There’s organizations like B-corp, which set some standards.
That said: it’s very hard to decide what ethics means. Ethical for who?
Businesses strike a difficult compromise between workers, consumers, owners, and between short and long term goals all the time, with so many conflicting goals to aim for it seems very difficult to account for all of them.
Charities, for example you would expect to be ‘ethical’ but many treat their workers relatively poorly. Does that make them more ethical or less ethical than a company which treats it’s workers well, but treats it’s customers badly?
Or how about a company which sells the needy essential items at the most affordable price, but has an environmentally damaging manufacturing process? Is that more or less ethical than a ‘greener’ company whose products aren’t affordable for people with low incomes?
No_March_5371 on
If there’s to be a comprehensive official score, who’s to make it, and what will they consider good, and how will it weigh competing interests? What would the implications be?
Scrapheaper mentions B corps, but that’s not the only rating available. The Human Rights Campaign rates companies on how they treat LGBT employees, ESG ratings exist for firms, etc. If there’s a particular issue you care about there may be a firm rating for it. Trying to find some way to consolidate existing scores will be challenging, though, for the reasons I open with.
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There’s organizations like B-corp, which set some standards.
That said: it’s very hard to decide what ethics means. Ethical for who?
Businesses strike a difficult compromise between workers, consumers, owners, and between short and long term goals all the time, with so many conflicting goals to aim for it seems very difficult to account for all of them.
Charities, for example you would expect to be ‘ethical’ but many treat their workers relatively poorly. Does that make them more ethical or less ethical than a company which treats it’s workers well, but treats it’s customers badly?
Or how about a company which sells the needy essential items at the most affordable price, but has an environmentally damaging manufacturing process? Is that more or less ethical than a ‘greener’ company whose products aren’t affordable for people with low incomes?
If there’s to be a comprehensive official score, who’s to make it, and what will they consider good, and how will it weigh competing interests? What would the implications be?
Scrapheaper mentions B corps, but that’s not the only rating available. The Human Rights Campaign rates companies on how they treat LGBT employees, ESG ratings exist for firms, etc. If there’s a particular issue you care about there may be a firm rating for it. Trying to find some way to consolidate existing scores will be challenging, though, for the reasons I open with.