Ethical Issues Affecting Businesses Today Term Paper

Ethical Issues Affecting Businesses Today - Term Paper Example There exists a direct correlation between ethics and businesses, with the long-term benefits associated with the interaction between the two being sustainable businesses. To understand what constitutes a responsible business, it is essential to consider morally acceptable business practices. In this regard, a responsible business behaves ethically and ethics are the moral precepts that determine the acceptable code of behavior (Riley 2012). The responsible business practice entails making decisions that are both legal and morally sound, basing on general standards of acceptable behavior in society. The other notions that work in conjunction with business ethics include corporate social responsibility, corporate responsibility, sustainable business and social enterprise, whereby it is hardly possible to separate these concepts, as they are highly interrelated. This is because an ethical business must be socially responsible, and similarly, a socially responsible business must be ethic al; therefore, these concepts are interlinked. Social responsibility is a broad concept as it covers the relationship between businesses and all the stakeholders involved and this relationship is defined with ethical principles and obligations. Every business is obliged to operate responsibly, and this entails doing what is morally acceptable and right all times; this calls for the establishment of principles that act as guidelines for the business. These principles define how the business relates to other stakeholders in the society such as consumers, suppliers, the surrounding communities and the government at large. Businesses must be careful to maintain good relationships with all these stakeholders for if they have to operate within the financial markets; this has both long term and short-term benefits. Businesses that are able to maintain such effective relationships are thus said to be socially responsible;  a socially responsible  business meets its  obligations to soc iety. For instance, businesses are expected to treat their employees with the utmost respect especially concerning employee privacy and protect employee rights such as entitlement to decent wages (Patil 2012); businesses that breach this obligation are bound to face criticism. Many businesses today have signed the UN Global Compact that obliges them to be socially responsible especially concerning environmental protection, human rights and labor standards (â€Å"From Fringe to mainstream† 2012). There has been a global drive to help firms become more socially responsible, especially with the initiatives of B- Lab, a non-profit organization that helps private firms be socially responsible (â€Å"B Lab's Bart Houlahan† 2012). Corporate responsibility entails being accountable to the society in general, by engaging in healthy business practices that promote the wellbeing of the world at large. In this case, businesses must take responsibility for their actions, as a form of responsible business behavior as opposed to being insensitive and unresponsive. Both excellent and awful corporate responsibility influences not only on the local communities of operation but also on the world at large. For instance, corporate responsibility has socio-economic and environmental effects in the world, and these can be either positive or negative.