Philosophy

There is a lot of controversy regarding ethics of bluffing in business, those who argue that bluffing in business is ethical suggest that private life morality does not hold as far as business is concerned and thus the two are separate and cannot mix. On the other hand, those against business bluffing on the grounds that it is an unethical behavior argue that bluffing amounts to deceiving the consumer or any other party within the business cycle. They also disagree with the proponents of bluffing that business morality is different from private life morality, they suggest that there is no much difference between the two and thus bluffing cannot be justified as ethical. Just like poker, business is largely a game that involves strategic bluffs. Business and private life worlds are completely different and the two thus demand different ethics code. Deceiving pressure is felt in all aspects of businesses and thus deceptions in business are justifiable ethically.
Arguments in support of bluffing
Bluffing in business is perfectly ethical, business is a game and as long as everyone involved in the game are playing it with proper understanding of all the rules that are applicable in the game, then personal ethics cannot be applicable in a similar manner as they would when considering the personal life of the business person. Bluffing cannot be taken as lying since the two are completely different. Bluffing is not lying since it is done in such a situation or manner that the entire truth is not anticipated. For instance, if a person asks a salesman of cars, the best price that can be offered for a certain car, most people would not suppose the price quoted to be the actual best price for the car. Instead, the confident buyer of the car will take the price quoted by the salesman as the negotiations starting point. It would therefore be wrong to imply that bluffing is unethical since both the seller and the buyer are struggling to maximize their opportunities. The buyer negotiates the price in order to purchase the car at the lowest price possible, while the seller does his best to sell the car at the highest possible price. Therefore, there is nowhere that ethical issues are interfered with since in the business game, everyone is looking for an opportunity of getting the best out of the game.
In most cases, bluffing involves withholding some truth about a certain matter, instead of stating falsehoods. It can therefore be considered as a strategy of a game that is employed by individuals who exaggerate, misrepresent, withhold, or through some means permit other individuals to misinterpret the underlying truth in order to make their negotiation stronger and thus maximize on opportunity. Without bluffing, it would be very difficult for the business persons to maximize on the opportunities they have in the game and this would create a great loophole for the buyers to pin them down and thus make minimal profits if any in the business game. Bluffing is thus not unethical as it only enhances the positions of the various players in the game of business and hence the individuals with the greatest skills and techniques of playing the game get better results just like it is the case in any other game.
Due to the fact that in virtually all business some bluffing is definitely expected, then everyone in the game has to play the game through similar rules. Therefore, since similar rules are applied in bluffing, then it makes bluffing to be ethical since all the players are given a chance of playing at the same level and each has only to make use of his or her skills in order to win the game. Although the rules of bluffing are not expressly stated, it does not mean that bluffing is in any way unethical. This is so because impliedly the same rules are applied in bluffing and both the buyers and the sellers are aware of the applicable rules. Bluffing is thus ethical since all the players participating in the business game are aware of the rules applicable and the rules are acceptable to them. 
Given the mandate of the employees to serve the companys interest, there is certainly pressure mounted on the employees to involve themselves in bluffing since it results to enhanced profitability of the business. Again, due to the fact that the buyer was given a chance to negotiate and did so with several sellers, it is only rational for the buyer to purchase from the seller where he or she was able to bargain the lowest price. The buyer offers a certain price according to the value he or she attaches to the product he intends to purchase. It would be irrational for the buyer to place a higher price than the value he has given to the product and thus a buyer will be contended should the seller agree to sell the product at the price he had placed. 
The duty of the employees of a company to engage in bluffing while carrying out their mandate at the company does not make them to bluff in their personal lives. Bluffing is thus restricted to the business game and hence business people and their personal lives are not connected in anyway by bluffing. It would therefore be wrong for anyone to contend that bluffing makes business people to be unethical in their private lives. The ethical behavior rules that are applicable in business are different from those that are applicable in the private life of individuals who involve themselves in bluffing while conducting business activities. It might be deemed that shrewd tactics in business to tell different suppliers that it is possible for them to have ones account, but it would be taken to be unethical if a parent told both of his children that it is possible for them to visit some place, if in the real sense it is only possible to take one. It is also noble for parents to tell their children to do to other people what they themselves would like to be done to them, but the same parents are rewarded for bluffing at work. This is a clear indication that business world and private life are distinct from each other and thus the same set of ethical rules cannot apply in both cases. 
Provided businesses are not going against any given laws, they cannot be denied the right of conducting business in a manner that they will be able to pursue their own interests. Most businesses have wealth and profit maximization as their main objectives. They should be allowed to pursue these objectives without any hindrance provided they pursue them through legal means. Bluffing is only one of the ways that businesses apply in order to chase these goals. Bluffing is not illegal and neither is it unethical, there is therefore no need for the businesses to stop bluffing on the grounds that there is a possibility that it is unethical.
Ethical practices in the business world can in fact be traced effectively to some results that are self profiting. For instance, if supermarkets start advertising that are promoting organic sustainability and products, the supermarkets advertisement does not only lead to improved quality of the organic products they are selling to their customers, but they also make enormous contribution to the protection and conservation of the environment. Furthermore if a supermarket chain decides to donate some money to environmental organizations with the mandate of protecting and preserving the environment, then the chain of supermarkets would certainly benefit in some way. The supermarket would have an opportunity of brand or product differentiation from the rival stores, by offering them a positive advertising that is free and also through goodwill development in the society in which it is operating. As a result, it would encourage more consumers to do their shopping and thus increase their spending in the stores and hence the supermarkets will realize more sales revenues and increased profits. This form of business practice is purely bluffing but its results are all positive not only for the business enterprise itself but also to its customers and to the environment. In that sense, bluffing is ethical and should be encouraged since it can lead to certain actions that can lead to improved environmental awareness. 
Arguments against bluffing
Bluffing considers business to be a game and thus the rules of a game are applicable in business. However, this is a far fetched assumption since it is blatantly wrong to give the impression that business can be equated to an ordinary game. In arguments that support the notion that bluffing is ethical in business, they fail to address and to consider dangers of individuals getting absorbed in the idea of game and thus fail to pursue the true objectives of business. If business is actually a game and not real, then it is possible for the players to act in a manner that eliminates the results of the real world when making important decisions. Such assumptions might have severe consequences and implications on the individuals who have made such assumptions. In bluffing, students might be trained to see business as a model of a game in which they view people as numerical symbols or units of some kind. The moral sensitivities are then attuned to winning only. Such attitudes would in most cases lead to behaviors that are unethical such decisions would not be in the interest of either the society being served by the business or the business itself . 
The advocates of bluffing as an ethical behavior argue that simply because bluffing is anticipated in business deals it is ethical. But this is a viewpoint that is largely unfounded since by the mere fact that something is widely practiced in business does not make it ethical. Bluffing is actually a means through which business people take advantage of their customers who are not well experienced in the bluffing game as they are. It would be wrong to imply that a level playing ground is provided to both the buyer and the seller in bluffing since this is not the case. The seller is definitely in a better position in the negotiations as compared to the buyer. This therefore means that the more common victim of bluffing is the buyer and in very rare cases will the business person lose. Bluffing is therefore a business practice that is unethical since it places the players at different levels the seller is placed in a more advantageous position as compared to the buyer increasing the vulnerability of the buyer to lose the game. 
It is also noted with a lot of concern that supporters of bluffing contend that similar rules apply, but the argument concerning the rules is only valid up to that point. This is due to the fact that, bluff supporters fails in presenting a picture that is clear on how the different players in the game obtains these unspoken and spoken rules being used in the game. This makes bluffing unethical since the rules are only known by one side of the participants of the game that is, the business people, while the buyers are left to learn while already playing the game. Rationally, such rules do not make it any better than having a game in which the referee is also one of the players, the other player has no chance of winning in such a game. At the same time, the supporters of bluffing gives the impression that the rules of this game are determined by convention, while others think that the boundaries are delineated by law and thus any act within such boundaries can be permissible. Such an argument cannot hold since it is possible for an act to be legal or justified as long as law is concerned but be morally unacceptable.
Additionally, it matters less the manner in which the rules of the game are determined there have to be some form of endorsement of all the rules to be used in the game by all the participants. It is the right for each and every party involved in the game to fully comprehend all the engagement rules. Not everyone involved in bluffing has the same level of understanding as far as the rules applicable in the game are concerned. As a result of this, a deceptive appearance can in most cases be clarified as genuine concessions exchange and at the same time be deemed to be ethical in exploiting the learner collective bargainers. The assertion held by the bluff supporters that everyone should or does comprehend bluffing role, is not applicable evenly in businesses bearing in mind the diversity that exists in societies and in the business community.