Building Customer Value And Profitability With Business Ethics

Abstract

Firms assume ethical business practices only add costs to the firm. However, business ethics actually add value for customers and result in increased profitability and performance for the firm.

Ethical practices of small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries: Literature analysis

“…Although some managers consider ethics programmes in their organisations to be very expensive activities that are only societally rewarding (McMurrian & Matulich 2006), businesses that are viewed as ethical by their key stakeholders (i.e. customers, employees, suppliers and public) do enjoy several competitive advantages such as higher levels of efficiency in operations, higher levels of commitment and loyalty from employees, higher levels of perceived product quality, higher levels of customer loyalty and retention, and better financial performance (Ferrell 2004 (Branko, Drago & Zoran 2015).…”

“…Due to continually changing competitive environments, businesses must also find new ways of meeting competition other than the traditional ways of offering better products, or lower prices (McMurrian & Matulich 2006). It is important to note that modern businesses employ people with diverse backgrounds in terms of nationality, culture, religion, age, education and socioeconomic status.…”

Business practices influencing ethical conduct of small and medium-sized enterprises in Uganda

“…In this article, small and medium-sized enterprises are considered those businesses that employ more than five but less than 200 employees (Uganda Investment Authority, 2011). Ethical business conduct relates to a business demonstrating high ethical standards in all business practices to maintain its ethical reputation (McMurrian & Matulich, 2011).…”

“…Many benefits stem from behaving ethically in business. McMurrian and Matulich (2011) note that a business that demonstrates high ethical standards in all business practices, maintains an ethical reputation. Their good reputation results in a high level of customer satisfaction and loyalty that translates into a higher profit, since customers are more inclined to buy from an ethical business (Wiid, Cant & Niekerk, 2013).…”

Impacto en las redes sociales de las Grandes Empresas Españolas: Reputación Corporativa, Integridad y Comportamiento Ético

“…Por tanto, se debe medir la ética en ambas partes: si no se tiene la misma escala ética, -es decir, si ambas éticas no están debidamente alineadas-es muy difícil que pueda surgir un entendimiento ético y que la actuación de aquella sea siempre percibida como "éticamente correcta". La importancia que la ética tiene en una compañía ha sido discutida desde muy diferentes puntos de vista (McMurrian y Matulich, 2006). Sin embargo, el interés que despierta el estudio de la ética en la empresa, casi desde sus comienzos, -años 50 del pasado siglo-ha venido marcada por el interés en conocer la relación entre la ética y el beneficio.…”