What Are Unethical Business Practices?
Unethical business practices actively or passively cause harm to people, animals or the environment. These may include child labor, forced labor, unfair wages, animal testing and dumping toxic waste into the environment. Some unethical business practices have even greater consequences including death due to negligence and even genocide.
Other actions also constitute unethical business practices. For instance, attempting to create a monopoly on a market has unethical implications because without competition companies have no incentive to set fair prices or rates. Of course, companies commit other unethical acts despite regulations and legislation. Many companies refuse to raise their minimum wage rates even though minimum wage does not automatically equal a living wage.
While many people think some of these unethical business practices do not happen in the modern world, many companies continue to use unethical business practices. In many cases, they only pay a fine but do not face further consequences once their actions become public. However, some face public outcry if not criminal charges when ethics violations result in loss of life. In many cases, these companies pay settlements to families of victims to major violations such as these, but they may not suffer any loss in the bottom line.
