Business Ethics Concepts and Cases
Business Ethics Concepts and Cases
Ethics means the behavior and actions of an individual or organization leading to the common good of the society and company. The best way to begin the discussion of business ethics is by looking at how real companies have incorporated ethics into their operation. Merck and Company a well-known name in the pharmaceutical industry resolved the issue of disease called river blindness. River blindness was a disease prominent on the river coast in the third world countries. The disease is caused by a tiny parasite worm which enters the body and causes noudles. Then the worm reproduces in millions and spreads over the whole body. Once the worm reaches the eyes and brain, the patient is blinded. The cost of development of the antibiotic was approx. 100 million. The price of the medicine cannot be kept high, since the poor inhabitants of the Africa cannot afford it. Also another variant of the medicine for animals was already sold in the market. So the problem was that selling cheap version of the same medicine could lead to smuggling of the drugs to the lucrative animal market. Hence the company discussed the issues among its managers and eventually decided to start the research for the new medicine. Hence ethically the company took the correct decision and decided to help the poor and the needy despite the chances of incurring losses in the new venture.
Let’s now turn over to the definition of the business ethics. Business ethics is sometimes contradiction in terms because there is an inherent conflict between ethics and self-interested pursuit of profits. But the case of Merck suggests a somewhat different perspective. A management of the company spent millions of dollars developing a product that they knew had little chances of ever being profitable because they had ethical obligation to make its potential benefits available to the people. Moreover the comments from management suggest that in the long run there would be no
Ethics means the behavior and actions of an individual or organization leading to the common good of the society and company. The best way to begin the discussion of business ethics is by looking at how real companies have incorporated ethics into their operation. Merck and Company a well-known name in the pharmaceutical industry resolved the issue of disease called river blindness. River blindness was a disease prominent on the river coast in the third world countries. The disease is caused by a tiny parasite worm which enters the body and causes noudles. Then the worm reproduces in millions and spreads over the whole body. Once the worm reaches the eyes and brain, the patient is blinded. The cost of development of the antibiotic was approx. 100 million. The price of the medicine cannot be kept high, since the poor inhabitants of the Africa cannot afford it. Also another variant of the medicine for animals was already sold in the market. So the problem was that selling cheap version of the same medicine could lead to smuggling of the drugs to the lucrative animal market. Hence the company discussed the issues among its managers and eventually decided to start the research for the new medicine. Hence ethically the company took the correct decision and decided to help the poor and the needy despite the chances of incurring losses in the new venture.
Let’s now turn over to the definition of the business ethics. Business ethics is sometimes contradiction in terms because there is an inherent conflict between ethics and self-interested pursuit of profits. But the case of Merck suggests a somewhat different perspective. A management of the company spent millions of dollars developing a product that they knew had little chances of ever being profitable because they had ethical obligation to make its potential benefits available to the people. Moreover the comments from management suggest that in the long run there would be no
References: * Business Ethics – Concept and Cases by Manuel G. Velasquez * Student Presentations in the Ethics Class