The Ethical and Responsible Business

This paper presents ethics as a specific dimension of any human activity and therefore also of business activity. Every company operates in a more or less ethical way; hence it is possible to distinguish different levels of ethical quality. The article identifies four categories ranging from ethically reprehensible businesses to ethically excellent companies. The relationship between ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is studied, concluding that both terms are distinct but inseparable realities, so that CSR can and should be judged by its content and also its ethical quality.