Excessive Profits, Human Dignity, and Common Good Op-Ed

This assignment is an Op-Ed exploring the ethical implications of excessive profits in a business context. The student argues that the pursuit of excessive profits often disregards human dignity and the common good, highlighting the exploitation of customers and the disproportionate distribution of benefits. The essay references various scholars to support the argument that companies should consider social costs and benefits when setting prices and distributing profits, advocating for a balance between profit maximization and the welfare of stakeholders, including customers and shareholders. The student emphasizes the importance of aligning business practices with ethical principles to uphold human dignity and contribute to the realization of the common good, suggesting that the common good should take precedence over private gain to foster a more equitable and humane business environment.

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Excessive Profits Op-Ed
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course Name
Date

Excessive Profits Op-Ed 2
Excessive profits
A company’s major goal is to make the highest profits as much as possible as this is the
driving force behind the running of any business. Most of these companies get their profits in an
ethical manner (Smith, 2005). However, there are some companies that extort their customers to
make excess profits, without taking into consideration that it needs to make only maximum
profits. Most big companies today make huge and excessive profits in their daily business
activities. It is evident that most of these companies make these exorbitant profits without
considering how their customers have suffered to raise the sum of money that they pay them.
This goes against the dignity of the human person and the realization of the common good.
The objectives of most firms are to maximize the competitive profits. However, when the
profits are being distributed in the system to achieve the targeted system of distribution, the
owners and managers of every firm need not keep what is beyond the profits that are considered
“normal” as Maritain (2006) claims. In most organizations, these profits do not necessarily mean
that all the shareholders will benefit from it. Additionally, it does not mean that this profit will go
back to the consumers who took part in raising these profits (Reamer & Proquest Ebook Central
(2013). This goes against the doctrine of the common good and realization of human dignity.
Companies must come up with prices that are a true reflection of the social costs as well
as benefits. I order to run away from the immoral concept of excessive profits these companies
ought to take into consideration the social costs and benefits that the profits will have on its
customers (Solomon, & Lo,n.d.). Companies normally seek to make these profits without
thinking about their customers. This means that they do not look at how these consumers or
customers are affected by their overcharging. These business organizations are inconsiderate on

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how the customers have struggled to raise the sum of money or resources that they, in turn,
extort from them. Let’s say, for instance, that a certain company has sold a product to a customer
who has struggled to get the money because he has been retrenched by his employer. The
implication is that the business organization has made profits but has not considered how this
customer suffers (Ali, 2014). The common goods require that whatever you do should take into
consideration the welfare of others. The business organization does not take into consideration
what the customer is going through in his life.
Excess profits do not necessarily mean that the shareholders will get an excess of this
share. There are cases whereby companies make excess profits that do not get down to the
shareholders (Maritain, 2006). Let us take an example of a company that makes $100 million in a
given financial year. The sum profit shall be displayed on the business accounts. However, this is
not going to be reflected in the shareholder’s account (Plate, 2010). This is because most of these
companies or businesses do not take into consideration the fact that these shareholders ought to
take part in the process of sharing these profits. This means that excess profits for a company do
not necessarily mean excess earning for the shareholders (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2015). It follows
that the management of the company or business organization does not put into consideration the
welfare of the shareholder; neither does it considers what the customers are going through.
In a nutshell, the case of excess profits can be summarized in the concept that the
common good is far much superior to the private good. As the doctrine states, a cause becomes
greater as it spreads its casualty to create more effects (Maritain, 2006). It shall be good if the
management or the stakeholders in a business organization or a company would spread the
concept of humanity to both the customers and the shareholders by not inflicting any form of

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financial injustice to them. This is what is meant by the dignity of the human person and the
realization of the common good in this context.

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List of References
Ali, A J (2014). Business ethics in Islam. Cheltenham : Edward Elgar Pub. Ltd
Carroll, A B, & Buchholtz, A K (2015) Business & Society: Ethics, sustainability, and
stakeholder management. Australia: Cengage Learning.
Maritain, J. (2006). The person and the common good. Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press.
Plate, T (2010). Confessions of an American media man. Singapore: Marshall Cavendish
Editions.
Reamer, FG, & Proquest Ebook Central (2013) Social work values and ethics. New York:
Columbia University Press.
Smith, M. A. (2005). Human dignity and the common good in the Aristotelian-Thomistic
tradition. Lewiston: Mellen University Press.
Solomon, D., & Lo, P. C. (n.d.). The Common Good: Chinese and American Perspectives
[recurso electrónico].