Ethical Business Culture

122 Pages·2021·8.163 MB·English

by  Andreas Karaoulanis

ETHICAL BUSINESS CULTURE K
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A Utopia or a Challenge? n
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Andreas Karaoulanis
Small business is a major component of societies, especially now. Being in leadership
positions in small business is something which many times involves tough decisions
to be taken. Th e major question that this book addresses is whether ethical decision
making in small business is a paragon that needs to be taken into consideration?
Surviving and growing is something which involves many aspects that need to be
taken into consideration too. One of them is the human factor, which many consider
to be a crucial paragon, more important than even strategy implementation.
Under this prism, this book will investigate both the ethical paragons involved in small
business ethical decision-making process and their consequences and the implementa-
tion of the right culture in small business as a paragon of stability and growth.
Th e author sheds some light into aspects that we all have encountered in our
professional lives and which sometimes had major impact on both business and the ET
H
environment. IC
A
L
Andreas Karaoulanis, PhD, is a very experienced professional BU
S
and academic with more than 25 years of experience in many I
N
E
industries, like retail, academia, banking, automotive, insurances, S
S
heating and plumbing, apparel and fashion, and start-ups. He is C
U
the author of fi ve books on business topics, three of which have LT
U
been translated in eight languages. Karaoulanis is an international R
E
lecturer on business topics, an international researcher, and a
peer reviewer in many international journals, having published
dozens of scientifi c research papers which have been read in more than 140 countries all
over the world. He holds a PhD in business management, a master’s degree in “decision
support and risk analysis”, an MBA in industrial management and economics, a
master’s degree in engineering, and a bachelor’s degree in engineering.
A Utopia or a Challenge?
Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management Collection
Scott Shane, Editor
ISBN: 978-1-95334-978-1
Ethical Business Culture

Ethical Business Culture
A utopia or a challenge?
Andreas Karaoulanis
Ethical Business Culture: A Utopia or a Challenge?
Copyright © Business Expert Press, LLC, 2021.
Cover design by Charlene Kronstedt
Interior design by Exeter Premedia Services Private Ltd., Chennai, India
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other
except for brief quotations, not to exceed 400 words, without the prior
permission of the publisher.
First published in 2021 by
Business Expert Press, LLC
222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017
www.businessexpertpress.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-95334-978-1 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-1-95334-979-8 (e-book)
Business Expert Press Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management
Collection
Collection ISSN: 1946-5653 (print)
Collection ISSN: 1946-5661 (electronic)
First edition: 2021
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Description
Small business is a major component of societies, especially now. Being
in leadership positions in small business is something which many
times involves tough decisions to be taken. The major question that this
book addresses is whether ethical decision making in small business is a
paragon that needs to be taken into consideration?
Surviving and growing is something which involves many aspects that
need to be taken into consideration too. One of them is the human factor,
which many consider to be a crucial paragon, more important than even
strategy implementation. Under this prism, this book will investigate
both the ethical paragons involved in small business ethical decision-
making process and their consequences and the implementation of the
right culture in small business as a paragon of stability and growth.
The author sheds some light into aspects that we all have encountered
in our professional lives and which sometimes had major impact on both
business and the environment.
Keywords
small business; management; crisis; financial; strategy; decision making;
company culture; human paragon; human resources management;
sustainable development; ethical consequences; ethical decision making;
business ethics; morals; society; growth; CEO; leadership; conclusions;
customers; value creation

Contents
Preface ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ix
Acknowledgments �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������xi
Part I Business Ethics. Is It a Prerequisite? .............................1
Chapter 1 What Do We Mean by Ethics? ..........................................3
Chapter 2 Decision Making in Small Business ................................17
Chapter 3 E thical Consequences Involved in Small Business
Decision Making ............................................................31
Part II Company Culture ......................................................43
Chapter 4 Company Culture: The Cornerstone of Success ..............45
Chapter 5 Company Culture in Small Business ...............................69
Part III The Gist .....................................................................85
Chapter 6 Epilogue .........................................................................87
References ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������91
About the Author ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������101
Index �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������103

Preface
A Few Words from the Author
As being someone who has worked for more than 25 years in more than
10 different industries, I believe that I have the experience to deal with
a topic that, although well known, is something that the majority of
businessmen/businesswomen and entrepreneurs don’t like to touch.
Having ethical considerations while being an entrepreneur is not
something easy. Many might argue that being an entrepreneur automat-
ically means that you need to be ready to eliminate all second thoughts,
especially when crucial; sometimes even for the business survival.
In this book I am trying to underline that entrepreneurs need to
understand that business can be ethical or, in other words, business can
implement principles like truthfulness, honesty, loyalty, respect, fair-
ness, and integrity (Surbhi 2018) and still thrive. Ii is a matter of choice
and understanding that businesses are part of the societies inside which
they are operating and this is why they need to respect themselves, their
employees, and the very societies of which they are a vivid part.
As a manager, CEO, and C-suite executive, in the past years I always
wanted to implement a great company culture in all the companies that
I was working. This fact per se was for me of the utmost importance
because in the epicenter of business I always had the human factor in terms
of both employees and customers. A human-centric approach, regarding
personnel, combined with a customer-centric one can be a determinant
which can be proved extremely crucial in terms of sustainability, customer
retention, increase of profits, in both the short and the long runs.
As in small business it is imperative to understand the role of the
owner (CEO) in implementing such business mentality; we also need
to understand the role of the human resources as well. Human resource
management can also be extremely important in terms of the ethical
considerations that need to be addressed.