Ethics in the spotlight at Turku School of Economics

A group of researchers at TSE focuses on ethics in business relationships and networks. The group was established in 2012. The topic is so far much less addressed topic than consumer ethics or related corporate social responsibility. In b-2-b context questions of both social and economic fairness are examined in exchange relationships. The group is supported by the University of Turku strategic funds.

The topic was targeted widely at a seminar held at TSE. The purpose of the “Ethics in Business Networks” seminar was to evoke discussion on the significance of ethics for business relationships by bringing together researchers and PhD students working with the theme. The seminar attracted guests from Aalto University, Hanken, Åbo Akademi and Vaasa University.

In the opening words Professor Aino Halinen-Kaila (TSE) emphasized the importance of ethics as part of any business interaction, but she also reminded that ethics tends to get public attention only when some crises occur as a result of violating ethical norms. As examples she brought up the Enron case and the case of Bangladesh garment industry.  The keynote speaker, Professor Tuomo Peltonen from Management and Organization (TSE) opened the discussion by contemplating the nature of business ethics and ethics theories.

“The globalization of the firms has caused the values to collide, but also the role of the single firms has moved towards that of the society. This means that they have now responsibilities too”, he says.

Trust and Commitment Crucial in Network Ethics

A question that was asked several times during the seminar was, who actually defines the ethical standards and what should these standards be, especially in the global business context. This question has become more important due to the misconducts in the supply chains of the well- known brands subcontracting production in the Far East countries. Professor Jan-Åke Törnroos (Åbo Akademi University)  pinpointed that the problems in the production seem to be distant and unrelated to us, and that is why we all silently accept the situation by buying unethically manufactured products.

Rami Olkkonen and Hannu Makkonen (TSE) raised the question of unethical behavior specifically in the network context. According to their findings the key factors that may decay relationships in networks are lack of trust and commitment, deteriorating feeling of fairness and a negative atmosphere.

In their presentation Päivi Jokela (TSE) and Aino Halinen-Kaila suggested that one of the interesting topics to be studied more in depth would be how ethical behavior in business networks actually impacts the firm performance.

An interesting real life case on ethical dilemmas in R&D cooperation was presented by Aki Koponen and Jukka Vahlo from CCR (TSE). In an interdisciplinary research context the participants may follow different codes of ethics, which raises the question which ones should be followed in a joint project.

Ethics of Business Relations Not Widely Discussed

A panel discussion moderated by professor Rami Olkkonen concluded the seminar.  The panel discussed why in the marketing discipline there is so little discussion concerning ethics, while some kind of ethics I always present in exchange.

“Actually the book written about the ethics of the business relationships is probably the shortest one in the world” Rami Olkkonen put it.

It became clear that ethics of organizations collaborating offer us still much to look at, for example, what is actually the value of being ethical.  Yet, as Jan-Åke Törnroos put it, there are major challenges in approaching the sensitive topic:

“It is hard to get the people in firms to talk about these issues. You cannot just go and ask how is your ethics”.

The discussions in the framework of the seminar revealed how multifaceted, yet significant phenomenon ethics in business relationships is. The dialogue is expected to continue.

The seminar on ethics in business networks was held at TSE in November 2013.

Text and photographs: Päivi Jokela