In my last article , I showed that a business owes an ethical responsibility towards its employees, customers, community, and shareholders, in roughly that order. This was based on a practical consideration of which people and groups are most responsible for a company's success, or can cause it to fail. In other words, you want to behave nicely towards people who can help you.
The final question is, what actions does a business have to take (or not take) to behave ethically towards its employees, customers, community, and shareholders?
My guiding principle here is the golden rule: ethical businesses should treat others the way they would want to be treated in a similar situation. More specifically, an ethical business should behave: