IBM - An Ethical Company?

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Business economics - Business Ethics, Corporate Ethics, grade: 72 % (First), University of Lincoln (Faculty of Management), 15 entries in the bibliography, language: English, comment: An discussion about the moral reasoning of a multinational company. Where does the moral obligation of a company stop and which role do the members of an organisation play. Can organisations learn from past mistakes and wrong behaviour? , abstract: Edwin Black presents a book accusing IBM of having knowingly involved in business with the Third Reich. As a result of this co-operation the Nazis were able to identify Jews across Europe and speed up their extermination. IBM's Hollerith technology was used to register and sort people. After a description of their history, Black shows in detail how IBM was able to accumulate millions of dollars in profit even though the two countries were at war with each other. The aim herein is to discuss IBM's business ethics and CSR approach during the beginning of the century as well as their role in the community today. Different models and theories will be used in order to explore IBM's reasoning for the continued business with the enemy and their new role in our time. As a first step, one needs to map the different influences any company is exposed to, placing IBM in a broader context. Companies are communities of different people, separated into staff and management. It is the responsibility of management to lead the company and to ensure the wellbeing of the employees . Another responsibility is to generate profitable Return on Investments. Without such profits the company would not be able to exist for a longer period of time .