Business ethics from Aristotle, Kant and Mill's perspective

Abstract

PurposeThe presence and use of the informal and formal measures of business ethics implementation may be crucial and should therefore be known to managers/owners. Based on the case study research, this paper aims to suggest that enterprise awareness of importance of business ethics implementation can be of essential meaning for its long‐term existence, success, growth, and development. The purpose of this paper is to discover the presence and use of the informal and formal measures of business ethics implementation and to identify their importance for active measure care by the enterprises.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, qualitative research is applied. The research cognitions on informal and formal measures of business ethics implementation are discussed in application of the dialectical systems theory.FindingsThe paper finds that on one side the enterprises' key stakeholders (owners and managers) are aware of the importance of their ethical behaviour as well as of impact of their ethical behaviour to the enterprises' behaviour. The research results also show that enterprises' key stake holders are conscious of the impact of enterprises' ethical behaviour to the enterprises' long term existence, growth, and development. On the other hand, the research findings show that such informal awareness is usually not formalized, which can be argued as a reason for enterprises' unethical behaviour.Practical implicationsThis paper gives us some insights as to the state of informal and formal measures of business ethics implementation in Slovenian enterprises. In a frame of practical implications, a further research should be done to show which formal measures of such ethics implementation should be used to stimulate the enterprises' innovative behaviour in assurance of enterprise effectiveness, efficiency, and social responsibility in order to achieve and maintain enterprise's long term existence, growth, and development.Originality/valueThe available literature does not provide for a similar research of linkage between the formal and informal measures of business ethics implementation.