quality will win over customers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Capitalism is a free-market approach to economics but one other practice makes capitalism different from any other economical system. Within capitalism investors play a large part in business in capitalism. In theory there are several different kinds of investors in capitalism. One can ‘loan’ money to a company and the company will promise to return that loan with interest but the most common type of investment is ownership into the company or business. This type of ownership takes place through the concept of stock. Stock is an actual stake within the company bought in the stock market. In capitalism the stock’s price can either fluctuate up or down. This notion of the stock market plays the biggest part in a capitalist economy because a companies stock is an indication on how well the company is performing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Milton Friedman, a University of Chicago professor, suggests that the only responsibility of businesses is to their stockholders. He advocates that a businesses function is to make as much money as possible in any and every way, as long as the rules o... ...etely different things into the same economy, instead we should compromise into another type of economical system that can have a social conscience and still manage to make a profit. Recently many companies have had their unethical behavior uncovered and this placed doubt in the minds of many. Capitalism and ethics cannot truly exist together because in capitalism there can be no control and ethics as a form of control. In capitalism Greed is the number one priority in capitalism and ethics cannot sidetrack this priority. Although over the years business ethics and capitalism seemed to have coincided one cannot conclude that the two can coexist because of the many kinds of unethical behavior takes place in our capitalist economy, much of which is still hidden. The unethical behavior uncovered by the government recently is just the tip of the iceberg and I am sure as long as people try to combine ethics and capitalism, unethical behavior will still run rampant, revealed or not. Only one action can deter unethical behavior in the U.S. economy, and that is changing the whole system because if not we will continue to live in an unethical economy where greed is the on ly precedence. Business Ethics vs. Capitalism Essay -- essays research papers The concept of business ethics has tried to change the way businesses operate over the years. Business ethics is a form of ethics that governs the actions of businesses to circumvent the affects business has on every day society. But some question its effectiveness in the application of capitalism. Several case studies have shown that this is the case; many companies place the pursuit of money in front of the pursuit of virtue. Although, the majority of companies are not in the spotlight of acting unethically, can we conclude that they follow the ethical norms? It is natural for normal human beings to act ethical but businesses are on a completely different playing field. But could business ethics be clearly possible in capitalism?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In order to understand the debate of business ethics, one must understand the concept of capitalism. Capitalism in its purest form is free enterprise, meaning that the market functions with minimal interference from government and other forces. If this is possible then businesses compete with each other on an equal playing field and whoever has the upper hand can gain much of the market. Each business will fight for there own share of the market and it is basically survival of the fittest, whoever has the better product, price, quality will win over customers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Capitalism is a free-market approach to economics but one other practice makes capitalism different from any other economical system. Within capitalism investors play a large part in business in capitalism. In theory there are several different kinds of investors in capitalism. One can ‘loan’ money to a company and the company will promise to return that loan with interest but the most common type of investment is ownership into the company or business. This type of ownership takes place through the concept of stock. Stock is an actual stake within the company bought in the stock market. In capitalism the stock’s price can either fluctuate up or down. This notion of the stock market plays the biggest part in a capitalist economy because a companies stock is an indication on how well the company is performing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Milton Friedman, a University of Chicago professor, suggests that the only responsibility of businesses is to their stockholders. He advocates that a businesses function is to make as much money as possible in any and every way, as long as the rules o... ...etely different things into the same economy, instead we should compromise into another type of economical system that can have a social conscience and still manage to make a profit. Recently many companies have had their unethical behavior uncovered and this placed doubt in the minds of many. Capitalism and ethics cannot truly exist together because in capitalism there can be no control and ethics as a form of control. In capitalism Greed is the number one priority in capitalism and ethics cannot sidetrack this priority. Although over the years business ethics and capitalism seemed to have coincided one cannot conclude that the two can coexist because of the many kinds of unethical behavior takes place in our capitalist economy, much of which is still hidden. The unethical behavior uncovered by the government recently is just the tip of the iceberg and I am sure as long as people try to combine ethics and capitalism, unethical behavior will still run rampant, revealed or not. Only one action can deter unethical behavior in the U.S. economy, and that is changing the whole system because if not we will continue to live in an unethical economy where greed is the on ly precedence.