Abstract

The author proposes sustainability as the criterion for business ethics. The argument here is that in today’s world, business success depends on sustainability. This in turn depends on respect for the environment, employees, customers and stakeholders at large. Thinking about ethics in terms of sustainability involves thinking about ethics in strategic terms. Indeed sustainability could and should be raised to the status of a global ethic. There is evidence to show that corporate social responsibility pays; e.g. the Dow Jones sustainability group index outperformed the Dow Jones index by 36% over the past three‐year period. This suggests that taking ethics seriously goes hand in hand with successful business.