"A Primer on Business Ethics"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Tibor Macham and James E. Chesher, in their "Primer on Business Ethics," argue: (1) The best American government for business is the government which governs the least and (2) The moral responsibility of corporations is to make a profit. The author points out that Macham and Chesher also argue that: (1) The only moral duty of a corporation is profit maximization and (2) Using company resources to advance social goals, such as bettering the lot of workers through needlessly high wages, is a theft of corporate profits if the social goals act as a drain of the ultimate goal of making money. The paper stresses that Macham and Chesher do not advocate an ethical free-for-all because, if a company violates the law, the corporation will have needless legal costs, and the executives will violate the ethics of their profession, which Macham and Chesher state is a more important ethical standard than either laws or social responsibility.

From the Paper:

"The authors also acknowledge that in the current environment, government regulations must be obeyed by businesses, else they face the costs of litigation. But Macham and Chester also question whether this is a good, namely if too many regulations exist and ultimately hamper corporate profits. In fact, they believe that in the ideal business environment, other than protecting property, the government should not regulate business at all, and rather internal ethical systems should govern the organization, ideally in a Friedman-like utilitarian fashion, taking into consideration the fate of stakeholders only so much as need be, for the organization to evolve and survive."

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