Pixabay While all businesses are required to follow certain regulatory and legal requirements, what it means to be ethical varies from company to company — and even from person to person. Aligning business values with vendor relationships is a "long-standing issue that companies have to grapple with when they decide who they're going to do business with," according to Kirsten Martin, professor of technology ethics at the University of Notre Dame's William P. and Hazel B. White Center. Ethics can come up in unusual ways, such as blowback for not supporting social issues or labor practices. "Tech is not immune" to the ethical issues faced by all of the supply chain, such as whether to support a vendor known for union busting or a vendor contracting with controversial organizations, Martin said.