THE ETHICAL

ENVIRONMENT OF THE
FIRM
• Ethics is a set of principles that
guide people’s behavior and
judgement. In the business industry,
ethical standards are created so that
managers can form meaningful and
just decisions and uphold certain
values attached to these decisions.
However, these values can sometimes
THE BUSINESS ETHICS
OF BEN & JERRY’S
 PERSPECTIVE OF ETHICS
•Universalism -This is the principle which
states that all people should have
certain values like honesty, respect
and cooperation. Universalism requires
every person to reenact these values
in the same way under all
circumstances and at all times.
•Egoism – This is the principle which
promotes the greatest good to
oneself. It is focused on the
perspective that people ultimately
act for self-advancement, no matter
how good their intensions are. Based
on this view it is permissible for a
person to cooperate with others as
•Utilitarianism – This is the principle
which focuses on the greatest good
for the greatest number of people. In
this perspective, the ultimate
concern of the managers is to make
decisions that are beneficial to the
greatest number of people.
•Relativism – This is the principle which
states that ethical behavior is based
on a person’s own and other relevant
people’s opinions and viewpoints. It
acknowlegdes that there are different
standards for each culture. Therefore,
business transactions may proceed
differently from one culture to
another.
•Virtue Ethics – This is the principle
which states that morality depends on
the maturity of a person with good
moral character. Based on society’s
moral standards, a moral person can
interpret these as the application of
personal virtues like faith, honesty, and
others. Thus, what is right is based on
the level of one’s moral judgement.
 CORPORATE INTEGRITY
•Corporate Integrity refers to that
sense of “wholeness” created by
the right relationships among the
members of the corporation.
•Cultural dimension has the
most impact on the internal
relationships in the company.
•Interpersonal dimension
focuses on the relationships
among people.
•Organizational dimension
considers the main purposes of the
business, particularly the economic
and financial purposes,
managerial purpose and civic
purpose.
•Social dimension views the
organization as actively
engaging with society.
•Natural dimension looks into
how the organization
relates to nature.
 CORPORATE
SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
•Corporate social responsibility thus
refers to business operations and
activities that have the welfare of
society in mind.
•Social obligation refers to
complying with legal and
ethical standards to uphold
social welfare.
•Social responsiveness, on the
other hand, goes beyond
prescribed standards and
implements actions that aim to
make an impact on society.
•Economic responsibility the
company should produce
goods and services with
reasonable prices.
•Legal responsibility the
organization should comply
with local and international
laws that apply to its business
operations.
•Ethical responsibilities include
establishing norms, standards,
mores and practices that
reflect fairness to the
consumers, employees,
shareholders and the
•Philanthropic responsiblities
include the initiation of voluntary
activities such as establishing
corporate programs, donationg to
charitable institutions and other
similar charitable causes.
THANK YOU 😊