Ethical Business Practices Cultivate Win-Win Relationship

It is possible to profitably build a business around a universally accepted and fundamental ethical concept: seek to build win-win relationships between your trading partners. An efficient and just market is one that rewards firms that create value for its customers and trade based on trust, respect and integrity. Firms that expect to sustain a competitive advantage need to forge business relationships with vendors and customers. Vendors become reliable and trustworthy suppliers of quality goods and services necessary for a firm to create value for its customers. And customers expect their suppliers to deliver on their promises. When both suppliers and customers gain from a business exchange, they both win. Therefore, firms should strive to build mutually beneficial relationships with their trading partners--win-win: Firms purchase needed products or services at prices that fit their budget and suppliers sell products and services at a profit that enables them to sustain and grow their business. This is not only good business practice, it also fulfills the ethical goal of treating our neighbors with the same respect we have for ourselves.