Business Ethics

A Manual for Managing a Responsible Business Enterprise in Emerging
Market Economies grew out of collaboration between the U.S. Department
of Commerce and many dedicated people and organizations. It is intended to
provide a practical guide to assist owners and managers in meeting emerging
global standards and expectations for an effective business ethics program.
Such a step-by-step guide should have great utility in the emerging market
economies that ring the globe. Many are new players in the modern global economy
and lack experience in what it takes for free markets to function efficiently
and to deliver the jobs, goods, services, consumer choices, and general prosperity
that are expected from democratic capitalism. Even developed market
economies, moreover, are searching for better ways to meet market challenges.
A fundamental ingredient of any successful market economy is respect for
basic human values: honesty, trust, and fairness. These values must become an integral
part of business culture and practice for markets to remain free and to work
effectively. Private business is at the strategic center of any civil society. It’s where
people go for a job or to invest savings to realize their aspirations for their families.
Having spent most of my life working in American business, I am compelled
to ask, “If businesses fail to honor their responsibilities to society and don’t
believe in corporate stewardship, who in our society will?” Corporate stewardship
protects the whole “human ecology” of the corporation and its communities,
nurturing the long-term economic growth of both and of their human resources.