Ethical issues in business include concerns of quality, value and honesty as well as the category of corporate responsibility. In addition to proper treatment of all workers, business ethics basically boil down to being honest about what products and services are in relation to their origin and price. Corporate responsibility involves a sense of protection in offering safe products for consumers that are created through decent working environments for the people who manufacture or create them. To be dishonest in what ingredients are included, where they originated or where a good was made is an example of poor business ethics and a lack of corporate responsibility.
The supply chain is the path of getting a product to the end user. Different ethical issues in business that involve the supply chain involve the workplace, workers and the marketing mix. The marketing mix includes the product, packaging, price, place or distribution and promotion. Each of these components can create a different ethical issue. For instance, unethical advertising would promote an unsafe product as being safe. Fruit that was actually grown in Mexico, yet stamped as being imported from Canada is an example of unethically representing the distribution part of the supply chain in the marketing mix strategy to sell the goods to unsuspecting consumers.
Charging a price far above the suggested retail one is another of the ethical issues in business. Using packaging that doesn't contain warnings such as for a cleaner with harmful fumes to be used only in a well-ventilated area is a different kind of unethical business issue. Most countries have strict regulations and laws on what manufacturers and marketers must reveal about a product created for sale. Consumer advocate groups are another source for advocating ethical issues in business. If a company knows that unethical issues surround its products or services, yet doesn't take any action to correct it, this can in itself be a breach of ethics.
Workplaces and the workers involved in manufacturing products relate to ethical issues revolving around being paid fairly for their work as well as being treated humanely. Ethical issues in business that are relevant to these concerns are often categorized under the term corporate social responsibility (CSR). They include slave and child labor or wages that are so low that healthy survival is close to impossible. Dangerous workplaces or work environments in which staff are beaten or treated violently are other types of CSR ethical issues.
