Excoriating Karl Marx does not establish a positive statement of business ethics. Also, I have advocated for a clearer distinction between morality and ethics. Yes, we use the words interchangeably in common English, but if you look at other languages, the meanings are obviously different: morality is a general philosophical (or religious) framework for deciding ethical (behavioral) issues.
At the bottom is the Code of Ethics that I helped create for the Michigan State Numismatic Society. We require that members provide each other with the best possible information for making choices. That would be silly in a poker game or even baseball - though those games have their own strict ethics, of course. (In baseball, deception is allowed, but gambling is wrong, which is inapplicable to the poker table.)
For a class in Social Problems, I wrote a paper on business ethics. The business college of my alma mater, Eastern Michigan University, makes a big deal out of Ethos Week (read here). Mostly, it is a bunch of altruist nonsense. Even Deirdre McCloskey's rhapsodies (Bourgeois Virtue, Bourgeois Dignity) are more rigorously derived and cogent - and would be problematic at EMU where they are still trying to blend Achilles and St. Francis without Benjamin Franklin. And Ayn Rand is just not on the radar.
So, I was happy to find an exchange of articles and letters in The Academy of Management Review. It started with a weak-willed paper calling for consensus morality. Thomas E. Becker of the University of Maryland replied with “Integrity in Organizations: Beyond Honesty and Conscientiousness.” Then came replies to the replies... (The paper is stored on Google Documents. I provide a link on my website.)
Note, as detail, that MSNS members allow "a reasonable time" to correct mistakes. Also, we have one code of ethics for all members. The American Numismatic Association has two codes, one for collectors, and stricter one for dealers. Dealers are never in the clear. They must stand behind every transaction forever (or at least for their lifetime).
MSNS CODE OF ETHICS
We, the members of the Michigan State Numismatic Society, pledge ourselves to the highest standards of service to our hobby.
Our desire is to use the arts and sciences that support numismatics to discover and promote the essential facts and information about numismatic objects and processes and to make these facts and information known to other MSNS members and to the general public where applicable. As members of the MSNS, we agree to the following:
1) To base all of commercial dealings on the best available numismatic information.
2) To the best of our ability, to furnish our clientele with the numismatic information necessary to make an informed decision.
3) To fulfill all contracts, whether oral or written.
4) When purchasing numismatic items, to make prompt payments upon receipt of the items and to return immediately any item that is not satisfactory.
5) To take immediate steps to correct any error made in any transaction.
6) To conform to accepted standards of advertising.
7) To refuse to buy or sell any item of which the ownership is questionable.
8) To represent a numismatic item to be genuine only when, to the best available knowledge and belief, it is genuine.
i) Not to sell, exhibit, produce or advertise a counterfeit, copy, restrike or reproduction of any numismatic item if its nature is not clearly indicated by the word "counterfeit," "copy," "restrike," or "reproduction," incused in the metal or printed on the paper thereof, with the exception of items generally accepted by numismatists and not in any way misrepresented as genuine.
ii) To not knowingly handle for resale forgeries, counterfeits, unmarked copies, altered coins or other spurious numismatic merchandise that is not clearly labeled as such.
iii) Not to buy or sell any counterfeit item or any item with an altered date or mintmark.
- iv) Not to intentionally misrepresent the grade, condition, provenance or other material fact of object.
9) To allow our customers a designated period of time in which to return numismatic material for a refund and to provide a refund or replacement for any item that is misrepresented whether or not the misrepresentation was intentional.
10) To abide by all local, state and federal laws relating to numismatic matters and, when applicable, to assist in the prosecution of violators of those laws.
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