Is it ethical to use ethics as strategy?

Increasingly research in the field of business and society suggests that et hics and corporate social responsibility can be profitable. Yet this work r aises a troubling question: Is it ethical to use ethics and social responsi bility in a strategic way? Is it possible to be ethical or socially respons ible for the wrong reason? In this article, we define a strategy concept in order to situate the different approaches to the strategic use of ethics a nd social responsibility found in the current literature. We then analyze t he ethics of such approaches using both utilitarianism and deontology and e nd by defining limits to the strategic use of ethics.