Ethics, Responsibility, and Sustainability

Many companies have adopted or at least become more transparent about their intentions to better stewards to individuals or groups of people, the environment, or ethics. Our text highlights that "Ethics Is Good Business" and it's more than just a good idea, it's a great practice. Most people are familiar with companies such as Enron or WorldCom that had significant ethics and legal violations or Exxon which has been responsible for significant environmental disasters. For Enron and WorldCom, their questionable practices lead to further investigation that uncovered serious violations, ultimately leading to their demise. Exxon hasn't quite suffered a similar fate but has seen hits to their stock and large rulings against them financially, although arguably not near enough.
Having a proactive approach to preventing issues and even promoting responsible practices is becoming more of the norm as customers and business partners are looking for firms that display good business ethics as it's reflective of the company as a whole and how they interact with others at every level and opportunity. Adobe has enacted such practices and boasts them given the opportunity. Advertised here, Adobe lists 15 stats that are quoted as "mind-blowing." To be honest, some of them are like the ability for them to have created 95% less environmental impact by utilizing features such as Adobe Sign rather than the common practice of printing and circulating paper copies. Adobe has also joined with other firms such as Ben & Jerry's on joint ventures to rely on one another to further reduce waste and environmental dependencies. Continued focus on being more responsible only further supports their strategy and positions them well to continue this path to not only be more profitable but also make a positive impact in the community.