It's Just Business!

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"It's just business!" How often have we heard this explanation by companies to justify unethical business practices? A business transaction is nothing more than an exchange of money for goods or services. What those goods and services are or how they will be used is irrelevant. There need not be any consideration of moral obligations or social consequences. The seller has no duty to anyone but the buyer. If the buyer happens to have intentions of using the product or service for harmful purposes, that is not the seller's problem. The seller is responsible only for delivering the product to the highest bidder. What do you think about this line of reasoning?

I recently read an article about Siemens, the engineering giant from Germany. A few years back, when Iran became a sanctioned state, Siemens was allowed to keep only its existing contracts in the country. Since then, though it has been unable to open any new business, its revenues have skyrocketed. Protesters have lined the streets, complaining that Siemens is profiting from supplying a rogue state with the necessary materials for building nuclear weapons. I read another article about advertising in magazines. Aparently there is a magazine, sponsored by the Al-Qaeda, that is directed toward conservative Muslim women...Islamic women who allegedly prefer to remain subservient to men. Recently, a business was called under fire for buying an advertising spot in that magazine. What is so unnerving about the ethical dilemmas these businesses are facing? It isn't personal. It's just business.

The hard truth that no business person wants to hear is that, "It's just business" is a cop-out. Nothing is "just business" just like nothing is "just religion" or "just politics." Business cannot be removed from its social context any more than anything else can. We would like to think that money can exchange hands without ethics ever being a factor, but that just isn't the case. Business transactions sure would be a heck of a lot easier if they didn't have ethics muddying the waters. If it only boiled down to dollars a cents, the appropriate business decisions to make would be always be clear. But alas ethics do matter and, if we ignore this fact, we are just plain being lazy.

Now, of course, there is a business case to be made for ethics. Now more than ever, a company's disposition is evident to the public. In the age of globalization and mass media, a company cannot be too careful in protecting its brand. Ethical behavior builds trust...and trust leads to future opportunities. No one wants to do business with an Enron. While the appropriate ethical decisions to make are rarely clear, the company who makes its ethical intentions known and does its best to keep in line with them has a much better shot of survial in today's world than the one who does not care. You see, I believe that ethics is an integral part of doing business. But even if you do not believe this, it is imperative that you behave as if you do. Now, more than ever, it isn't just business. Business is personal.