Starting New Business Ethically

Some of us would like to start a new business or expand their business to new geographical location. The new business owner would think of most of the business related issues but forget the soft and intangible issues like ethics and culture. Three thousand managers and employees were surveyed in the U. S., stated that ethics compliance did not change as expected after implementing ethics compliance programs (Gebler, 2006). Organizational culture had more influence on ethics programs success than any other factors (Gebler, 2006). Managers who aim for ethical culture change and target long-lasting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are facing difficulty in showing the benefits of such programs to the shareholders (Grossman, 2005). The shareholders would like to see immediate results to prove the managers spending (Grossman, 2005).

The basic components for ethical decision-making are moral issues, recognition, making moral judgment and engaging in moral behavior (Ingram, Skinner, & Taylor, 2005). These components would help in setting up an ethical international operation that  account for cultural, religious, national, gender, and racial differences. We need to study the local culture and religion and how it will be affected by the new business. If the business is established in the international market then we need to assess the effect of the existing business form the environmental, religious  and cultural aspects and make sure their compliance to the findings. Deviating from the ethical standard would lead to social and economical conflict with the locals. The result would be assessed for risk before taking the action to avoid legal actions. Deviations are allowed when the deviations benefits can outweigh the losses from the ethical operation.

References:

Gebler, D. (2006). Creating an ethical culture. Strategic Finance, 87(11), 28-34.

Grossman, H. A. (2005). Refining the role of the corporation: the impact of corporate social responsibility on shareholder primacy theory. [Article]. Deakin Law Review, 10(2), 572-596.

Ingram, R., Skinner, S., & Taylor, V. (2005). ‘Consumers’ evaluation of unethical marketing behaviors: The role of customer commitment’. [Article]. Journal of Business Ethics, 62(3), 237-252. doi: 10.1007/s10551-005-1899-0