In the 21st century, notoriously known for cut-throat competition, the theory of business ethics appears to be fast losing ground to profitability concept thereby narrowing the scope for preaching and practicing the philosophy of ethical standards in business. We have been taught and reminded of this jargon since our childhood as if being indispensable lessons for successful Business people. But going by Hume’s theory which suggests, “The strength of belief be a product of repetition.”, and there are not enough real-life examples that’s why we tend to deviate from the idea of morals and ethics.
In 2016, the presidential election of the United States was manipulated by a company called California Analytics which bought the data about demography from Facebook and influenced the people's opinion in a big way into supporting the particular candidate. If the top 500 fortune companies of the world like Facebook hardly stand the scrutiny of, let alone other hapless sections belong to the proletariat class of the country.
Let’s take another example of the 2008 global crisis in which companies like Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, AIG Group played havoc with the sentiments of the economic interest of people across the globe to be flourished in their business pursuit. Their actions led to the suffering of the whole world, and the only reason for the great global economic depression of 2008 was nothing but found compromising on the terms of morals and ethics. To date the economies of PIGS countries are suffering just because the moral compass of these companies was focussed on profitability.
Albeit, these may be the situation of most of the companies in the world but there are companies which are quintessential examples of moral and ethics. In this list Tata Group is definitely on the top of the pyramid whose whole principle and code of business is based on ethics and values and development of people in particular and the nation as a whole. Eminent Personality and Chairman of Tata Group Ratan Tata is an epitome of ethical and moral values and a role model to be emulated by one and all.
He has always been resolute in his resolve to remain committed to ethical standards in business and has never compromised on moral and ethical values. In an interview Ratan Tata was asked why are you not the richest person of India, his answer was I’m an industrialist and not a businessman, my whole principle revolves around the concept of national development and progress of its people and just not increasing personal wealth.
Of course, moral and ethics are the most important pillars of any business establishment, however hard, it may be to practice in real life equally important for an individual human being, but in today’s world where profitability is the key factor, the statement some time appears not to align with the ground realities for reasons. We always focus on short term goals. We should always keep in mind profit helps us to perform, but ethics helps us to establish the business by winning the hearts of people. Also, profit and ethics don’t overlap nor they are mutually exclusive in the long run.
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