Business ethics and sustainability 
Business ethics and sustainability
Tata Steel Ltd. – a case study
What is business ethics and sustainability ?
Business ethics
Business ethics (also Corporate Ethics) is defined as the accepted set of moral values and codes of conduct applied in business practice and decision making. These applied ethics or professional ethics are defined by its business or corporate policies and is corporate standards of a business organisation.
Business ethics means ‘taking the right course’. Acting ethically takes into account all the factors of doing business. These include production, business processes, and the company’s behaviour with its customers and the communities in which it operates. It is about doing the right thing in everything the company does.
Tata Steel Ltd. has five core values which defines the ethics of the company:
Integrity,
Understanding,
Excellence,
Unity and
Responsibility.
These values are evident in everything that it does and drive the ethical behaviour of the company.
Sustainability
Sustainability is the ability to continue a defined behaviour indefinitely. Sustainability is about meeting the challenges of ensuring that future generations can enjoy the same kind of lifestyles people enjoy today. This naturally involves taking a long-term perspective on balancing economic, environmental and social impacts of business
The Three Pillars of Sustainability
(Diagram)
The principle of The Three Pillars of Sustainability says that for the complete sustainability problem to be solved all three pillars of sustainability must be sustainable. The three pillars are
Social sustainability,
Environmental sustainability and
Economic sustainability.
Of the three pillars, the most important is environmental sustainability. If this is not solved, then no matter how hard we try the other pillars cannot be made strong because they are dependent on the greater system they live within, the environment.
The Tata Steel Ltd. sustainability policy states that ‘Our
Tata Steel Ltd. – a case study
What is business ethics and sustainability ?
Business ethics
Business ethics (also Corporate Ethics) is defined as the accepted set of moral values and codes of conduct applied in business practice and decision making. These applied ethics or professional ethics are defined by its business or corporate policies and is corporate standards of a business organisation.
Business ethics means ‘taking the right course’. Acting ethically takes into account all the factors of doing business. These include production, business processes, and the company’s behaviour with its customers and the communities in which it operates. It is about doing the right thing in everything the company does.
Tata Steel Ltd. has five core values which defines the ethics of the company:
Integrity,
Understanding,
Excellence,
Unity and
Responsibility.
These values are evident in everything that it does and drive the ethical behaviour of the company.
Sustainability
Sustainability is the ability to continue a defined behaviour indefinitely. Sustainability is about meeting the challenges of ensuring that future generations can enjoy the same kind of lifestyles people enjoy today. This naturally involves taking a long-term perspective on balancing economic, environmental and social impacts of business
The Three Pillars of Sustainability
(Diagram)
The principle of The Three Pillars of Sustainability says that for the complete sustainability problem to be solved all three pillars of sustainability must be sustainable. The three pillars are
Social sustainability,
Environmental sustainability and
Economic sustainability.
Of the three pillars, the most important is environmental sustainability. If this is not solved, then no matter how hard we try the other pillars cannot be made strong because they are dependent on the greater system they live within, the environment.
The Tata Steel Ltd. sustainability policy states that ‘Our