IKEA took the CEOs and one other executive from each of the 28 countries in which it has stores on a tour of supplier operations in India so that they could see for themselves the conditions under which their goods were produced. The long run payback may well be enormous, but likely unmeasurable. Perhaps it resulted from purely altruistic motives. IKEA is not the only company in the world that focuses on ethical conduct, and IKEA, like all humans and human organizations, will make mistakes. Business Ethics Terminology Starting in the next issue, there will be a regular series of short commentaries on the language of business ethics.
Words can confuse.
Experts in business ethics use words in ways that may mean something different to lay persons, or that they are unfamiliar with. This column will attempt to reduce the confusion. The two tend to be equated, even though they are different. If there are terms used in business ethics discussion that confuse you, send an e-mail to the Centre, and we will try to help. Story after story in the media about business has a strong ethical component, although this aspect is rarely reported.