چکیده (انگلیسی):

o one can doubt nowadays that ethics in business is an important issue. Recent corporate scandals
involving corporations such as Enron, WorldCom, and Freddie Mac, to name just a few, have
exposed highly questionable business practices and criminal behavior. In this paper, I would like to
distinguish between illegal practices and legal, yet (at least in the eyes of many a beholder) unethical actions. In a
Microeconomic Principles class, which is typically part of an undergraduate Business curriculum, the standard
assumption is introduced that a firm aims to maximize its profits. This assumption applies regardless of the market
structure (perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligoply, or monopoly). This gives an instructor the
opportunity to point out that—while typically not explicitly mentioned in textbooks—firms are assumed to operate
within the confines of the legal system