The main objective of the essay is to discuss the theme of ethics and organizations under the lenses of the New Institutional Economics. Given the importance of ethics and social responsibility for organizations, the study suggests the risk associated to the benign approach of cooperation based on the assumption of absence of opportunism. Also discusses the problem of survival of the ethical corporation, in face of the existence of non-ethical behavior of the competition. The study concludes that internal organization should be architected to provide the incentives and align the behavior of stakeholders and stockholders. It also concludes that institutional evolution should affect the capacity for the socially responsible organization survive in the market place.
ethics; ethical corporation; social responsibility