Round 2. mig12 V Loki: Business Ethics

The topic for this debate is "When they are in conflict, a business' responsibility to itself ought to be valued above its responsibility to society."

mig12 will be arguing for this proposition and will open the debate.
Loki will argue against this proposition.

Each debator will have one opening statement each. This will be followed by 3 alternating replies each. There will then be one closing statement each and no rebuttal.

No post will be longer than 800 words and in the case of the closing statement no longer than 500 words. In the event of a debator posting more than the stated word limit then the excess words will be deleted by me from the bottom. Credits or references at the bottom count as part of the post.

Editing is Strictly forbidden. This means any editing, for any reason. Any edited posts will be completely deleted.

Excluding both the opening and closing statements only one image or link may be included in any post. Opening and Closing statement must not carry either images or links.

As a guide responses should be made within 18 hours. If the debate is moving forward then I have a relaxed attitude to this. However, if people are consistently late with their replies, they will forfeit the debate.

Judging will be done by an anonymous panel of 11 judges. After each debate is completed it will be locked and the judges will begin making their decision. Results will be posted by me as soon as a majority (6) is reached.

This debate is now open, good luck to both of you.

First off, I would like to thank Kano for his help, the judges for their hard work, and my esteemed colleague, Loki, for his time.

I believe that Loki too lives in America, so I will use America to start off.

I live in America, the land of the free, the home of the brave, but let's put that # aside for a moment and think. In America, don't we a have a thing called free enterprising? Now I know that small buisnesses make up the majority of businesses around the world, and if the "smalls" were to fall, I know that we all know that not just one country's enconomy would be in danger, but the entire world's. Obviously, self-preservation is the key to not only western, but all society.

I wish my opponent, Loki, good luck, and thank you once again.

Business Ethics.

Let us look closely at the meaning of these two words.

A business is, as most of us believe, an enterprise created with the intent to make profit for the creator, and inherently, an arrangement made with a minimum of ill-intent, and a certain expectation (from employees, consumers, investors, and such) of morality.

Ethics is more of a grey area. Ethics vary from person to person, but there is that intangible set of morals that we tend to think of as the 'group' morality. This is best exemplified by employee handbooks circulated by various companies, which outline expectations of employees set forth by their employers.

However, it is in the best interest of ALL companies to firmly adhere to the generally accepted definition of business ethics, for the simple fact that there is no excuse for a lapse of the common courtesy associated with the traditional view of business ethics.

What we would emerge with if there were not a generally accepted set of these ethics is an veritable anarcy headed up by the enrons and Martha Stewarts of the world, and it would be utter chaos without any chance of a prosperous economy, and nobody would trust busniessmen, much in the same way that few trust politicians.

Basically, it is important for all companies to use ethics in their business dealings, simply because it wouldn't work any other way. Ethics literally dictate the flow of business.

Regrettably, I must forfeit due to family problems.

I wish Loki good luck in the next round.

Hope your family troubles work themselves out eventually.

Sorry you couldn't continue. I saw you as a worthy opponent, and I was looking forward to debating you.

mig12 forfeits, Loki advances.