Evaluating Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility

This essay provides a comprehensive overview of business ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) and their significance in the modern business environment. It defines business ethics as the principles guiding acceptable business conduct, emphasizing its importance for maintaining trust and relationships with customers and stakeholders. The essay also explores CSR, highlighting its dimensions of corporate governance, social practices, and environmental accountability. It discusses how ethical structures contribute to good governance, emphasizing transparency and the protection of investor interests. Furthermore, the essay examines how businesses can integrate ethical considerations into their operations, addressing stakeholder concerns and promoting sustainable development. The conclusion reinforces the necessity of ethical conduct and CSR for organizational success and long-term viability, given the increasing awareness and expectations of society.

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS
Introduction to Business
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS 1
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Reference List................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS 2
Introduction
Chell et al., (2016), have defined social responsibility as the concept which states that the
business entities should not only focus on the profit making activities but also they should
maintain an appropriate balance between these activities with those which benefits the society
either directly or indirectly. This may incorporate enhancing the businesses while maintaining a
positive relationship with the society within which it is operating. The International Organization
for Standardization (ISO) focuses on evaluating the relationship between the business
organization and the environment surrounding the organization. Presently this social
responsibility is being used as a measure of overall organizational performance. The social
responsibility in turn makes an organization or individual to act in the best possible manner so as
not to affect the environment and society.
Furthermore, Corporate Social responsibility can be defined as a concept through which
the companies the social and environmental concerns of the organizations are integrated with
their business operations and also within their interaction with the stakeholders (Crane & Matten,
2016). On the other hand, business ethics has been defined as a self-conscious way through
looking at the business. In the context of business entities it is quintessential to maintain a
minimum level of ethics while conducting the business otherwise its alignment with the social
responsibility or corporate social responsibility will be unbalanced. This assignment will focus
on determining the role of business ethics and corporate social responsibility on business
organizations. This academic essay will further emphasize on evaluating how the scholarly
literature base is opining about maintaining ethics and social responsibility in the context of the
present global environment of business.

INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS 3
Discussion
Business ethics can be explained as the standard or principle that outlines whether the
business conducts are acceptable or not. This behavioral acceptability of the business is
determined by the competitors, customers, interest groups, government regulators and the
personal and moral values of the individuals as well. In order to provide an example the case of
Azko Nobel Chemical BV in Canada can be stated (Hartman et al., 2014). The Competition
Bureau of Canada pledged the company guilty in the federal Court for participating in
conspiracies for manipulating market prices and for using chemicals in numerous consumer
products as well.
There are numerous researchers who believe that the businesses should not only focus on
accruing profit but also take into account the social implications imposed by their business
operations. Kolk (2016), have defined social responsibility as the obligation of the business
entities towards reducing the negative impact and enhancing the positive impact of the business
activities over the society. However, there are several instances where the people use the terms
social responsibility and ethics alternatively. Although the meaning of these two words are not
the same. The ethics of a business emphasizes on the decision of an individual or a group of
individuals that the society evaluates whether is correct or incorrect. On the other hand, social
responsibility or corporate social responsibility is a wider concept that determines the impact of
the business activities over the entire society (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2015). For instance, from an
ethical perspective one may become concerned and restrictive while health care organization or
an individual practitioner is overcharging the provincial government for their service. However,
from the social responsibility perspective it would be considered whether this overcharging may
enable the system to provide ample medical facilities to the broader population.

INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS 4
Recognizing and resolving the ethical issues in business is the most critical factor
towards making ethical decisions in business. In order to determine the key factors that motivates
the business entities to operate in an ethical manner it is necessary to develop an in depth
knowledge of the concept (Schwartz, 2017). It has been observed that altruism is not the only
factor that motivates the organizations to conduct business activities ethically, it the “bottom
line” are taken into consideration there are other important reasons as well which acts as the
building block towards committing to ethical values.
 It is quite evident from the available data that the ethical businesses are more profitable.
 While the ethical choice is made it reduces the stress over the corporate managers and the
other employees as well.
 The reputation of an organization plays a crucial role in determining the profitability of
the business.
 Leadership is enhanced through ethical practices.
 It is also a matter of fact that the substitute of voluntary ethical behavior is the regulations
which are costly and demanding.
The people who are well aware about the market activities will be able to recognize the
unethical as well as aggressive sales techniques used by the organizations to prey the consumers.
In certain cases the businesses resort to some sales techniques which are confusing and quite
hard to refuse. It is an important notion that is importantly to be taken into consideration is that
the ethics in businesses is far more important than the legal issues. The ethical conduct of the
business helps in developing a sense of trust among the individual customers as well as enhances
the business relationships as well. These in turn promotes and substantiates the confidence of
business relationships (Trevino & Nelson, 2016). The organizations which have been accused for

INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS 5
acting unethically or carrying out business malpractices faces certain difficulties in establishing
trust and confidence.
Identifying the ethical issues can be considered as the most crucial step towards
understanding the ethics of business. The ethical issue is characterized as the recognizable
problem or opportunity which requires an individual to make a choice from numerous different
actions which can later be evaluated as ethical or unethical. In the context of business activities
these choices may involve selecting between monetary benefits and what the person carrying out
the decision thinks to be an appropriate ethical conduct (Pearson, 2017). The most efficient
method to evaluate the ethics behind a specific decision is to look at the situation from the
viewpoint of a customer or competitor. However, through the entire discussion regarding the
business ethics it can be observed that in the modern day business environment where the
customers are well aware about the fact that it is crucial for the businesses to carry out its
operations ethically. Otherwise, the businesses will lose its reputation and thereby no longer be
able to carry out its operations effectively and efficiently.
In addition to the business ethics, social responsibility is also quite important for the
business entities (Quarshie et al., 2016). However, the corporate social responsibility has been
observed to be emerging as a result of the business ethics. It possesses three clear dimensions
which are as follows,
a) A better corporate governance
b) Corporate Social Responsibility
c) Environmental Accountability

INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS 6
These are the way through which business ethics is spreading its influence over the
business governance. The top most management of an organization is not only held responsible
for identifying such a change but also for translating this vision into appropriate practices and
thereby adopting the appropriate measure which will be balanced incorporating the three
aforesaid approach.
a) A better corporate governance
An effective corporation is designed and formed on the basis of the division between
control and ownership. In such a system the owner or the investor relies completely over the
manager or CEO. The manager carries out the business activities effectively on behalf of the
investor. This clearly implies that there exists a principle agent relationship between the manager
and investor that gives rise to the emergence of asymmetric information. This means there may
exist a gap between the information possessed by the manager as well as the investor (Bowie,
2017). This specific situation in turn enhances the need for a good corporate governance, which
will be transparent. On the other hand, the shareholders should also possess complete and
appropriate information. The entire process should also be transparency in the process as well so
that the manager does not become able to exploit the asymmetric information. The key objective
of good governance is to establish an efficient system for controlling and managing through
which the interest of the investors can be protected. The process should also be so designed to
restrict the managers from patronizing their own interest i.e. the manager who is working as an
agent may possess their own interest which may not be in line with the organizational objectives.
These processes must be institutionalized so as to protect the interest of the investors which is
maximization of profit as well as wealth (Vitell, 2015). Henceforth, the ethical structure has the
implication of good governance which in turn implies increased profits.

INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS 7
b) Corporate Social Responsibility
The second ethical dimension of the corporate social responsibility emphasizes over the
social practices where the organizations carry out their operations for rendering their services
towards the community. Stakeholders are those who can easily be influenced through the
policies, decisions, actions or practices of the organization. Stakeholders not only incorporates
shareholders but also amalgamates consumers, suppliers, employees and government within it
(Köseoglu et la., 2018). Through corporate social responsibility the organizations are
acknowledging their responsibilities towards the society which is more than making profit
through selling goods and services. It is a widely accepted fact that these modern day
organizations are more than just economic institutions and these organizations also possess
certain responsibilities towards the society which helps in solving the rising social issues (Pai et
al., 2015). CSR or corporate social responsibility emphasizes over the process through which the
companies control its business processes and thereby leaves a positive impact over the society.
c) Accountability towards the Environment
The third dimension of CSR is considered in the form of accountability of the business
towards the environment. The business entities interact with the natural environment on a regular
basis, these entities accrue their resources from the environment as well. Furthermore, the
businesses are found to be influencing the environment through its actions (Andriof & McIntosh,
2017). Hence, these organizations will also be held responsible for leaving any impact over the
environment. Previously the corporate organizations used to dump the waste products in the
environment. However, with the rise in the level of environmental awareness and degradation of
the environment quality, depletion of the exhaustible resources like fossil fuel, coal, water and

INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS 8
other natural resources the organizations are being pressurized to become responsible towards
the environment (Spence, 2016).
Corporate Social Responsibility is linked strictly with the components of sustainable
development. It proposes that the business enterprise should not take decisions on the basis of the
financial and economic factors they should also take into account the environmental and social
consequences of their activities being carried out by them. Hence corporate social responsibility
is associated with how these businesses are adjoining their business operations with the
expectations and need of the different stakeholders of the company (Carroll, 2015). Moreover,
the corporate responsibility also depicts the commitment of an organization towards the
environment.
Conclusion
Therefore in the context of the given case scenario it can be observed that the
organizations should be responsible for the society and environment as well as they should carry
out their business activities as ethically as possible. The ethics of business is mainly the criteria
which are needed to be followed so that the activities which are being carried out by the
businesses mitigate the social and environmental standards specified by the governing authority.
On an added notion, it should also be mentioned that the organizations in most of the cases find
out that conducting the business ethically involved forgoing a substantial amount of financial
benefits as well. Therefore, as the discussion suggests it is quite necessary to conduct the
business ethically as in the ever increasing awareness among the people may find an unethical
business non-suitable for the society and disregard the business. This as a result may cause a
significant decline in the revenue and profit of the organization. Finally it has also been observed
that corporate social responsibility is a component of the business ethics as well. Business ethics

INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS 9
is a wide concept that encompasses the concept of business ethics and therefore as stated earlier
it can again be pointed out that practicing both of these has become inevitable for the
organization to follow.

INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS 10
Reference List
Andriof, J., & McIntosh, M. (Eds.). (2017). Perspectives on corporate citizenship. Routledge.
Bowie, N. E. (2017). Business ethics: A Kantian perspective. Cambridge University Press.
Carroll, A. B. (2015). Corporate social responsibility: The centerpiece of competing and
complementary frameworks. Organizational Dynamics, 44(2), 87-96.
Chell, E., Spence, L. J., Perrini, F., & Harris, J. D. (2016). Social entrepreneurship and business
ethics: Does social equal ethical?. Journal of business ethics, 133(4), 619-625.
Crane, A., & Matten, D. (2016). Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
Ferrell, O. C., & Fraedrich, J. (2015). Business ethics: Ethical decision making & cases. Nelson
Education.
Hartman, L. P., DesJardins, J. R., & MacDonald, C. (2014). Business ethics: Decision making
for personal integrity and social responsibility. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Kolk, A. (2016). The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the
environment to CSR and sustainable development. Journal of World Business, 51(1), 23-34.
Köseoglu, M. A., Yildiz, M., & Ciftci, T. (2018). Authorship trends and collaboration patterns in
business ethics literature. Business Ethics: A European Review, 27(2), 164-177.
Pai, D. C., Lai, C. S., Chiu, C. J., & Yang, C. F. (2015). Corporate social responsibility and
brand advocacy in business-to-business market: The mediated moderating effect of
attribution. Journal of Business Ethics, 126(4), 685-696.

INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS 11
Pearson, R. (2017). Business ethics as communication ethics: Public relations practice and the
idea of dialogue. In Public relations theory (pp. 111-131). Routledge.
Quarshie, A. M., Salmi, A., & Leuschner, R. (2016). Sustainability and corporate social
responsibility in supply chains: The state of research in supply chain management and business
ethics journals. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 22(2), 82-97.
Schwartz, M.S., 2017. Corporate social responsibility. Routledge.
Spence, L. J. (2016). Small business social responsibility: Expanding core CSR theory. Business
& Society, 55(1), 23-55.
Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2016). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do
it right. John Wiley & Sons.
Vitell, S. J. (2015). A case for consumer social responsibility (CnSR): Including a selected
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767-774.