But even that approach does not work for very long. With regulators tightening the laws everywhere, and eying bans on fully automated decision making in some industries (e.g. mine - in HR), you either staff those internal ethics teams with intelligent, well connected lawyers, or you get truly nasty surprises and jeopardize the brand itself -- and lose $$$.

Ideally the society where the companies operate in should provide the safety rails, thus allowing the company to do whatever it legally can to maximize profits.

But that wouldn't be the crony capitalism that we're stuck with now. Also, things have been moving too fast for a long time, making it nearly impossible for governments to keep up.