Business Ethics Can laws and behavior codes keep companies honest? Business experts and lawmakers are pushing for tougher ethics rules following scandals ranging from Bernard Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme to alleged corner-cutting before last year’s Gulf oil spill and multimillion-dollar bonuses awarded to executives of failed Wall Street banks in the wake of the financial crisis. A recent Gallup Poll found that only 15 percent of Americans rate corporate executives high in honesty and ethical standards. Congress has sought to stem business misdeeds, most recently through the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. But some conservatives complain that attempts to impose ethical standards on business can turn simple errors of judgment into criminal acts. Many big companies, including Google and outdoor-clothing retailer Patagonia, have ethics codes. But so did Enron, the Texas energy company that collapsed in 2001 in one of the biggest financial scandals in history. INSIDE THE ISSUES ………………..411 BACKGROUND …………….418 CHRONOLOGY …………….419 CURRENT SITUATION ……..424 AT ISSUE……………………425 OUTLOOK ………………….427 BIBLIOGRAPHY …………….430 THE NEXT STEP …………..431 THISREPORT Swindler Bernard Madoff symbolizes today’s concern about business ethics. The former chairman of the Nasdaq stock market is serving a 150-year prison sentence after admitting to defrauding investors of $65 billion. CQResearcher Published by CQ Press, a Division of SAGE www.cqresearcher.com CQ Researcher • May 6, 2011 • www.cqresearcher.com Volume 21, Number 18 • Pages 409-432 RECIPIENT OF SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE ! AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SILVER GAVEL AWARD
410 CQ Researcher THE ISSUES 411 • Do businesses have ethical obligations beyond what the law and shareholders require? • Do education and training improve business ethics? • Can laws and regulations make…