Every society and every tradition has its own definition of enterprise ethics. A whole bunch of examples of businesses participating in bad, unethical, and immoral habits with a purpose to earn a living only serve to convince folks that main companies are immoral, and that they do not suppose highly of ethical business practices. We have already seen that huge business responded to criticism within the Nineteen Sixties by turning to company social duty, and the motion could be traced again to that period.

Many, but not all, of these points could be understood to bear on distinct, recognized groups with their own stakes in a enterprise: workers, shareholders, consumers, and so forth. A central question issues how companies ought to weigh the interests of different stakeholders towards one another; notably what moral import to present to revenue-making (presumably in the interest of shareholders in massive companies).

The Compact, which was endorsed by all governments, comprises 9 guidin...