No Result
View All Result
SUBSCRIBE | NO FEES, NO PAYWALLS
MANAGE MY SUBSCRIPTION
NEWSLETTER
Corporate Compliance Insights
  • Home
  • About
    • About CCI
    • CCI Magazine
    • Writing for CCI
    • Career Connection
    • NEW: CCI Press – Book Publishing
    • Advertise With Us
  • Explore Topics
    • See All Articles
    • Compliance
    • Ethics
    • Risk
    • FCPA
    • Governance
    • Fraud
    • Internal Audit
    • HR Compliance
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
    • Financial Services
    • Well-Being at Work
    • Leadership and Career
    • Opinion
  • Vendor News
  • Library
    • Download Whitepapers & Reports
    • Download eBooks
    • New: Living Your Best Compliance Life by Mary Shirley
    • New: Ethics and Compliance for Humans by Adam Balfour
    • 2021: Raise Your Game, Not Your Voice by Lentini-Walker & Tschida
    • CCI Press & Compliance Bookshelf
  • Podcasts
    • Great Women in Compliance
    • Unless: The Podcast (Hemma Lomax)
  • Research
  • Webinars
  • Events
  • Subscribe
Jump to a Section
  • At the Office
    • Ethics
    • HR Compliance
    • Leadership & Career
    • Well-Being at Work
  • Compliance & Risk
    • Compliance
    • FCPA
    • Fraud
    • Risk
  • Finserv & Audit
    • Financial Services
    • Internal Audit
  • Governance
    • ESG
    • Getting Governance Right
  • Infosec
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
  • Opinion
    • Adam Balfour
    • Jim DeLoach
    • Mary Shirley
    • Yan Tougas
No Result
View All Result
Corporate Compliance Insights
Home Ethics

What Does “Business Ethics” Mean?

Questions to Help Make the Right Business Decisions

by Michael Volkov
October 28, 2019
in Ethics, Featured
businessman facing wall with arrows pointing left and right

Michael Volkov posits a reasonable definition of business ethics – and outlines what it’s NOT – and offers a framework for going beyond determining whether a decision is “legal” and instead determining whether it is “right.”

Forgive me for the title of this posting. I am trying to make a point; a rather obvious one. I confess: I did not take philosophy classes in high school or college, so I may have missed the boat on this issue. But from my limited vantage point with respect to the compliance industry, everyone needs to take a breath and re-evaluate their use and understanding of the term “business ethics.”

As a start to this effort, let me first tell you what ethics in relation to compliance does not mean. We are not talking about some metaphysical, undefined concept surrounding human existence. Also, and perhaps more relevantly, we are not speaking about legal ethics, a term that has little to no relevance to corporate or business ethics except for perhaps one minor issue (duty to act in circumstances where the lawyer has knowledge of future illegal actions (e.g., a client who tells his/her lawyer that he/she intends to commit a violent crime)). Legal ethics has very little relevance to business ethics.

Without belaboring all the “feel good” and esoteric discussion surrounding societal ethics and applying these concepts to business ethics, I would suggest that we focus on the term “business ethics” by considering the concept of ethical decision-making. Companies act every day and make important decisions. In certain circumstances involving difficult decisions, a business ethics framework can be helpful to ensure that a company considers its mission, values and relevant stakeholders.

To do so, a company has to answer several important questions:

What is the company’s mission?

A company has to define its mission in a clear and concise manner. Hopefully, the company will define its mission beyond just making money, building good products and selling lots of goods and services. By “mission,” I mean defining the company’s mission in relation to people, communities and society. A company is only as good as it relates to important constituencies (e.g. customers, community, government, shareholders). I think of it as a company’s inspiration – what motivates the company and its actors?

What are the company’s values?

A company’s values are an important statement of its organizational and operational principles. Hopefully, the company’s statement of values is short, sweet and simple. A company’s values has to reflect, again, its mission and the means by which the company plans to accomplish its mission.

Who are the company’s stakeholders?

A company operates in its community; relates to its shareholders, customers, vendors and suppliers; and has important interactions with government entities. An important aspect of ethical business decision-making is to understand the company’s stakeholders and their interests and concerns, as well as to nurture the company’s relationships with these stakeholders.

Does the company have an established framework for ethical business decisions?

Once you have defined the company’s mission, values and stakeholders, the company should define a framework for ethical business decisions. This is where designs can get tripped up; by ethical business decisions, I do not mean what is right or wrong from a political or social perspective. I am focusing on balancing important interests to the company’s stakeholders. Social and political issues, however, may be taken into account depending on concerns from stakeholders like the government, shareholders, the community in which the company operates and its customers. Social and political issues can be a factor but rarely will they be the driving force for most companies.

Instead, let me offer a framework for ethical business decisions. As you will see, this framework goes beyond just asking whether a decision is “legal” to defining whether a decision is “right.”

  • What are the relevant facts around the issue?Of course, to make an important decision, a company has to know and understand the relevant facts surrounding the issue.
  • What the available options?
  • Does the issue involve more than whether the decision is legal? Does the issue implicate any code of conduct provisions? Assuming the decision does not violate the law or code of conduct, what relevant issues are raised?
  • What impact will the decision have on each relevant stakeholder?
  • What are the benefits and negative impacts to the company and its stakeholders (cost-benefit analysis)? In other words, do the benefits outweigh the negative impact to stakeholder(s)?
  • Which option is most consistent with the company’s mission and values?
  • If the decision is reported in the press, how would stakeholders respond? 

While this is not an exhaustive or definitive list, my hope is that it will help identify some relevant considerations. This framework is intended to integrate a decision-making process that weighs a company’s mission, values, code of conduct, stakeholders and legal considerations (if any).

This article was republished with permission from Michael Volkov’s blog, Corruption, Crime & Compliance.


Tags: Code of ConductCorporate Culture
Previous Post

Mitigating the Impact of the CCPA

Next Post

Welcome to the OFAC Compliance Framework

Michael Volkov

Michael Volkov

Michael-Volkov-leclairryan Michael Volkov is the CEO of The Volkov Law Group LLC, where he provides compliance, internal investigation and white collar defense services.  He can be reached at mvolkov@volkovlaw.com. Michael has extensive experience representing clients on matters involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the UK Bribery Act, money laundering, Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), export controls, sanctions and International Traffic in Arms, False Claims Act, Congressional investigations, online gambling and regulatory enforcement issues. Michael served for more than 17 years as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia; for five years as the Chief Crime and Terrorism Counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Chief Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Counsel for the Senate and House Judiciary Committees; and as a Trial Attorney in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Michael also maintains a well-known blog: Corruption Crime & Compliance, which is frequently cited by anti-corruption professionals and professionals in the compliance industry.

Related Posts

layoffs woman with carton of items

Beyond Fair WARNing: Regulatory & Reputational Pitfalls of Workforce Reduction

by Nancy Mann Jackson
June 11, 2025

Nearly 700,000 workers have lost jobs this year as companies respond to economic uncertainty, but employment law experts warn that...

elephant vs donkey

MAGA Hats and Pronoun Disputes Test Workplace Speech Boundaries

by Gorev Ahuja
June 10, 2025

Private employers can regulate political expression more freely, but public agencies must navigate a 3-part constitutional test that weighs speech...

doj exterior sign

How to Use the DOJ’s ECCP to Build (or Fix) Your Compliance Program

by Susan Divers
June 5, 2025

Corporate compliance programs face increasing scrutiny as the DOJ applies its evaluation framework across industries and company sizes, from multinational...

Ethisphere 2025 E&C Program Trends & Employee Perceptions

2025 E&C Program Trends & Employee Perceptions

by Corporate Compliance Insights
May 27, 2025

Are ethics and compliance programs keeping pace with risk? Annual report E&C Program Trends & Employee Perceptions What’s in this...

Next Post
futuristic metal scaffolding

Welcome to the OFAC Compliance Framework

No Result
View All Result

Privacy Policy | AI Policy

Founded in 2010, CCI is the web’s premier global independent news source for compliance, ethics, risk and information security. 

Got a news tip? Get in touch. Want a weekly round-up in your inbox? Sign up for free. No subscription fees, no paywalls. 

Follow Us

Browse Topics:

  • CCI Press
  • Compliance
  • Compliance Podcasts
  • Cybersecurity
  • Data Privacy
  • eBooks Published by CCI
  • Ethics
  • FCPA
  • Featured
  • Financial Services
  • Fraud
  • Governance
  • GRC Vendor News
  • HR Compliance
  • Internal Audit
  • Leadership and Career
  • On Demand Webinars
  • Opinion
  • Research
  • Resource Library
  • Risk
  • Uncategorized
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Well-Being
  • Whitepapers

© 2025 Corporate Compliance Insights

Welcome to CCI. This site uses cookies. Please click OK to accept. Privacy Policy
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • About CCI
    • CCI Magazine
    • Writing for CCI
    • Career Connection
    • NEW: CCI Press – Book Publishing
    • Advertise With Us
  • Explore Topics
    • See All Articles
    • Compliance
    • Ethics
    • Risk
    • FCPA
    • Governance
    • Fraud
    • Internal Audit
    • HR Compliance
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Privacy
    • Financial Services
    • Well-Being at Work
    • Leadership and Career
    • Opinion
  • Vendor News
  • Library
    • Download Whitepapers & Reports
    • Download eBooks
    • New: Living Your Best Compliance Life by Mary Shirley
    • New: Ethics and Compliance for Humans by Adam Balfour
    • 2021: Raise Your Game, Not Your Voice by Lentini-Walker & Tschida
    • CCI Press & Compliance Bookshelf
  • Podcasts
    • Great Women in Compliance
    • Unless: The Podcast (Hemma Lomax)
  • Research
  • Webinars
  • Events
  • Subscribe

© 2025 Corporate Compliance Insights