ABSTRACT

Executives confront ethics and business practice issues  internally within their companies and externally in their dealings with suppliers, clients, competitors, government agencies, professional asociations, employees, customers and, of course, in relation to environmental regulation and fundamental moral norms. Business ethics involves practical reasoning and reflection using theoretical models as a guide to action but also involves being able to understand and perceive issues from the perspective of various stakeholders such as employees, suppliers, customers, and so on. Ethics involves being able to understand what is right and what is wrong and being able and willing to select, and morally justify, courses of action accordingly. However, there are often grey areas which lead businesses to take what they consider to be the ‘least worst decision’.