Businesses
have to act in self interest but to what extent should they sacrifice ethical
behaviour? The question has become increasingly relevant with the recent high
profile corporate scandals such as Satyam and the 2G scam.
But
can, and should, a business behave ethically at all? Is the corporate social
responsibility of a company just to make profits as Nobel Prize winning
economist, Milton Friedman, once famously declared? In this timely book,
Professor Manikutty takes us through the minefield of business and ethics
looking at the ways in which ethics enters work and the choices available to
companies and to individuals.
He
argues that being ethical is not a simple question of doing the right thing vs
the wrong thing; it is to find a balance between multiple right or wrong
choices, arriving at not a solution but a compromise. Using a variety of
examples and case studies from Indian businesses, Being Ethical is an
indispensable book for any responsible manager.
Does business need to be ethically neutral, not
unethical, but non-ethical? Asks Manikutty in this smartly brought out reader
for the Indian corporate mover and shaker. If the only social responsibility of
business is to make profits, is it enough that it is done legally? That is,
respecting the laws of the country you work in. What of ethics? To ask the
question in another way: Is being ethical good for business? It increases
credibility, generates trust, improves relationship with stakeholders, and
believe it or not, can reduce cost of litigations, says the author. But is it
practical? Tata’s story in India, missing in this book, could have been
instructive.
Professor S. Manikutty has
specialized in Business Policy and Strategy and his areas of interest include
strategic management and competitive strategy, leadership, global
competitiveness of industries, corporate governance and strategies for family
businesses. He is the Regional Editor (Asia and the Pacific) of European
Journal of International Mangement (EJIM), a member of the Editorial Board of
Vikalpa, the journal of IIM Ahmedabad, Journal of Human Values published by the
Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and of International Journal of
Innovation and Incubation published by Chinese Business Incubation Association
(Taiwan) as well as associate editor of Journal of Asia Entrepreneurship and
Sustainability published by St. Paul University (Quezon City, Philippines).
