I feel that the utilitarian moral philosophy best fit my business decision style. The reason is that I am conservative and I try not to create waves between personal decisions and corporate decisions. Moral philosophy is not the acquisition of scientific knowledge of what is right and what is wrong, but the development of the ability to reflect on the nature of our judgments of right and wrong. Moral philosophy provides a set of general rational principles, from which the answers to concrete moral problems can be reduced when the particular case is seen as falling under a general moral rule or rules. Moral philosophy may not be the only way, but it is the best and most obvious way, to develop one's powers of reflection on moral concepts and moral principles.
The utilitarian theories recognizes that all we can do, if we wish to make our actions conform to the principles of utilitarianism, is make our best practical judgment on the probable consequences of our actions. The utilitarian approach bases decisions on what is best for the majority. What is the best option for the most people with the least impact on others? The mere possibility that a severely disabled infant will turn out to be a 'Stephen Hawking' is no objection to the practice of non- voluntary euthanasia. We first have to make a judgement concerning probability. Anything is possible. We might occasionally murder a future genius, but it is more likely that the total suffering our policy eliminates will outweigh the loss of benefits. The stakeholder theory of corporate social responsibility is totally compatible with utilitarian ethical theory because the stakeholder concept requires balancing the interests of all the parties affected by business decisions.
If you are a utilitarian, you would look at the assessment of the ethics of all business decisions according to whether the benefits outweigh the costs but to do it right, you have to include all benefits and costs to all parties involved, not just the quantifiable ones.
