Business ethics (organization ethics in general) "defines the way a company integrates its key-values into its policies and decision-making processes" (Samuel Mercier, L'Ethique dans les entreprises, 1999).

 In other words, the ethics of an organization translates the values developed in the corporate culture. It influences the relations existing between the organization and its stakeholders. Thoses values and ethics have a direct impact on performance as they influence each decision in the organization and can even be its causes.

By becoming aware of its values, an organization can develop an ethics strategy that can be passed on to its associates. This will define its identity and  positioning before its customers, and will thus improve its performance.

Each organization is different, but the most performant ones are those where the employees are the proudest of their organizations, and whose culture is the strongest. Herein lies the secret of success stories such as the ones of Google, SAP, McKinsey or Danone.