Business Ethics And Sustainability

Question 1: Explain the importance of ethics and values in business sustainability.

Ethics are an area of study that deals with ideas about what is good and bad behaviour: a branch of philosophy dealing with what is morally right or wrong (Cory, 2006:19).

In management, business value is an informal term that includes all forms of value that determine the health and well-being of the firm in the long run. Business value expands concept of value of the firm beyond economic value (also known as economic profit, economic value added, and shareholder value) to include other forms of value such as employee value, customer value, supplier value, channel partner value, alliance partner value, managerial value, and societal value. Many of these forms of value are not directly measured in monetary terms (Rendtorff, 2009:89).

Definition: Sustainability is a business strategy that drives long-term corporate growth and profitability by mandating the inclusion of environmental and social issues in the business model. Unlike corporate social responsibility, which retroactively addresses issues, sustainability implies a forward trajectory. In other words, CSR looks to the past actions of a company while sustainability looks forward by changing the nature of the company (Wells, 2013:26).

Important of ethics

The importance of business ethics should be obvious throughout every area of the business. When a business is known for dealing honestly with all people, from its employees and customers to shareholders and vendors, it is often more likely to become successful. While ethics is a subjective topic that may mean different things to different people, it's still very important in all types of corporate settings(Cory, 2006:21).

Business ethics play...

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...on-making is timely, complete, and correct, then things will go well. Yet a decision by itself changes nothing. After a decision is made, an organization faces the problem of implementation—how to get things done in a timely and effective way (Gardner, 1993:56).

Problems of implementation are really issues about how leaders influence behavior, change the course of events, and overcome resistance. Leadership is crucial in implementing decisions successfully. Each of us recognizes the importance of leadership when we vote for our political leaders. We realize that it matters who is in office, so we participate in a contest, an election, to choose the best candidate. Investors recognize the importance of business leadership when they say that a good leader can make a success of a weak business plan, but that a poor leader can ruin even the best plan (Gardner, 1993:56).