Business Ethics: Where Are We? Understanding the Dynamics of Companies during International Crises and Establishing the Best Form of Leadership to Resist Difficulties of Societies

Crises put a lot of pressure on companies. Many production companies find themselves in constant difficulty as they have to decide what is best to do to safeguard their company. Quite often, some companies decide to abandon ethical behaviour in order to pursue profit, as was seen during the financial crisis of 2008. But has the SARS-COVID-19 pandemic crisis had the same effect on corporate CSR? The aim of this research is to understand what the differences between the financial crisis of 2008 and the pandemic crisis from COVID-19 of 2020 are, demonstrating how during the second crisis, companies have shown a growing ethical behaviour compared to the first. Research shows that companies have managed to balance a CSR towards companies and families torn apart by health and economic difficulties and the need for corporate profit. Furthermore, the research demonstrates that Ethical Leadership is currently the best form of strategic Leadership that can be adopted by the Stakeholders of the future.