Business Ethics: An Oxymoron?
by Harry Hoover
Published on this site: September 6th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month
Why do I believe good PR and business ethics are inextricably
linked? It comes down to definitions. Ethics is learning what
is right and what is wrong and then doing the "right
thing." PR involves providing counsel on the "right
thing" to do and then helping the organization get credit
for it.
The business and political excess of the last 10 years have
taken some PR practitioners to the dark side because they
felt it was the only way for their company to profit. Although
I personally believe doing right for right's sake is enough,
there are some who may not share this view. OK, here's a reason
that any good capitalist can embrace: research now shows that
socially responsible behavior is good for the bottom line.
A recent analysis of overall financial performance of the
2001 list of 100 Best Corporate Citizens shows that this group
of firms did significantly better than the remaining companies
of the S&P 500. Professors at DePaul University found
that the mean ranking of the 100 Best was more than 10 percentile
higher than the other firms of the S&P 500.
Additionally, they had a significantly better reputation
among corporate directors and security analysts based upon
results of the Fortune Magazine survey of most admired companies.
So, you see, it really does pay to do the right thing.
Harry Hoover is managing principal of Hoover ink PR,
http://www.hoover-ink.com.
He has 26 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom
line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like
Brent Dees Financial Planning, Levolor, New World Mortgage,
North Carolina Tourism, TeamHeidi, Ty Boyd Executive Learning
Systems, VELUX, Verbatim and Wicked Choppers.
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