A trade association executive who had nervously followed certain Congressional hearings recently consulted his antitrust counsel. He informed the latter that these public hearings had questioned the competitive ethics of his industry; explained that he feared regulatory legislation might be forthcoming to police the challenged conduct; and proposed the adoption of a code of ethics, enforceable by industry sanctions, to eliminate the debatable practices in order to forestall the threatened Washington action.
A version of this article appeared in the March 1966 issue of Harvard Business Review.