I am proud of the contribution Ford and other American companies made to the ending of apartheid in South Africa. The engagement of American business with South African society was positive over many years. Today it is politically correct to credit economic sanctions with the ending of apartheid, but the engagement of American business with South African society was a very important contributing factor. By the time I began work there, social activism by American companies and other developments already had created a social movement that could not long be held in check by other than armed force. Obviously, I believe ethics are very much a part of business and businessmen have the ability to change people's lives in ways governments don't seem able to accomplish.
Ability brings responsibility.
Surely it must be accompanied by ethics. This view is way too Microsoft-centered. Innovation is done by innovators left free to do their best, not by bureaucrats and most especially not by legal bureaucrats. It's a good thing that Microsoft now gets its turn on appeal.