Corporate ethics
In every society there are laws and codes that are set to bring about law and order. In the case of corporations there is corporate governance, which is "simply the system by which companies are directed and controlled." However, as Chang and Ha state in their article "Corporate Governance in the Twenty-First Century," in today's global village with many multinational corporations being more powerful than some sovereign nations, do ethics essentially play a role in corporate governance decision- making? Or have they just been brushed aside, with boards "limiting their social responsibilities in order to maximize their profits." Looking at companies such as "The Body Shop," one would say that ethics are an integral part of a corporation, based on their record, showing them to be "socially conscious." Though one would also state that that is just one company amongst a colossal amount of companies that do brush ethics aside in order to achieve their goals. With one having only to look at the newspaper for recent scandals relating to bad corporate governance, that did turn a blind eye to ethics, such as the tobacco companies and more recently Swissair. In many cases boards do not fulfill
Therefore, the shock of October 2, 2001 came as a large surprise, to everyone invested in Swissair as well as all others (unrelated to Swissair) around the world, when all Swissair flights that afternoon where grounded, leaving 18,000 passengers around the world stranded, holding tickets not worth more than the paper they where printed on. Since Roddick started the business in 1976 it has grown into a chain of over 1,900 stores, spreading across Europe, Asia and America. ' He also said he believed a company executive had committed perjury by testifying in Congress that nicotine is not addictive. However, the information was eventually leaked out to the press. With the rippling effects of the airlines expansion plan being felt in 2000, when "rising fuel prices and a strong dollar put Swissair under pressure. Allowing one to wonder if there actually are any companies that are run by good corporate governance. (Kapner, 2002) These methods have so far, proven to be successful for her, and shown corporations around the world, that it does pay to have good ethics. It represented Switzerland and all of its fine qualities: precision, punctuality, good service and overall, excellent "Swiss" financial management. (Buerkle, 2002) After seeing what happened to Swissair, a company once revered by many, most would say, true all companies are run by corrupt boards which are only focused on maximizing profits, and will use fraud and deception as a means to get what they want. Everyday 3,000 kids start smoking cigarettes, most of them between the ages of 10 and 18. Though, like most businessmen they where interested in maximizing their profits. Even before the B&W case was brought to the attention of the mass media, many people already had their views, of the tobacco companies, as been unethical businesses. Therefore, supporting Swissair's large aspirations of market expansion in the early 90's.
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Acceptance Essays
