Abstract

Much of the focus on business ethics literature is on complex questions of corporate social responsibility. Yet, the heart of business ethics consists in a set of fundamental moral principles that are inherent in the activity of doing business in a market. These principles transcend differences in nationality, culture, and religion and supply the building blocks on which the more complex analyses can be based. This set of principles, which constitute the core of business ethics, provides business people with a code of conduct that is the analog of attorneys’ Canon of Ethics and physicians’ Code of Medical Ethics.