Corporate Business Ethics

Operating your business on high moral ground

Thriving businesses, whether startup or already established, with questionable practices will find themselves stuck in a deep hole in the long run because either the customers will stop patronizing their store or the government will force them to shut down. Remember what happened to Enron or Bernie Madoff?
Putting a high priority on integrity right at the start of your business will pay huge dividends for you in the future. Consumers nowadays are highly informed and easily go weary of deception and dishonesty. A business misconduct, even if it is merely perceived, will have a costly consequence to your success.

What is Corporate Business Ethics?

Simply put corporate business ethics revolves around the saying, “Honesty is the best policy.”
It is a culture that needs to be promoted within your organization, starting from yourself. As a business owner, corporate business ethics is a set of principles that will give you basis on how to deal with future thorny issues that may arise or your foundation of solutions to address problems that may come up.

How do you keep your business ethically healthy?

Create an ethics policy. Whether you are the sole employee of your business or you lead a team of staff, it is essential that you have an ethics policy that will guide you and/or employees on how you want your business to be conducted.

Pay bills on time. This act will maintain your good relationship with suppliers who are very valuable partners in your business. It may not be easy to do this all the time but you should find ways to keep your word. Same thing applies to any agreement or promise you made to anyone related to your business operations.

Treat your staff with respect and consideration. You may be known for your excellent customer service but if your employees are disgruntled and treated poorly, they can sabotage your operations or you can lose key people.

Review all marketing and advertising materials before finalizing them on paper. Make sure that all information has been thoroughly screened and no bad information or false claim is published. Keep all printed materials on permanent file. As long as they are in use, review them on a regular basis especially if you are changing prices, adding products or services. Store materials in a separate file once you stop using them. Keeping old materials will provide you supporting documentation to resolve any future issue or question that may arise from your previous claim or advertisement.

Corporate social responsibility. Businesses, like individuals, do have social responsibilities to carry within their communities. Looking for ways that you can help the community will make your business closer to your customers. Remember that people buy from people they like.

In the real world, temptations come from all directions. Don’t give in. Your reputation and your success are worth a million times more than any temporary success gained from unethical practices.