Final answer:
Business ethics involves creating and following a code of ethics to guide conduct in business activities, ensuring legal compliance and adherence to societal values. It covers concrete issues like eliminating discrimination and upholding privacy, and extends to corporate responsibilities towards employees, the environment, and broader social issues, particularly in the context of emerging technologies.
Step-by-step explanation:
Business ethics refers to the principles and standards that guide behavior in the world of business. Companies implement codes of ethics to ensure compliance with laws and regulations, and to express the values they aspire to uphold within society. Such codes address specific issues like bribery, discrimination, and whistleblowing, and also provide guidelines for achieving environmental and social objectives. In the realm of technology, organizations like the IEEE Computer Society have established ethical codes specific to their industry, such as the Software Engineering Code of Ethics, highlighting responsibilities like software safety and privacy.
Moreover, the relationship between corporations and their employees is a focal topic in business ethics, where the moral obligations of the corporation are scrutinized. In addition, ethics plays a significant role in examining the impact of businesses on the environment and society at large, touching upon issues like environmental justice and corporate social responsibility. When it comes to emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, establishing ethical practices can be challenging due to the rapid pace of innovation and the unprecedented ethical dilemmas they present.
Ultimately, business ethics is intertwined with normative ethics, which involves setting standards for correct behavior, and applied ethics, where those standards are put into practice in specific situations, reflecting a company's commitment to operate responsibly and ethically.