Because we believe the subject matter is so important, over the
next two months Entrepreneur Media is running the following
article, examining the question of ethics for small business, in
three of our publications: Entrepreneur, Business Start-Ups and
Entrepreneur's HomeOffice.
Charlie Wilson is trying to run an ethical business. He's
made social responsibility part of the mission statement at his
$1.6 million Houston-based salvage company, SeaRail International
Inc. He's made ethics a consideration in putting together
guidelines for his salespeople. And he's made
"self-actualization"--not wealth--his ultimate goal as an
entrepreneur.
But don't mistake Wilson for some born-again hippie or
moralistic stick-in-the-mud. For him, it's all about success.
"Ethics is what's spearheading our growth," says
Wilson. "It creates an element of trust, familiarity and
predictability in the business. We're in an industry where a
lot of people cut corners. It's easy to misrepresent products
and be less than upfront with customers about the condition of
goods. I just don't think that's good for business. You
don't get a good reputation doing things that way. And
eventually, customers won't want to do business with
you."
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For years, ethics and business had a rocky marriage. If you
asked entrepreneurs to talk about ethics, the responses would range
from scorn to ridicule. It's a dog-eat-dog world out there,
they'd say, and I'm just trying to survive. But it went
even deeper than that. Here are folks who--by definition--like
breaking the rules. Suggesting that entrepreneurs follow a
predefined set of edicts was about as popular as asking them to
swear off electricity.
But this attitude may be changing. Whether people are hung over
from the freewheeling '80s or reflective about the coming
millennium, talk about ethics, values, integrity and responsibility
is not only becoming acceptable in the business community, it's
practically required.
"This looks to me just like the quality movement of 20
years ago," says Frank Walker, chairman of Indianapolis-based
Walker Information Inc., a research and consulting company that
tracks customer satisfaction and business ethics. "In any
free-enterprise system, customers need a way to differentiate one
firm from another." For years, the dominant point of
differentiation has been quality. Now, says Walker, everyone can
deliver quality, so businesses need to step up to a higher
plane.
Are the nation's entrepreneurs ready to ascend to new
heights of ethical literacy and compliance? Well, sort of. Although
most entrepreneurs still aren't trying to unseat the likes of
Socrates and Plato, many are giving serious thought to improving
ethics within their companies--and within themselves--with the hope
that doing good business will be good for business.
Gayle Sato Stodder covers entrepreneurship for various
publications. She lives and works in Redondo Beach,
California.
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