EC on Ethics and Business – Jonathan A

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.

Lineman’s Death – Heera J

Dear Editor:

 

My condolences to the lineman’s death. It is tragic that he died in the work of AC but that should not be a reason to have AC completely shut down. If you look at it DC has also had a lot of death from electrocution and that’s why AC became famous. Electricity is a growing industry. It is still in its young ages so obviously there would be some mistakes in it. To shut down AC is like trying to shout down electricity itself. This is doing injusitice to the poor people. The AC is cheaper for many to buy and that’s why so many people use it. It should be up to the public to decide on this.

 

George Westinghouse.

 

 

Sources:

The Dangers of Electric Lighting Edison (629 – 630)

 

Reply to Mr. Edison Westinghouse (656-659)

Extra Credit on Ethics and business ~ Desire’ B

 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