What is ethical behavior?

Ethical behavior is the product of moral believes and principles. There are several ways for a company to become ethical, for example: pay fair prices for their resources, good working conditions for the employees, fair pay,less pollution,...

Fair pay is the most frequent example of ethical behavior because when a company pays bad(especially in Europe) it's criticized by the rest of the world. The reason here for is that every one wants to be payed correctly for their work and no one wants to be under payed.
Still, in developing countries you will find people who will do anything to work, even if it means they will be under payed. Some companies use this is in their advantage but that will be explained in a blog further one.

Nathalie De Braekeleer

A lot of ethical scandals

These days more and more companies are trapped in ethical scandals. Their most important goal is making a lot of money, they hardly care about their stakeholders.

However, according to several specialists, being ethical and corporate governance are the first steps to success.
There are a lot of reasons for operating in an ethical way and becoming successfull: it positively influences the company 's reputation which attracts consumers who will buy more, shareholder value increases and capital will be protected, companies also create a competitive advantage and there will be less internal corruption. Due to all these things, the costs of the company will decrease, which will result in more profit.

Besides, unethical behaviour can be risky: if a company loses its reputation, it can be permanent and maybe the company will have to close its doors.

Why are there still so many scandals regarding unethical behaviour, if you see the downside of it?


Silke Delahaye