We live in a day and age, where many people tend to think that being all ethical about business doesn’t always pay off. Ask any aspiring entrepreneur about how they intend to contest with the already successful business giants and you’ll likely get a sense of fear.
They fear that many of these businessmen and women have departed, a long time ago, from playing by the rules. People will do anything to succeed in the business world.
Net profit or income financially means a surplus of sales or revenues after deducting costs and expenses. Whether you are engaged in a profession, occupation, work or trade, you are in business and you speak income. When you earn an income you suffer taxes, the worst nightmare for every income earners. Income tax is your punishment of doing well in business.
This sounds ridiculous but this is the reality, you pay when you earn. Tax is legislative. Ethics in business rarely exists nowadays. Perhaps it is because for most people, profit will come without the need of business ethics. This, I don’t agree.
The word ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos, which means “character,” and from the Latin word mores, which means “customs.” According to the encyclopedia ethics is the branch of philosophy that defines what is good for the individual and for society and establishes the nature of obligations, or duties, that people owe themselves and one another.
Some of the terrifying consequences of being unethical include:
- Loss of customers: once a business has been found to have been fraudulent in its practices, almost immediately customers leave it. They don’t want to be victims of such a business. Customer loyalty is lost.
- Loss of credibility: even the larger public will treat the business with contempt. People hate crooks and if a business is found to have been unethical, its public image is tainted.
- Financial loss: in many ways, these businesses get into the wrong side of law and will be seen in courts of law. This is costly in terms of finances.
- Worker stress: the workers of such an institution will be subject to stress and sleepless nights, when they think of what they have been doing in order to get to where they are. These businesses will always have unhealthy business or corporate cultures.