Free Business Ethics Essay Examples & Topics

Free Business Ethics Essay Examples & Topics

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1,131 samples

What is business ethics? An essay about it can be a task in your class. For that, you need to understand the term and what it implies.

Running a successful business, negotiating a contract, or simply dealing with clients is impossible without understanding and applying business ethics and its practices. It is a study of appropriate policies that companies and employees can use. They are vital in controversial situations that involve corporate governance, fiduciary responsibility, corporate social responsibility, etc.

That’s where the importance of business ethics comes from. For a company to be successful in the modern world, it should implement techniques and practices of business ethics. Customers and clients expect firms to behave appropriately. Operating this way is more than not breaking laws.

Our team came up with some tips that can help you write your business ethics essay. Additionally, you will find topics for different academic papers, and you can check our free samples.

How to Start a Business Ethics Essay

Let’s start with learning the basics of a business ethics essay. Here we will explain how to approach such a type of academic paper.

First of all, you need to see how this essay will differ from other assignments. That’s why we’ve prepared a step-by-step plan for you:

  1. Pick an idea.

As you can imagine, you need to have a solid idea. It does not have to be defined at the very beginning. However, you need to know what direction you want to take. You need to come up with an assumption that you will later develop in your essay.

  1. Research your topic.

The next step in starting your business ethics essay is to research the case carefully. The Internet, non-fiction books, interviews, business journals can become great sources for your paper.

  1. Take notes.

While doing your research, you should always write down key information. It will ensure that you will not miss any vital data and keep track of good thoughts.

  1. Craft a thesis statement.

After you’ve conducted your research, the next step is to explain your message and position. A thesis statement usually appears at the end of your introductory paragraph.

  1. Think of your introduction.

After step number four, when your thesis statement is ready, you can develop your introduction. It has to catch readers’ attention and adequately introduce the topic of your essay. Additionally, think about the way it can be connected with your conclusion.

  1. Outline your essay.

One more step before writing is organizing your text. Like any other academic paper, an ethics essay follows a structure. It consists of an introduction, body, and conclusion. The opening and the closing take about twenty percent of the entire article, and the rest eighty percent is left for the body.

17 Business Ethics Essay Topics

Now that you know how to start your business ethics paper, we’ve prepared a list of seventeen topics for your assignment. They can help you compose a fantastic essay about business ethics or use them to inspire your homework.

The topics are 100% original, so you can freely use them as your own:

  1. Raising the minimum wage for minorities.
  2. Issues with child labor.
  3. Analyzing Uber’s business behaviors.
  4. Is capitalism good or bad today?
  5. How does social responsibility connect with business ethics?
  6. Can moral principles guide business decisions?
  7. Ethical issues in business law.
  8. Advantages and disadvantages of Confucian business ethics.
  9. The role of ethics in purchasing decisions.
  10. Ways to eradicate unfair treatment due to race or religion at a workplace.
  11. Walmart business ethics and ethical standards.
  12. Social media in business ethics.
  13. Ways to reduce business’s environmental impact.
  14. Concept of corporate social responsibility.
  15. CSR trends in 2021.
  16. A balance between profit and CSR.
  17. Ethical dilemmas people face every day at the workplace.

5 Business Ethics Research Paper Topics

We also came up with five high-quality business ethics topics for the research paper. Good luck with your essay and with learning more about business ethics!

  1. List major ethical issues that business faces today.
  2. Kantian approach to business ethics and morality.
  3. How utilitarianism ethics can be used in companies.
  4. The role of ethics in international business.
  5. Applying Aristotle’s virtue ethics to business.

Thank you for reading the article till the end. Do not hesitate to share it with your peers who may need our tips or topics. Now, you can also look at our business ethics essay examples below.

1131 Best Essay Examples on Business Ethics

Is Business Ethics an Oxymoron

Business and ethics are incompatible and that is why business ethics is an oxymoron. Business ethics is an oxymoron because business and ethics are incompatible.
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BP Oil Company Ethical Dilemma

The damages caused by the spill originated from the effects of the oil on the environment and the damaging effects of the cleanup activities.
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PepsiCo Ethical Issues & Achievements

The firm has established a global code of conduct that generally identifies the main objective of conducting business in the right way as a part of its corporate mechanism aimed at ensuring that customers of [...]
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The Ethical Issues of the Mattel Toy Scandal

The reasons for the considerable recalls of products were that the toys manufactured on the facilities based in China were dangerous for children's health due to the lead paint discovered in the toys and the [...]
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Business Ethics and Social Responsibility Essay

In this light, this paper discusses the importance of ethics and social responsibility and various practices and theories employed in different organizations. In future, ethics and social responsibility will have a new meaning in the [...]
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Importance of Ethics in Communication Essay

The issue that arises is whether employees make the right decision that would benefit the company or they make the wrong choices that call for the downfall of the company.
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Nike Inc.’s Corporate Social Responsibility Project

The following paper aims at analyzing the CSR program of Nike, a publicly traded sportswear company, in order to determine the transparency and effectiveness of social and environmental responsibilities stated in their report.
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Toyota Ethical Issues and Social Responsibility

Another set of the company's stakeholders that affect the ethical code of business in the company is the external environment like customers and the society; there is a level of quality that customers expect from [...]
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Ethics in Tourism and Hospitality Industry Report

The ability to effectively articulate high levels of ethics in tourism and hospitality industry is a key determinant of the capacity for the aforementioned sector to trace its missions, achieve the set goals, objectives and [...]
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Business & Legal Issues: Ford Pinto

To be more precise, the Ford Pinto case will be evaluated from the legal point of view to establish which laws were violated in the process of corporate decision-making that led to the production of [...]
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Importance of Ethics in Business

The manager of the North American company has a difficult task because in as much as the decision taken by the company depends on him, he wants to please both parties, that is, the client [...]
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Adelphia Communications Scandal and Ethical Issues

This is because of the huge sums of money involved, and the suspicious arrangement the Rigas family made with the company that required the company and the Rigas family to be guarantors of each other.
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Goodrich A7D’s Scandal

As already mentioned and also according to the theorist, Goodrich was not morally responsible for the scandal and therefore, he should be excused in the first place.
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The Blood bananas: Chiquita In Colombia

Below are discussions on the root cause of the company's choice: whether the company's management had any other choice; what the incumbent management team can do to restore the company's reputation; the role of corporate [...]
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Business Ethics of the H&M Company

Additionally, all employees should have a written contract in their local language provided to them by H&M, and they should be aware of the terms and conditions.
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The Benefits of Business for Society

Businesses also contribute to economic growth by spending on research and development, which results in the development of new products and services.
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Boldly Go Case Study of Providence Healthcare

Some of the problems she faces include: Lack of ethical leaders and workers in the organization. To resolve the lack of ethical leaders within Providence Healthcare, Walsh needs to lead the organization through ethical leadership.
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The Philosophical Approaches to Ethics

The main point of the argument is that philosophical approaches to business ethics provide guidelines for making ethical business decisions, but some of these approaches are controversial and have no support from most moral scholars.
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The Unilever Global Company’s Business Ethics

The company has code of business principles that gives an account of the various ways in which its activities are to be carried out and it ensures that everyone working in the company follows it [...]
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Emirate Airlines CSR Strategies and Management

The purchasing power of customers in the industry has been reduced after the global economic crisis, and this has forced companies in the industry to apply low cost strategies to reduce prices of the products [...]
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Incident at Morales

The purpose of this article is to highlight the ethical issues surrounding the engineering profession. The company's desire to make profits and dominate the market compelled the management to disregard ethics of the engineering profession.
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McDonald’s Ethical and Moral Dilemma

Despite his dwelling on the concept of bureaucratic power, Weber says that power is the most important aspect of leadership and the followers should be the only people who grant it to the leaders.
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Unethical Business Practices Essay

At the end of the day, the government, employees, investors, competitors, and the customers suffer while the crooks enjoy the fruits of their unethical business practices.
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Corporate Responsibility at Walmart

This case study will use Walmart as an illustration of the overall role of businesses in communities and societies, their ethics, and their responsibilities.
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Nike Company: Business Code of Ethics

It is necessary to note that the code of ethics is a document to be taken into account by all employees of the company though it is clear that some points are likely to be [...]
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Quebec Bridge Collapse and Ethical Issues

Since the commission of inquiry did find out that the change of design was one of the factors that led to the collapse of the bridge, many engineers perceive that Theodore Cooper changed the design [...]
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Business Ethics: Cases Analysis and Solutions

The most significant factors for the decision are the supervisor's prohibition on personal communication, the need for the girl to learn a new program, and the remaining free time at the end of the work [...]
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Ethical Issues in GlaxoSmithKline

GlaxoSmithKline released the two drugs to the market without informing its customers of the side effects. However, the company kept the safety issues from the public to protect the company's image.
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Corporate Social Responsibility in Apple Inc.

However, Steve Jobs resigned as the CEO of the company in 1985, after he was phased out by directors of the company. The biography of Steve Jobs shows that he was dedicated to improve ethics [...]
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Moral Obligations of Multinational Corporations

According to libertarian theories of the corporate and global capitalism, multinational enterprises have moral obligations of returning proceeds to stakeholders within the bounds of moral side-constraints that are grounded in the rules of the game.
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British Airways Ethical System

In light of the resent standoff between the company and its employees there is need to modify the code of ethics especially regarding employees relations.
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Workplace Ethical Issues Essay

Harassment of the co-workers or clients is one of the major workplace ethical issues that involve violation of the employers' workplace ethics policy.
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The Norwegian Business Etiquette

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Unethical Issues at Workplace

The employees will also have a chance to ask any questions or clarification concerning the issues of unethical and ethical practices.
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Ethics of Airlines’ Extra Charge for Obese People

In this regard, he would not have supported the imposition of an extra charge for obese people. This proposal aligns with the principle of equality because it would be unfair to other passengers if obese [...]
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Conflict of Interest

Trying to define the problem of the conflict of interests within the professional of a chemical researcher, the specific examples are going to be considered with the possible ways of solving those situations.
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The National Youth Service Corps Schemes in Nigeria

Agumagu, Adesope and Njoku note that the core objective of the scheme is to instill in the Nigerian youth "the spirit of selfless service to the community, and emphasize the spirit of oneness and brotherhood [...]
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Key Ethical Issues in Retailing and Distribution

As Barnett et al.observed empirically, there are several self-evident dimensions to ethical consumerism which players in retail and distribution function should comprehensively be aware of, for these dimensions may act in an organized and collective [...]
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Environmental Analysis for Companies

In terms of assessment of these threats and opportunities, analysis of the role of the environment in the analytics competition process lies fundamentally in response to specific issues including the following ones: organization mission, its [...]
  • 5
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Ethics in the Business Research

It is, therefore, extremely essential for the researcher to assess the weight of every research issue in order to determine how best to approach the whole research process without causing harm to any one.
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Emirates Airlines CSR Application

The research is motivated by the need to understand the possible gaps in the company's CSR strategies, and hence determine the necessary adjustments that the firm should undertake.
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Starbucks’ Ethical Accusations

Diversity in the contemporary business world is one of the key factors that contribute to the success of many industry participants.
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H. B. Fuller and His Resistol Products Ethical Case

Fuller is not responsible for the overall addiction of street children to glue sniffing, but the company is responsible for neglecting its own contribution to the dissemination of substance abuse.H.B.
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The Wells Fargo Firm’s Ethical Case Analysis

The scandal referred to unauthorized sales of bank products in the United States, where the bank employees opened accounts for their clients without the consent of the latter.
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XYZ Company Business Ethics Management

Having the logo contain some of the products the company produces, will create a desire from the customers to inquire more about the products and this may convince potential buyers to buy the products.
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Ethics and Human Resource Management

The staff at the human resource department should always show the importance of ethics in the organization. Therefore, the HRM should know that reward and appraisal systems can be harnessed to promote ethical behavior in [...]
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The Ethical Dilemma: Siemens

In relation to the above dilemmas, the bounded bribery applies to the psychological tendency of the conspirators to fulfill selfish interests of self enrichment at the expense of the shareholders' goals and objectives.
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  • Words: 1372

Business Ethics: Is It Profitable?

Business ethics is a set of professional ethics that tries to inspect ethical problem or the principles of ethics that can emerge in a business organization. Implementation of ethics in a business organization increases costs [...]
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Nike Business Code of Ethics

Given that employees of the organization are involved in the corporate business ethical programs of the organization, such programs therefore involves advising the employees of the organizations to be responsible on their behavior towards fellow [...]
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Moral Dilemma in Accounting Management

Therefore, the best option from the viewpoint of utilitarianism is for John to withhold information from Patty and the controller. The principle of confidentiality would encourage John to withhold information from Patty and the current [...]
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Chapters 2-3 of “The Corporation” by J. Bakan

From this point, social responsibility can be observed with references to the corporations' sponsoring different social events and promoting the environmental initiatives, and the activities of Pfizer and BP corporations can become the examples of [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 551

Google and Ethics

The purpose is to show that a company like Google must behave ethically and all the decisions made by managers and other superiors should be guided by the highest morale and respect to the surrounding [...]
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Ethical Organization: Starbucks Case

The guiding principle that determines the ethical principles of Starbucks is utilitarianism. The company specializes in coffee and can assist coffee growers by paying them higher market prices for their beans.
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Samsung Firm’s Social Responsibility Issues

The first one is the management's inability to have fully transparent business practices because the company does not publish all the sources and the suppliers of raw materials.
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Business Ethics: Can a Corporation Have a Conscience?

This explains why the government should use appropriate adjustments and regulations to regulate these corporations. This approach will reduce the inequity associated with capitalism and wealth distribution.
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  • Words: 569

Ethical Theories and Ethical Business Practices

Among the most common theories of ethics that corporate governance has examined are the utilitarianism theory, the virtue theory, the theory of the common good, the justice theory, and the Kantian theory of ethics.
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Business Ethics and Child Labour

According to the case, business ethics is the observance of rules and regulations that have been put in place. Child labour is one of the serious ethical issues that businesses have to deal with in [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 588

Extreme Working Conditions

Despite the efforts of the employer, it is the also responsibility of the workers to be conscious while working, in order to avoid mistakes.
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 574

Honesty in the Workplace

The illustration he used was that of a poker game, the players are the businessmen and they have the right and the duty to win at all cost as long as they play well within [...]
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 886

Zero Waste Fashion and Its Perception

The ingenious sales strategy of the fashion industry has a devastating impact on the environment. Mannarino explains that unlike other industries such as manufacturing and transport that have attracted the attention of the governments and [...]
  • Pages: 45
  • Words: 11948

Apple Inc.’s Impact on Economic Inequality

Economic inequality generates social injustice, and Apple Inc.has addressed this social cause by creating jobs in American states through accurate racial representation in their workforce, the creation of data centers and universities, and the rise [...]
  • Pages: 5
  • Words: 1428

Purdue Pharma’s Marketing and Ethical Implications

The presentation will tackle such aspects as the company's background, the facts of the ethical dilemma, the evaluation of the implied ethical framework, alternative ethical solutions, and the dilemma's impact on businesses' corporate social responsibility.
  • 5
  • Pages: 6
  • Words: 1555

Product Dumping in Third World Countries

Even if there are no rules, regulations or bans in the countries these products are exported to, allowing the sale and export of goods that have been proven to be dangerous are to become complicit [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1165

Work Ethics in a Capitalist American Society

This is unlike the employees at the restaurant who wanted to get rid of customers as fast as they could and had the contempt to the extent of provoking customers to seek management's intervention.
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1197

The Barangaroo South Development Project Ethical Case

A particularly contentious issue in the Barangaroo development is the approval of a new hotel building which is to be built on a pier jutting into the harbor The project's developer, Lend Lease, affirms its [...]
  • Pages: 19
  • Words: 5230

BMW and GM Corporate Social Responsibility

This encompasses not only in the way in which it sells its products but the manner in which it manufacturers them and how it addresses the long term impact of the company's operations on society [...]
  • 3.5
  • Pages: 25
  • Words: 3958

CSR in the Telecommunications Industry

The CSR era that began in the mid 1990's and evolved to a formidable venture in the early 21st century is what most researchers refer to as the modern CSR era.
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1076

Ethics in Financial Management

It should however, be noted that despite the benefits, a number of companies have failed in the past simply because of ethics related issues.
  • 5
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 566

Organizational Structures

The rationale for choosing this type of organizational structure for the company 1 is that each of the workers in this company has a specific task to perform depending on the specialization.
  • Pages: 3
  • Words: 849

Profit-Oriented Companies

To conclude, some business owners argue that it is the work of the politicians to attend to the needs of the society.
  • 5
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1237

Corporate Social Responsibility: The Toyota Company

Besides, based on the technology of fuel switching, the company has allowed a room for the switching of the car's engine between gas and electricity, hence reducing the amount of fuel that is consumed per [...]
  • Pages: 14
  • Words: 3953

Functional Areas of a Business

According to Robbins and Coulter, "managers oversee and coordinate the activities of their employees in order to accomplish the targeted organizational goals".
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1128

Case Involving the Model of Ethical Decision-Making

Defining the situation In the case, a woman is suffering from the major depression because of divorce filed by the husband and the looming court proceedings that may result in the loss of the sons [...]
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1176

Corporate Social Responsibility

Like wise if the organization carries out the activities that pollute the environment the people can sue the organization for its harmful activities to the people and the environment.
  • 1
  • Pages: 11
  • Words: 2533

Guess Jeans

The discussion examines the experiences of the company's employees and the best managerial strategies to deal with its current ethical issues.
  • 1.5
  • Pages: 4
  • Words: 1229

Moral Development and Ethical Concepts

The two concepts are important in the promotion of ethical culture within the organizations, the organizations' performance and the much needed moral and financial support from the organization's stakeholders and the public in general.
  • Pages: 10
  • Words: 2625

Analysis of a Vacant Position in an Organization

Managers today are looking at new and innovative ways for recruitment and selection of new workers due to the range of complexities involved in the mobility of employees in and out of the organization and [...]
  • Pages: 8
  • Words: 2400

Business Ethics: Reflective Essay

Various decision-making procedures right from the time of recruitment of employees, defining the goals and objectives of the organization, designing the appropriate organizational structure, developing the organizational strategies, and integration of the strategies in the [...]
  • Pages: 2
  • Words: 718
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