Milton Friedman's Views on Business and Ethical Consideration

Because corporations are established to profit and shareholders invest money with expectations of a greater return, managers cannot be given a directive to be “socially responsible” without providing specific criteria of checks and balances to which needs to adhere. Therefore, it is imperative to the success of a corporation for managers to not act solely but rather to act within the policies of the shareholders.

The author Robert Solomon argues that ethics has to an integral part with regard to business management. He does not believe that business management must include unethical or illegal methods to be able to succeed. Solomon preaches that business management is not as simple as obtaining revenue. “Businesses need to abide by fair policies and their owners have to be ethical in dealing with their customers” (Shaw p. 37). The author acknowledges that while illegal practices in business management could bring positive results at first, eventually the business is bound to fail. This is why Solomon recommended eight important policies that can help businesses in integrating ethics into their operations.

Using at least two (2) of the foundational ethical theories studied in Module 2, you should answer the following questions. With each answer, you should discuss the issues and set forth and defend a clear position on whether or not any constraint ought to be placed on the freedom of a business to:

In addressing your ethical concerns I must let you know what my philosophy is pertaining to ethics as a fundamental concept in business. Knowingly, or not we all approach life with ethical and moral principles. These principles,

The problem to be investigated is the application of business ethics. In the business world, ethics are extremely important. Ethics are prime elements that help a business to grow and to become more productive. It is by applying proper business ethics that a business can operate in a moral or ethical business environment and managed to conduct all activities in a manner that maximizes profits while not compromising all other non-economic concerns(Schwab, 1996). Businesses have over the years failed to nurture business ethics in order to fulfill shareholders' interests and to have a culture that is oriented towards profit maximization and high performance(Jennings, 2012; Sims & Felton, 2006). This has led business to have gray areas in their activities. Gray areas are those situations or problems that do not fit exactly into any ethical analysis. These are the activities which may be represented to be immoral as a result of lying and false representations on the part of the business.

This will be an over view of ethics as it relates to business in our society. Concepts from Philosophy will seek to describe the correlation between actions that are classified as morally right or ethical in our dealings with each other as human beings. Clear and concise examples will be given as well as ways in which to improve upon business ethics.

Ethics in a global concept is difficult to pinpoint because each country has its own culture. This culture can affect the government and the citizens, which in turn, affects the way businesses are managed. However, this can become a problem when companies become international. On the other hand, there are global common values that many countries possess that can help fair commerce across countries. These shared values come from the fact that many of the world’s religions share the same values. Therefore, “relative prosperity of developed economies seems implicitly to be taken as evidence of a sustainable form of free market capitalism that is supposed to be a universal economic destination” (Michaelson, 2010, p. 239). However, when a country does not share these values, or has a leader that does not it can become a major problem for

Business Ethics is a set of moral principles applied in the commercial world. Business ethics provide guidelines for acceptable behavior by organizations in both their strategy formulation and day-to-day operations. An ethical approach is becoming necessary both for corporate success and a positive corporate image. Following pressure from

a. Milton Friedman’s philosophy of corporate responsibility is that “social matters are not the concern of business people and that these problems should be resolved by the unfettered workings of the free market system”. As harsh as it may sound, what he mean course to say was that a business has “to make as much money as possible while conforming to basic rules of society”. Meanwhile, Archie Carroll’s philosophy states that a business has “four kinds of social responsibilities” that a firm must address in their corporate social responsibility, which are economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic duties. Clearly they have two very different views. Friedman sees that a business’s ultimate goal is to generate profits, then comes the legal and ethical responsibilities it must fulfill. To Friedman, there is no need to be philanthropic because the firm’s job is only to make money for the economy, and it is the economy’s obligation to be philanthropic with the profits. Carroll agrees with Friedman that a company must be profitable, then be legal by obeying the law, and be ethical to avoid harm. However, Carroll believes it is also desired and in the best interests of the company to be philanthropic because it will “create a good corporate citizen”. Friedman has an economic view whereas Carroll has a social view. In my opinion, Archie Carroll’s philosophy on corporate social responsibility is more accurate. The social pyramid model he made to go with his views makes

Globalism has resulted in a number of changes for the economic viability of the modern corporation. As both the developed world evolves in their new market structure, the developing world adds to the pressures and changes necessary to do business in the contemporary environment. Doing business is not the same worldwide, and the citizens of the global village realize that there are different cultural norms, behaviors, and expectations that stakeholders of all types have when thinking about the modern corporation. Business ethics sets up standards for organizations to act in a way that may be considered right or wrong, or at the very least acceptable or unacceptable. As trade barriers are falling around the globe, differences in morality are gaining more interest regarding such issues as human rights, political behavior or even environmental conservation. The core purpose of a multinational business is to continue to grow the organization, find more resources, develop more product and convert new customers. Without fiscal advantages, organizations would not have the impetus to expand globaly greater profits, less regulation expense, tax incentives, larger universe of workers, etc. Multinational corporations do, however, need to keep in mind that customs, laws, and expectations may very well change by country, but that there are still remaining overall global moral standards of behavior (Mayfield, 2003).

“The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened” (Kennedy, 1963). Continuous improvements in technology capabilities have provided companies with tools to more easily conduct business on a global scale. However, when conducting business with different cultures, you risk different ethical standards. Companies should be accountable for ensuring their product or services can be received by the consumer in good conscience, void of human ethics violations, regardless of where the product or service originates; and consumers should not patronize companies that cannot ensure this trust.

“ Every culture and nation has its own values, history, customs and traditions, thus it has developed own ethical values and understanding of ethical principles; There is no international ethical code of conduct, accepted and followed by all the countries; There is a lack of governments’ initiative to create ethical cooperation framework and thus to enhance ethical behavior in international business; It is hard to outline those ethical values which would be understandable, acceptable and important for representatives of all the continents simultaneously within different types of international cooperation projects”. ( carlo scevola, mba, 1995-2015)

Milton Friedman dictates that firms' primary responsibility is to maximize shareholder revenue and should overcome all hindrances in the environment to do so. This would include having employees work long hours, maintaining high prices or even side lining the importance of environmental safety.

ethical approach can be taken in the best interests of the company. Again, to maintain a strong

Many ethical issues arise precisely because of differences in economic, political, legal and cultural systems. The ethical issues of International Business affect virtually all areas where the international economy is concerned. In trade relations, each country uses its ability to export its products to other national markets. In currency trading world, all countries benefit when there is a stable exchange rate, which facilitates business and trade, but they also can agree unilaterally to