The best way to go into this is to do a detailed background check on the prospective company. The best way to avoid potential problems in investing is to use the ethical investing principle. Our text states, “Ethical investing commonly involves avoiding stocks related to armaments, tobacco, the sex industry, and alcohol, as well as incorporating stocks in ethical companies such as alternative energy companies” (Fieser, Moseley, 2012, p 10.2). Another way of putting it is responsible investing. As noted, “In essence RI refers to a combination of investment strategies that integrate ethical as well as environmental, social and corporate governance considerations into investment analysis and decision making process”(Bosch, Buijs, Smit, 2008, p 15). One must also take into account that even though a company may have made ethically questionable decisions in the past, they may have changed out the previous leadership and now conduct business differently.
From the ethical perspective a particular group to which you currently belong, or previously belonged, does the group ignore the company’s past and research the current product, digging around for alternative ethical viewpoints, or does the group accept the possibility of earning a simple profit?
The United States Army places great value on ethics. Not only is there quarterly ethics training, there are rules in place pertaining to the ethical standards that companies who do business with the military must adhere to. With such things as “The False Claims Act of 1863 aimed to help the government recover money from companies that defrauded governmental programs” (Fieser, Moseley, 2012, p 6.7)
Fieser, J. & Moseley, A. (2012). Introduction to business ethics. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Retrieved