Business Ethics

In olden Chinese society, the respected occupations were the government officials, teachers, doctors, farmers and craftsmen. The merchants were considered to be near the bottom of the ranking. Why were the merchants given so low a ranking in the past?

Today, the merchants (i.e. businessmen, entrepreneurs, traders, bankers) are the most lucrative occupations. They earn large amounts of money, especially in financial services and corporate dealings.

Even the professionals (i.e. doctors, lawyers, accountants and teachers) want to be converted into businesses to make more money.

The drive to "make more profit" has resulted in a deterioration of business ethics. Nowaways, businesses find it all right to "skim off the consumers" to increase their profits, so long as they do not break the law. It has become an acceptable business practice to take advantage of the ignorant or weak consumers to maximise profits. .

I believe that there will be a backlash. I hope that the business community will understand that fair treatment of consumers is for the long term benefit of the free market system.