I do not think good business necessarily means good ethics, or vice versa. A business needs to make money, therefore it needs to make a profit. Good ethics can make for good business, but I also do not think that a good business needs good ethics. For example, a company can have good ethics and please its customers and have a great business, but this is not the case in many circumstances. In order to make a profit, if there is a dangerous product that is malfunctioning, the company weighs whether it is more costly to fix the problem and inform people or deal with the consequences if the product hurting someone. Is this good ethics? I personally do not think so. But, on the other hand, is it good business? Yes. 

During modern day business what Edison did is seen everywhere. Bashing your rival company is seen with huge companies such as Apple and PCs. Talking bad about anyone is not good ethics but it is done in many businesses because it is considered good marketing, or good business. So, I do not think that Edison was ethical in any sense of the word, but is any business? Good business does not equal good ethics.

 I believe that good business practices do not always involve ethical behavior. I mean think about it, if someone was selling the exact same thing as you, you are going to do whatever it takes to get people to buy from your store. You are going to advertise about how much better yours is than theirs, and you might even give false accusations that aren’t even true at all. Or, for another example there might not be any competition at all. Take for instance a food place. To better themselves they might start using cheap ingredients so it will be cheaper for them to make it, but then they might turn around and sell it for an expensive price. And on the other side good business does come from ethical behavior. I believe that lowering your prices to get more customers is completely ethical. You are not hurting anyone, you’re just simply lowering your rates to beat out your opponent, and I believe that is completely fair.

In regards to Edison his practices were completely unethical. He killed innocent dogs and tortured them to try and beat out his opponent. But sadly his tactics are used in modern business practices today as I mentioned an example above, but that does not make them justified. I believe that unethical behavior can never be justified no matter what the circumstances are. Don’t get me wrong though, just because I say that it is never justified doesn’t mean that I’m saying that I will always be ethical because in all reality there is no way in telling what I will do or what anyone else will do in the future. It really all depends on your morals, and beliefs for each circumstance you come across

Good business practices does not always involve ethical behavior but can cause ethical behavior as a consequence. For example, a bread maker may not be making cheap bread to feed the hungry, but to make money which he will use to live off of. He will by any means, sell his bread in any way possible, such as lowering his price to hurt another business. The way Edison tried to keep his business alive was by trying to harm the reputation of the other business. This is seen in today’s modern business as well. Advertising is one of the biggest ways to put out a good and also turn away business from your opponent. An example is medicine commercials where one medicine says its better than the other brand because it cures many different illnesses. The other brand tells its consumers that it is better than the rest because it targets one specific illness and is therefore more effective and your not taking medication for a symptom you don’t have.

I believe that good business practices do not always involve ethical behavior. As a matter of fact, I believe it is the exact opposite. Company’s and businesses will do whatever it takes to put their product out there on the market, even if it means making false accusations. They want to be known to the world and put their name out there. The tactics that Edison used are definitely being used in today’s modern business. If there are two very competitive businesses that are selling the same product, they will advertise good things about themselves and bad things about their competition. Most of which is not true. But whatever brings in the customers and brings home the money will be all that the company needs. However, it is important to note that all different types of business and companies have different ethical beliefs, views, and values. So one company might think its alright to advertise false information, while the other might think its completely wrong and still do it.