Business ethics now in the spotlight as never before. Companies realize that taken on the challenge as if their very survival depends on it. This movement towards corporate social responsibility should benefits all-consumers, the environment, and the companies themselves.
Most businesses owners and management have built and maintained enduring companies without breaking the rules. One example of a firm with a long standing commitment to ethical practice is Johnson&Johnson, the giant multinational manufacturer of healthcare products. The most admired pharmaceutical make and the ninth-most-admired company in the world, according to Fortune, Johnson&Johnson has abided by the same basic code of ethics, its well-known Credo, for more than 50 years. The Credo, reproduced in Figure 2.1, remanins the ethical standard against which the company's employees periodically evaluate how well their firm is performing. Management is pledged to address any lapses that are reported.
Many companies are conscious of how ethical standards can translate into concern for the environment. In the fall of 2009, Walmart announced a plan to pursue three sustainability goals:
1.to use only renewable energy sources
2.to recycled all of its waste
3.to sell products that"sustain people and the environment according to Matt Kistler, the company's senior vice president for sustainability.
That summer, the company conducted a survey of its suppliers on their sustainability practices as a first step in developing a sustainability index" to help is customers assess the impact-on the environment and on society-of products in its stores. In addition, so far 40 Walmart stores make use of photovoltaic cells that generate electricity directly from sunlight.