ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Business Ethics. It highlights the ten key criteria for business executives and entities. The criteria relate to the application of moral concepts and are thus subjective. It demonstrates that being a common practice or legally acceptable does not necessarily make it ethical. This is where a Zarathushti upbringing and life experiences consciously or subconsciously help people to make the right decisions.
It also highlights the importance of Sustainable Development, which necessitates the maximisation of the nexus between People, Planet & Property. A current situation involving the mining of lithium in the Andes Mountains exemplifies the risks of resource pillage and destruction of lands to serve the richer countries’ ‘Green Revolution’ involving electric cars and wind turbines. The way forward is to reduce the negative impacts of mining through innovation, creativity, and calculated risk. Hence, the case is made that Sustainable Development can and should be added to the list of ethical criteria.
This chapter goes on to provide examples of three Zoroastrian businesses, The Master Group, Godrej Industries, and Tata Motors Ltd., which are ethical in their behaviour, maintaining a high level of environmental consciousness and sustainable development. They exemplify soft ethical qualities, good governance, social welfare, environmentalism, and sustainable development.
Finally, there is an effort to link business ethics with not only Zoroastrian culture and values, which have been passed on from generation to generation, but also religious interpretations that are subconsciously omnipresent.
