Business Ethics and Rules

Personally, I agree that Solomon's ethical fundamentals are a good moral foundation for a business. “Business ethics is the study of what constitutes right and wrong (or good and bad) human conduct in a business context.” (p25) From the lecture, we know that ethics matters because “how organizations behave have important implications for how they fulfill their social and economic roles” and “their success as well as the success of their employees, customers, etc.” Thus, running a business ethically is good for business. Applying Solomon’s three C’s of business ethics and the eight rules of thinking ethics in business make good sense.
The three C’s of business ethics include compliance, contributions and consequences.
The first C is “the need for compliance with the rules, including the laws of the land…and such general concerns as fairness.”(p36) As a saying goes, “Nothing can be accomplished without norms or standards.” Rules in business are intended to assert business structure or to control or influence the behavior of the business. Let’s take EU-Rent for example. EU-Rent is a car rental company owned by EU-Corporation. EU-Rent sets up rules about rentals, returns, servicing and customers. For example, “EU-Rent keeps records of customers, their rentals, and bad experiences. This information is used to decide whether to approve a rental.” If EU-Rent doesn’t comply with these rules, it may not organize well.
The second C is “the contributions business can make to society, through the values and quality of one’s products or services…and usefulness of one’s activities to the surrounding community.” (p36) For instance, economists conventionally assume that organization’s primary goal is to maximize profits. Many successful organizations are gradually aware of the important relationship between profits and contributions to society. Starbucks has seen its profits rise as it has increased its investment in social issues. Those organizations who are making profits