Business ethics can be both a normative and a descriptive discipline. As a corporate practice and a career specialisation, the field is primarily normative. In academia descriptive approaches are also taken. The range and quantity of business ethical issues reflects the degree to which business is perceived to be at odds with non-economic social values. Historically, interest in business ethics accelerated dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s, both within major corporations and within academia. For example, today most major corporate websites lay emphasis on commitment to promoting non-economic social values under a variety of headings. In some cases, corporations have redefined their core values in the light of business ethical considerations.
the question of whether or not to bring ethics and corporate social responsibility into business is an ongoing one. “Business ethics is the study of proper business policies and practices regarding potentially controversial issues such as bribery, discrimination and corporate social responsibility” (www.investopedia.com/terms/b/business-ethics.asp). The objective of this essay is to discuss the arguments for and against bringing ethics and corporate social responsibility into business.
There are three arguments against bringing ethics into business. The first argument is that the availability of free markets and the pursuit of profit can be guaranteed benefit to all members of the community (Velasquez, 1998). This means that regardless of ethics, companies can contribute to the production requirements of the public. For example, there are some companies in Saudi which contribute to the provision of some modern medical