Do Ethical Companies Exist?

Being an ethical business in the world we live in today is almost impossible. It is difficult in our capitalistic economy, where more profit equals more success, to be ethical with the constant pressure to succeed. Many companies will throw away their morals, so they can be more successful, which means exploiting as many people as possible. This is how capitalism works; the rich take advantage of the workers because the only way to make profit is by taking advantage of human labor. Corporate owners will employ workers for the cheapest price possible until they can find labor in another country that is more profitable. This is why large companies build new plants in foreign countries because they can make the most profit by making these workers work long hours in poor working conditions for below minimum wage. This is one of the main problems with our society today because we, the consumers, do not realize what we are buying and where we are buying it from. As consumers, we have to be conscious about what we buy.

There are some businesses that try to follow ethical procedures, and the purpose of this article is to highlight these businesses as positive role models for other businesses to follow. The purpose of a business should not be to make the most products at low quality to maximize revenue. The purpose of a business is to give our society what it needs through fair practices while making only a minimal profit. An ethical business should follow these standards. First, the employer should promote a workforce that is educated in their field of work and give their workers good conditions to work in and fair salaries. The investors should be ensured that their money is safe. The consumer should have complete information about the products, and how it was made. The business should not cheat in any way to get an unfair advantage over the competition, and all unlawful activities such as bribing should be discouraged. Finally, industries should try to minimize pollution and abide by government rules and regulations. Unethical businesses of course overlook most if not all of these rules and regulations.

Organizations should realize the positive effects of being ethical, humane, and considerate. It is not surprising that most of these ethical companies have a competitive edge in the market. A more ethical business in theory should attract more and better workers. Some of the ethical businesses to name a few are the following: FPL Group, AFLAC, New Balance, The Hartford, Kellogg’s, General Mills, Marriot, and IKEA. The following information was provided by http://ethisphere.com/worlds-most-ethical-companies-rankings/. Buy a pair of New Balance shoes instead of buying shoes from Nike that were made in a sweatshop. Unethical businesses should follow the example of these ethical businesses, which are just as successful because of their principled standards. As consumers if we buy more products from ethical companies then maybe the money driven unethical companies will get the hint. This is my challenge to you, think about your individual purchasing power and make a difference. Buy from ethical businesses.