Companies investing in developing regions will be forced to engage in responsible behaviors, firstly because of social pressures (if mainstream news sources don't cover ethical violations, the internet is a perpetually-expanding source of news), and secondly, because they will have to in order to survive. The company of the future will not only have to engage in behaviors that are marketable to the public, but also encourage innovation and efficiency.
In the realm of energy, one need only look at GE and GM, industry leaders that are looking to more energy-efficient methods of doing business. This is not only because of the pressures of rising oil prices and instability in the Middle East, but also because they are looking to lead the pack and cut their business costs.
As for issues like selling candy to the poor, who is to determine whether or not this is ethical? As long as there is a demand and profit to be made, someone will be there to sell. Which behaviors should be deemed "unethical," and who should do the determining?
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Examples: On the ‘harm’ side, just because someone else driving a car _might_ hit someone riding a bicycle does not mean that no drivers should consider the ethics of driving over bicyclists. Just because someone else _might_ take advantage of a disenfranchised worker, or child, or disabled person, or rape, murder, pillage, enslave or plunder the local village or neighboring country does not mean that each individual (or corporation) has free reign, ethically, to do the same.
On the ‘good’ side, just because someone else _might_ save a drowning woman does not change the potential good to be done by the first person who might save her. Nor does the fact that ten other people have already opted not to save her meaningfully inform the next person who comes along and is confronted with the opportunity to do good.
As to who decides what is ethical and what is not, there are professional ethicists, for what they are worth. Maybe NB should campaign to get a lot of people to put the candy or another relevant DTE question to Randy Cohen of New York Times/NPR fame and see what he has to say on the topic, particularly as he tends to side with free-marketers: watc@npr.org. It might also be interesting to put the question to religious leaders as well (in the offchance that none are frequenting NB yet), as the world's major religions tend to agree on a surprising number of ethical matters.
In any case, I shudder to envision a world in which market forces act uninformed by ethical deliberation...