Let me start out by saying that Walmart is just about the least socially responsible business I can think of and I have chosen not to do business with them because of how horrible they treat their employees. However, I see what you are pointing out, so I will amend my statement even further: that business DO have an ethical duty to ensure that their employees are fairly compensated and under no circumstances should the be taken advantage of. They absolutely should be given health care benefits, and not cheated out of overtime, like the company tries so tirelessly to do.

About the economy: the reason we are in an economic downturn is in fact, because these businesses did NOT offer quality products and services. Investors were downright lied to about the credit quality of Mortgage Backed Securities and other like investments that they invested in. Also, investment companies did not do their due diligence when structuring their own portfolios and took on a ridiculous amount of debt. This was all negligence on the part of these businesses and failure to provide transparency to their products. Remember, the second part of the “duty” I mentioned was that businesses have to remain honest and transparent.

I would like to note, however, that many businesses who do go the extra step to be even more socially responsible do perform better. Larger businesses may avoid many risky investments and bad publicity and smaller business receives good publicity and customers are more willing to do business with them. Businesses are indeed rewarded for being socially responsible, and while they don’t NEED to, it would be a lot wiser on their part to take that extra step.

Wal-Mart employees over 1 million Americans. Most of these work full-time or part-time in their stores and their website claims the average wage is $10 and hour. That is including high salaried management and what not so one realizes the actual pay is much less.

Would it be ethical for them to take a small percentage of their profits and offer these employees health-care benefits? This would improve the lives of these coworkers and probably make them more productive. I am sure this good public relations would improve stock value as well.

You see Mr. Thomas, morally steps beyond reaches of products and services. Business and Morality are intertwined at its core and management has a duty to society to not just be moral in their practice. It stretches far beyond Friedman’s definition of a business should “maximize stock holder value” or Freeman’s view that “recognizes different parties of a business and that they should do the ‘right’ thing for each vested party”. My friend, a reason why we are in this economic down time is because of people who think the only thing ethical they have to “…ensure a they are offering quality products or services which are competitive in the marketplace.” I recognize the second half your ethical ‘call’ however if someone is only looking to do offer a quality product and disregards all other moral factors then they are not eying honesty too close.

The only ethical DUTY businesses have is to ensure a they are offering quality products or services which are competitive in the marketplace and being honest about what it is they offer. However, while this is what is OBLIGATED out of businesses, all companies should strive to take business ethics one step further and be as socially responsible as possible: environmentally friendly, no animal testing, etc… Businesses will find that they perform better and are safer investments when they act in a more ethical manner. It of course, also benefits the consumer as well.