Business ethics need to be embraced
Print Edition
BUSINESS ethics is an important and integral part of business that should be put on par with laws or market rules, participants said at the 6th World Congress of the International Society of Business, Economics and Ethics, which opened in Shanghai yesterday.
“Business ethics should be integrated into the life of business,” said Richard T. De George, a professor at the University of Kansas in the United States. “In our school, it is taught as a humanities course because we hope to give ethics a human face.”
Cecilia Arruda from Hetica Business Training in Brazil said the current weak global economy poses challenges and opportunities for the development of business ethics.
The global financial crisis in 2008 created “rising citizen awareness of business ethics,” Arruda said.
About 350 participants, with two-thirds from overseas countries and regions, will discuss topics such as ethics and innovation, ethics in supply chain management and business ethics in Europe. This year, the four-day congress will host the first Asia sub-forum to give more coverage of the region.
Su Yong, a management professor at Fudan University, said practicing business ethics is measuring one’s own morals.
“If you want to use child labor, which is legal in some countries, ask yourself whether you are willing to send your own kid to work,” Su said, adding that the recent case of IKEA in China was a good example of the importance of business ethics.
IKEA China has started recalling more than 1.66 million chests of drawers, including the popular Malm line that was found unsafe abroad but met Chinese standards. The furniture retailer had earlier refused to recall the products in China while doing so in North America after six children were crushed to death after the furniture toppled on them. IKEA was criticized for double standards and eventually relented after the Shanghai Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau intervened.
“In this case, IKEA did not break any laws or rules, but it violated business ethics and had the company’s reputation tarnished,” Su pointed out.
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