The size of the ethical market According to the Co-operative Bank, the market for ethical products and services includes the following sectors: Ethical food and drink The green home Eco-travel and transport Ethical personal products Ethical finance Expenditure on ethical goods and services in the UK increased almost threefold in the ten years between 1999 and 2008. However, it still represents less than 1% of total household expenditure. The ethical market in the UK was worth £36 billion overall in 2008, compared with £13.5 billion in 1999 (Source: The Co-operative Bank). In 2008, the average spend per household on ethical products and services, excluding charitable donations and ethical finance, reached £735. Spend to address climate change …show more content…
These may include child labor, forced labor, unfair wages, animal testing and dumping toxic waste into the environment. Some unethical business practices have even greater consequences including death due to negligence and even genocide. Other actions also constitute unethical business practices. For instance, attempting to create a monopoly on a market has unethical implications because without competition companies have no incentive to set fair prices or rates. Of course, companies commit other unethical acts despite regulations and legislation. Many companies refuse to raise their minimum wage rates even though minimum wage does not automatically equal a living wage. While many people think some of these unethical business practices do not happen in the modern world, many companies continue to use unethical business practices. In many cases, they only pay a fine but do not face further consequences once their actions become public. However, some face public outcry if not criminal charges when ethics violations result in loss of life. In many cases, these companies pay settlements to families of victims to major violations such as these, but they may not suffer any loss in the bottom …show more content…
Among several lawsuits, the one in 2003 struck, where Germany's High Court ruled Wal-Mart's low-cost pricing strategy "undermined competition." Wal-Mart also faced charges of monopoly, by making suppliers dependent on them and forcing them to indulge in self-defeating practices, such as pressuring them to sell goods below cost or at prices lower than they would get elsewhere. Wal-Mart regularly faces lawsuits from employees accusing the company of forcing them to work overtime without pay and denying them health insurance. The allegations against Wal-Mart are so numerous that it is a common example for bad ethics. CitiBank Deciding to spend $50 million on a new private jet after taking $45 billion in taxpayer funds to stay afloat, as Citibank did is a textbook example of bad business ethics. To make matters worse for CitiBank, CEO Vikram Pandit lied to Congress that he received a compensation of one million a year when the actual figure was $11 million.Companies indulge in unethical business conduct primarily to maximize profits. However, rubbing customers and other stakeholders the wrong way in the quest to maximize profits can be self-defeating and lead to loss of valuable