too easy an out

_manicplanet — Tue, 05 Jul 2005 17:32:23 -0400

This won't answer lpinto's question directly, but I think it's worth consideration: The argument that there will always be someone else who might take an action – for good or bad – should not inform ethical decision-making.

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...

Companies in BOP markets will be forced into being ethical

_lpinto — Tue, 05 Jul 2005 16:31:27 -0400

Any long-term development plan of a multinational corporation is going to eventually turn to the market at the bottom of the pyramid. How long it will take for this approach to business to become popular is still to be determined, but with increasing globalization and emphasis on developing countries, investment in areas that have been ignored in the past will grow.

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.

NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise - Companies in BOP markets will be forced into being ethical - Comments

too easy an out

Companies in BOP markets will be forced into being ethical