MIT Sloan Management Review Article on The False Choice Between Business and Ethics

Should there be an imperative — moral or otherwise — to consider what’s fair when making a business transaction?

Consider this situation — let’s call it Case A. You’re at a yard sale and pick up a violin. The tag says $50. Let’s imagine you actually know quite a bit about violins, and you know that this particular violin, if it were auctioned, could yield close to $1 million.

Should you tell the current owners they’re making a terrible mistake by pricing it at $50? Or should you simply buy the violin and profit from a lucrative resale?

About the Author

R. Edward Freeman (@re_freeman) is a professor of strategy, ethics, and entrepreneurship at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. Bidhan (Bobby) L. Parmar is an associate professor at the Darden School.

Learn more about MIT SMR.