Business Ethics Case Study: The Better Business Bureau

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a trade association, which creates regulatory requirements for those who participate in membership (O’Brien, 2012). Ultimately, their primary goal is to ensure organizations are accountable and are acting in a socially responsible way. Thus, they inform consumers of any violations and recognize businesses who perform well. Historically, they have been performing these services since in 1912 as the National Vigilance Committee, but later changed their name to the BBB in 1921 (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2011).

The BBB’s vision, “An ethical marketplace where buyers and sellers trust each other” emphasizes their desire to make the marketplace equally good (Better, 2015, para. 1). Further, their mission expresses their desire “to be the leader in advancing marketplace trust” (Better, 2015, para. 2). Ultimately, the BBB’s process is to achieve their mission by setting standards for trust; encouraging and supporting best practices by educating consumers and businesses; celebrating role models; addressing poor behavior; and creating a community of businesses and charities the public can trust (O’Brien, 2012).
Theoretically, they see public trust wrapped into two words, integrity and performance. Certainly, integrity is an important factor because it includes the characteristics of respect and ethics. Additionally, performance speaks to the experiences of the business over a period of time, including resolving consumer issues (Better, 2015). Basically, they believe the reason for their existence is to provide consumers with unbiased information and education to assist them with financial decisions, whether it be for an investment or car repairs (Wilson,