What? Now We Have to Make a Profit and Be Ethical?

So you’re wondering, Will things ever get back to normal? They already have. For most businesses, the new normal means bolstering backup and contingency plans, ratcheting up security, and preparing for the worst. That’s easy. Now comes the tough part: meeting the public’s escalating ethical expectations of corporations.

Conventional wisdom long held that only two basic strategies earn a company its competitive advantage: selling goods or services at a lower cost, and making sure those products are superior in quality to those of competitors. But the world is finally making room for a third path. Consumers are showing that they will reward companies that prove they are social, not just corporate, leaders — and that they will punish those they perceive as bad citizens. Business 2.0