Business Ethics

Business ethics (also known as corporate ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and business organizations as a whole. Business ethics can be both a normative and a descriptive discipline. As a corporate practice and a career specialization, the field is primarily normative. In academia descriptive approaches are also taken. The range and quantity of business ethical issues reflects the degree to which business is perceived to be at odds with non-economic social values.

Carroll’s Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility

In the past, the common perception of a business responsibility was to maximize their firm’s profit. This is because businesses were perceived to always put the shareholder interests first. However, businesses are moving towards impacting the socials and environments. Several studies have found that businesses now have direct responsibilities to various other stakeholders which include preventing the harm of human rights and ensuring that there are solutions available if abuses occur.

The modern view of business responsibility demands companies to help in problems relating to public welfare. As firms have no utmost responsibility for these unpleasant situations, philanthropic responsibilities are still not mandatory.… Read the rest

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Case Study on Business Ethics: The Inside Story of the Collapse of AIG

AIG or  American International Group and its subsequent failure are one of, if not the most well-known company failures in financial history. Of the more recent bankruptcies filed for companies like Enron and Worldcom, the effects and unforeseeable consequences of the failure of a company like AIG would be much more widespread and felt by many more Americans at the lay person level. AIG is primarily an insurance company that sells Property casualty, life, and travel insurance to customers the world over. However, there was another arm to the company known as AIG FP or American International Group Financial Products division.… Read the rest

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Madoff Scandal – How Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme Worked?

Bernard L. Madoff, simply known as Bernie is an American allegedly the operator of what is known as the largest Ponzi scheme in history. Bernie before his capture, acted as the stock broker, investment adviser and non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock market. It was not later than 2009 when Madoff pleaded guilty; he was guilty for turning his wealth management business into a massive Ponzi scheme. This scheme according to various sources defrauded thousands of investors billions of dollars.

In 1960, Bernard Madoff founded one of the biggest firms in Wall Street. He was the chairman of his company “Madoff Investment Securities LLC”, until his arrest was warranted on the December of 2008.… Read the rest

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Case Study: Scam of the Century – Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme

In the world of finance, there are a select amount of manipulative masterminds that sit on a throne of lies. Those who commit these white-collar crimes take advantage of institutions and all classes of people. Ultimately, the enormity of these crimes brings ruin and chaos to the lives of those affected. In this manner, Bernard Lawrence Madoff is just one of these individuals who ran history’s largest Ponzi scheme.

To begin, Bernie Madoff was born in Queens, New York in 1938. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Hofstra University in 1960 and shortly thereafter started his own firm known as Bernard L.… Read the rest

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Ethics in Financial Reporting

Integrity is of utmost importance for a successful career in business and finance in the long run. Some believe that the world of finance lacks ethical considerations. Whereas the truth is that such issues are prevalent in all areas of business.

The business environment in much of the world is reeling from the revelation of several financial scandals in the past few years. The optimism of the turn of the century has been replaced by scepticism and distrust. It will be discussed as to how we landed ourselves in this situation, what is being done to correct it, and what the future holds for us.… Read the rest

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What is Servant Leadership?

In many situations we are able to draw associations or determine one situation resembles another. When individuals in leadership roles give of themselves so that others may have it is often associated with a negative connotation. Although giving and serving is not viewed in the political or religious aspect, leaders tend to develop their own views and formulate ideas that have been tampered with by politician or religious leaders. Many of the political and religious leaders have a major influence of the day-to-day operation and views of society.

We first have to know what leadership is. Leadership is the ability to get other to follow you willingly.… Read the rest

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