Business Ethics



Business Ethics

Introduction

Business Ethics are concerned with the moral and ethical values of business. It is very well defined by Collins (1994) as “oxymoron”. Oxymoron is define as something contradictory, it can be understand as in business it is all about profits and when it is measure in terms of profit this involves all means of earning profit whether ethical or unethical. This clears the point that when there is concern about business ethics it does not seem to maintain ethics in business. According to Crane and Matten “…there are not or cannot be, ethics in business: that business is in some way unethical” (Crane & Matten, 2007, p.4). To avoid malpractices in business there are some definitions that define business ethics as study of situations, activities and decisions of right and wrong (Crane & Matten, 2007, p. 5).

There have been various case studies regarding the business ethics one of these is the Martha Stewart's Insider Trading Scandal. She is the founder of the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Incorporation. This is the business that operates in the fields of publishing magazines, television shows, electronic, commerce and media. She started her career in the modeling then after she married she started business of catering and published her various cook books. Later she expands her business and provides services in various fields of homemaking business. By 2000 she became most popular and center of headline, this started rumors and speculations about her and leads towards the federal investigation of her stock trading. This is one the businesses that Martha Stewart was engaged in merchandizing and trade which increase in her income and attracted the attention of public, media, government and other concerned authorities.

Discussion

Martha Stewart's involvement in the stock trading by selling four thousand ImClone shares just a day before falling of prices made her accused of insider trading and then found guilty, she was sentenced for it. After she was released from the sentence she started experiencing in new fields of business and appeared on television shows again. This helps her regain public attention after imprisonment and misconduct. She was prohibited from acting as company director for five years even then she controls the business activities.

Evolution of Media Empire

Martha Stewart is one of the multitalented people and she proved herself in various fields from house hold icon to celebrity and then as a perfect and successful business women. Her extraordinary cooking skills and expertise in interior, gardening and sewing made her an ideal role model for the women all over the world. Later she proved her skills in business and became one the world's most famous and successful business icon. Her first business was the one in which she was expert which is her best cooking skills merged with the business of catering. Later writing of cook books introduced her as one of the best seller authors and this leads towards the business of publishing and then publishing of various magazines related to every household ...