Ethical Management – Competitive Advantage Relationship

The paper aims at emphasizing the importance of business ethics in long term competitive advantage. Ethics is the basis for human relationships. It is reflected in the quality of our relationships and all members of our society must understand the importance of ethics as it is the basis of a civilized nation. Business ethics is concerned with the study of ethical principles and rules in economic context; it offers a set of useful decision instruments for the company’s strategies, for solving the conflicts between the groups in economic contexts: employers, employees, mangers, shareholders, customers, public institutions etc. The ethical behaviour results can be seen and felt in time. The ethical management is long term profitable, and the relationship between ethics and competitiveness is evident. The future successful firm is a socializing one, but socializing and being successful in business environment means being able to gain all business partners’ trust; the company cannot meet these objectives without the implementation of ethical values and norms. The company gains its reputation in time, as a direct effect, not only of the high quality products and/or services offered but of the way it interactions with its partners (customers, suppliers, banks etc.). The paper presents both the ethical code and the ethical management in Romania and we have shown some ethical problem sources of the Romanian business environment.