As a field of study, business ethics aims to specify the principles under which businesses must operate to behave ethically. Thus business ethics focuses on such issues as those that have recently attracted so much public scrutiny: executive compensation, honesty in accounting, transparency, treatment of stakeholders, and respect for the environment. These are, in fact, perennial questions that accompany the long history of human economic activity and that will also be present through an indeterminate future.

This ultimate resource recognizes the inherent unity between business ethics and business and society, that stems from their shared primary concern with value in commerce. This Encyclopedia spans the relationships among business, ethics, and society by including entries that feature broad coverage of corporate social responsibility, the obligation of companies to various stakeholder groups, the contribution of business to society and culture, and the relationship between organizations and the quality of the environment.