Ethical Behavior And Social Responsibility example essay topic

Ethics and Social Responsibility in International Business Part I Introduction As more and more firms engage in international business, the world economy is quickly becoming an interdependent system. The trend of expanding internationally will make more and more corporations to move their manufactures and branch offices from domestic market to foreign market. Multinational corporations have been the main agents of globalization. In order to boost the development of the global economy, most trade regulations and accountabilities have also been decreased than before. Companies have paid most attention to their profitability and productivity, creating the competitiveness is the main business goal of most corporations.

However the ethics and social responsibility are very important issues they cannot ignore. The ethical perspective has been moving more and more to the forefront of social thought. And it is becoming a popular topic in international business today. People in business know that their work is absolutely central to society. And they recognize that a critical of good business is not only according to its revenues and profitability, but they also care about its business ethics and social responsibility.

In addition to global consumers, do they destroy the environment? Do they mislead their customers in sales promotion? Do they provide the safety workplace to their employees? And do they cheat their investors? Many issues fall under the rubric of business ethics. Companies, no matter what shape or size, have a considerable social, environmental and economic impact on the communities in which they operate.

They have to be responsible for the environment, customers, employees and investors. It is an indispensable and important role to play in the process of international business. Why should the international business take ethical behavior and social responsibility? It!'s important for business success.! Firstly, corporate reputation is a key determination of future business success.

Good reputation is certainly an assets for any company, it looks like brand equity, it is built up over years and take years to repair, but can be destroyed overnight. If a good company does bad things, it may not illegal, but it is unethical, it will lose its business, lose its customers and consequently lose profits and capital support. People will distrust the business.! ^0 A bad reputation is like a hangover. It takes a while to get rid of, and it makes everything else hurt.! +/- Said by James Preston, Former CEO of Avon.

1! Secondly, as the character of the economy continues to shift towards the global production and trade of intangible services, using intangible assets, so public trust will become more important. Trust is vital to most exchanges between buyers and sellers. As the international division of labor expands, we will buy more goods by telephone or over the Internet and take it on trust that the people on the other end of the line will supply what we have paid for.

Knowledge-intensive products, akin to specialist services, are difficult to test in advance. You cannot test-drive a divorce lawyer. So corporate brands can be trusted that will become ever more important.! Thirdly, as the global economy becomes more integrated, more businesses will find themselves facing ethical dilemmas.

How to balance the profit and social responsibility? How to deal with the ethical issues? Drawn to low-cost production sites around the world, they may well, as with Nike, find themselves facing angry, affluent consumers in their domestic markets, unhappy with their labor practices. The immediacy and power of modern communications makes it easier for critics to expose apparent double standards. Only companies with clear, consistent standards will avoid these pitfalls. Part II Competition and Ethics Sometime, competition and ethics sounds as incompatible.

How to balance them is a major problem most companies have to face. In today!'s global economy, competition has become more intensively than ever before. Businesses operate in a competitive world where performance is everything. They are trying their best to find an effective chance to lower the cost and enhance its profit. The opportunity for unethical behavior is high. Also some companies get away with acting unethical.

Nevertheless, most of companies around the world increasingly understand that reaching their business objectives can be compatible with ethics concern. For instance, since 1990, McDonald's has now purchased more than $4 billion worth of products made from recycled materials. On a global basis, McDonald's has reduced packaging by 200,000 tons by redesigning items including straws, napkins, cups, fry cartons, and other packaging items. 2 It!'s embracing environmental management as a core business strategy.

In contrast, some companies don! t concern the ethical issues, such as the quality of the product, and the safety and health of their employees, etc. Profitability is becoming their only concern. For example, in China, in order to lower the production cost, some spring water factories have reused the container without any antisepsis. Its unethical behavior has disserve d the health of the consumers.

Another case in China is! ^0 import garbage! +/-. In recent year, the Chinese customs has checked about 200 tons garbage that has imported from the Unite State, include waste computer, cosmetic product, construction garbage and some of living garbage.

Also they found out some living garbage has been put into the new machine that has been import together. 3 Most of this garbage can not recycling, it is not good for the environment and people health. In order to gain the profit, the importers didn! t care this unethical behavior. In addition, at same time, the unethical behavior will make them lose their customers and public trust.

It!'s not a good strategy for the international business. In deed, most companies can balance the competition and ethics very well. Good business and good ethics are not a contradiction in terms.! ^0! (R) Ethics! is good business. It makes for better staff and a more valuable goodwill, which all goes to strengthening the company!'s competitive edge in the ling run.!

+/- Mentioned by Hong Kong Ethics Development Center document. 4 We live in a knowledge-driven economy, in which companies increasingly compete on their ability to create new products and processes. The values like honesty, trust and respect are having significant impact for many corporate. The ethical behavior not only increases long term earning; it also enables business to plan ahead and anticipate social needs and cultural changes that require the firm or its product to evolve. Aside from generating considerable public goodwill, evidence shows that ethical behavior can also assist companies to build links with public policy makers, motivate and involve employees, build corporate reputation and enhance competitiveness. Part Four Typical Confronts of Social Responsibility in International Business Environment!

^0 We destroy the beauty of the country side because the inappropriate splendors of nature have no economic value.! +/-5 With the fast growing economy in the last decade, our earth has been damaged by irresponsible business activities. Although regulations to redress the balance have increased exponentially since the 1970's, there was still plenty of scope for unethical companies to try to gain short-term advantage over their more principled and strategically driven competitors by holding back on often expensive investments that would help protect and sustain the environment. Controlling pollution! athe transmission of harmful substances into the environments is a significant challenge to contemporary international business. The greatest problems facing governments and business are focus on three areas: air, water, and land pollution.! Air Pollution Air pollution results when several factors converge to lower air quality.

Carbon monoxide emitted by automobiles contributes to air pollution, as do smoke and other chemicals from manufacturing plants. Air quality is usually worst in certain geographic locations, such as the Denver area and the Los Angeles basin, where pollutants tend to get trapped in the atmosphere. Controlling air pollution is a vital issue of corporate social responsibility. Under new laws, many companies must now install special devices to limited pollutants that they expel into the air, but some companies still hold back this cost to take the irresponsible behaviors. Specially, in underdeveloped country, companies opened manufacture there, but they didn! t care the environment protection of local areas. The multinational corporation still should play a leading role in ensuring that the greening of business is pursued in developing countries.

In practice, this means that their environmental policy makes more efficient use of natural resources, minimizes emissions, and contributes to environmental rehabilitation.! Water Pollution Water becomes polluted primarily from chemical and waste dumpling. For years, both businesses and cities dumped waste into rivers, streams, and lakes with little regard for the consequences. Cleveland!'s Cuyahoga River was once so polluted that it burst into flames one hot summer day. After an oil spill in 1994, a Houston shipping channel burned for days.

6 Thanks to new legislation and increased awareness, water quality in many areas is improving. However, in many less- developed nations, there are some companies that still routinely dumped the waste byproduct into lake, river, and steams. Istanbul, March 26, 1996 (GP) - The multinational oil company Shell has systematically polluted a huge underground reserve of drinkable water in an aquifer near the city of Diyarbakir in Southeast Turkey where up to two million people live, Internal Shell documents leaked to Greenpeace and released today show that Shell has pumped 487.5 million barrels of production water contaminated with crude oil, solvents and other chemicals into the Midyat aquifer between 1973 and 1994.7 Shell experts are quoted in reports as saying that the solution is the injection of the contaminated water into the Martin oil reservoir, where the water comes from and which is much deeper than the Midyat aquifer. The documents reveal money was allocated to decreasing the amount of production water injected by half by the end of 1995. However, this was cancelled and most of the money clawed back before Shell sold the operation to the international operating company, Perenco. One memo, dated December 22 1995 states: "It is unfortunate to see a change of priorities towards maximizing cash before divestment by sacrificing environmental targets".

The Shell "Midyat Adsorption Study" said that an additional 172.3 million barrels of polluted water would be injected into the aquifer by the end of 2001.8 Greenpeace reveal that in the "worst case" the aquifer could be polluted up to 14-20 km away from the well by the year 2006 and that by 2030-2060 it will be under the City of Diyarbakir with aquifer contamination for 100-300 years. Many of the Shell documents leaked to Greenpeace confirm that Shell managers knew that the injection into the aquifer is against European Union and Turkish environmental regulations. "Pumping polluted water into the aquifer must stop at once", said Ber to Hull of the Greenpeace Mediterranean Office in Istanbul. "This practice will effect the lives of future generations in and around Diyarbakir who, at some time in the future, will probably have to get drinkable water from remote areas. Shell must accept permanent responsibility for the legacy they have left the people of Turkey". Paul Horseman, Greenpeace International!'s Oil Campaigner, said in Istanbul: !

^0 The double standards and the non-existent ethics of Shell are now clear to everybody. Shell and Perenco are just keen to make money at the expense of the environment and the people of Turkey. Shell would have never injected polluted water into aquifers in Britain or The Netherlands.! +/-9 In this case, Shell was more interest in profit than environments.

The well-established environment has been damaged by this irresponsible behavior. Also the damaged environment will cost more money to repair, it also will affect the health of the Diyarbakir people. On the other hand, Shell!'s public reputation will be damaged with this irresponsible behavior. It will lose more value which it can! t account.! Land Pollution An especially controversial problem in land pollution is toxic waste disposal; toxic wastes are dangerous chemical or radioactive byproducts of manufacturing processing. Altogether, U. S manufacturers produce between 40 and 60 million tons of such material each year.

10 As a rule, toxic waste can be neither destroyed nor processed into harm less material; it must be store. Very few people have store toxic waste in their back yards. Also some of them have been exported to developing or underdeveloped country. They typical case as I mentioned above, China has received many toxic waste garbage from U. S in recent year. There are some Chinese importers has interest profit more than environment issues, the unethical trade has seriously polluted the environment of China.