This paper compares the three most common types of environmental responsibility that most businesses will follow due to law, business ethics, or their own need. The articles differ due to the type of business, and also which responsibility they either chose or are forced to follow. The first article addresses how the laws can force the fishing industry to follow the limits it imposes in the marine reserves found across the world. The second article addresses how ensuring future production can force a company to address the responsibility of finding a different type of product to use in order for the other to repopulate and ensure the use of it in later years. Finally, the third article relates to how a company follows its own business …show more content…
The new reserve was developed near the Galápagos Islands, which are located about 1899.8 Miles from Florida. The largest section is 15000 square miles surrounding Darwin, (Harvey, 2016) named after Charles Darwin, who used his findings on the islands to form his theory of evolution, and Wolf the two most northern islands. The reserve contains all different kinds of sharks, which is highly unusual due to their over hunting and fishing. The reserve also contains some coral reef, which is why it is very important and needs to be protected. The reserve is now a no-take zone, which means there is absolutely no fishing at all. I found this article interesting because the idea of protecting the coral reefs and fish, including sharks, from overfishing and the possibility of seafloor mining due to the fishing industry, is imperative. Ensuring future production
Since the first article involved industrial fishing and the damage it can do, the next article will involve logging. “Is China is exporting its environmental problems?”. This article discusses China’s campaign to protect the forest. After years of logging the countryside and hills being bare, in 1998, massive floods caused millions of people to leave their homes (Minter, 2016). With stricter local bans on logging, the damage was reversed. With that, there is another issue. China has been importing lumber
or so many years our society has been thinking of forming new creative and innovative businesses, which would be more environmental and customer friendly. Nowadays a large number of different companies follow the social, ethical, as well as moral consequences when it comes to their decision making. One of the relatively new concepts involving economic and social concerns is Corporate Social Responsibility. Many of us apply this approach not only at work, but also in everyday life without even recognizing.
Firms have responsibilities to society at large by not harming the environment (polluting the air or water); producing safe products and providing a safe work environment for it’s employees and the surrounding residents.
Many believe that business entities should have an ethical duty to be socially responsible, to work towards increasing its positive effects on society while decreasing its negative effects. Many organizations look for opportunities to be socially responsible while also creating shareholder wealth.
Every business organization has a social responsibility in ensuring that the environment it operates in is protected. Many companies have identified that they have a major role to play in protecting the natural habitat and ensuring that business is not only about making profits. Some organizations are setting aside funds that are developed in the protection of the environment while other organizations are setting a tree-planting day as part of their annual calendar. Companies have legal and ethical responsibilities that guide the organization in making sure that the environment is taken care of. The natural resource depletion and the environmental pollution have led to conservation groups setting rules that govern the company in utilizing natural resources.
Moreover, Canada should know their environmental responsibilities as companies need space for land and lots of water for dumping waste. This increases risks for injuries to occur as employees enter harsh environments. Workers end up exposed to coal dust and silica for long periods which causes serious health problems. In areas of mining companies exists pollution at an increased rate that makes the soil and water enriched with heavy metals and livestock. Globally, businesses corporate social responsibilities that are essential as they consist of four strategies: the shareholder strategy, the alustric strategy, the reciprocal strategy, and the citizen strategy. The shareholder strategy is where the corporate social responsibility is looking for an overall profit and the same to reach threshold. Secondly, the alustric strategy is where the company declares themselves unaccountable for society and allows for responsibility to fall towards the person leading the firm - the manager. Next, the reciprocal strategy has an individual who looks for the flaws in both economic and social perspectives. Lastly, the citizen strategy is where there is a business analysis that includes individuals who have different expectations and interests for continuing the company’s goals. NGOs also pressure companies to fix remedies to help the victims of the violations.
Schaltegger, S., & Burritt, R. (2015). Business cases and corporate engagement with sustainability: Differentiating ethical motivations. Journal of Business 147(2), 241-259. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2938-0
The majority of people in today’s global society have a false sense of security in believing that the effects of climate change will not take place until the very distant future, and are to dire to bear engaging. Environmental protection is currently one of the largest social issues facing different groups within society including; governments, special interest groups, everyday citizens and global organisations. The actions of organisations with regards to environmental sustainability are becoming a larger factor in business operations. Today’s more informed society expects businesses to perform out of the traditional economic measure of profit motive and adjust to society’s efforts to achieve modern sustainability goals. BHP Billiton (BHP) is the largest and leading global resources company, being the world’s largest producers of major commodities including; coal, copper, iron ore, nickel and uranium. BHP’s annual revenue for 2014 can be rounded off to $607,206million US Dollars and currently hires 128,800 employees and contractors over 141 locations. These figures not only represent how large BHP is, but they highlight the importance of BHP’s contribution to help achieve
In these newly protected regions it is now prohibited to fish, hunt, or mine for resources due to these proclamations. After this expansion, the reserve system will continue to serve as an invaluable area to monitor the effects of climate change and ocean acidification especially on reef and deep water systems. The reserve will also serve as a valuable repository for plant, animal, and microbial life for humans to use for discovery and to aid in restocking depleted resources elsewhere. Many new species and forms of life still await discovery in these protected waters that will yield advances in technology and our
One of China’s best successes has in turn been one of its biggest downfalls. One of the main problems is China’s greatest success which has been its phenomenal economic growth. This is one of the main drivers of the current environmental problems that the country faces. Factories dump pollutants into the air and water. It is difficult to see the Chinese government making the significant sacrifices required to improve their environment if it means slowing down their economic growth.
In the world today, the meaning of business and its relations to society has evolved greatly from the industrial revolution and before. Before the industrial revolution, most business was conducted on a micro scale, with the relationship between demand and supply being much closer and more integrated than it is today. During and directly after the industrial revolution era, business became more focused on profitability, and more often than not, the benefits to society were more or less equal to the harm created in terms of labor relations and environmental harm. Today, however, consumers have become sufficiently informed to care about the way in which business conduct their affairs. To maintain good customer relations and profitability, businesses have been obliged to adopt actions that adhere to the concept of corporate responsibility. This means that they must adhere to a certain set of business ethics and customer relations in order to gain the benefit of profitability from these.
It is 2017. In an era of globalisation with a worldwide population totalling over 7 billion, colossal multinational companies have become entrenched in prevailing society, with their daily operations impacting the lives of millions of people. This has made the role of ethics and ethical business practice crucial to the goals of sustainable development and the preservation of social order. The ExxonMobil climate change controversy will examine a case where complex ethical decisions were made, with the potential for staggering ramifications on a global scale. This case study highlights the vital importance of stringent adherence to business ethics by transitional businesses but also the ambiguity that comes with ethical interpretation.
During the semester, we learned a lot about corporate sustainability report in business and how important it is for people and environment. I realized the huge impact of this issue and some companies do a well job in sustainability. Economy, society, and environment are three major concepts in sustainability and play important roles in business world. All the companies are trying to achieve highest profits and market shares in their industry, but some of them ignore the environment and society which means they are not ethical or harmful to environment. Although they could gain profits in some way, their reputation will be damaged in a long-term period. Thus, finding a balance between those three initiatives becomes critical necessary to be successful.
In a culture based on consumption and consumerism businesses are the forefront of society providing every good and service imaginable. Although, in today’s society there has been an increase in significant issues concerning the ecology of our planet that have come along with this consumer culture. With issues such a lack of clean water, lack of food, lack of energy and a rapid decline in biodiversity. This rapid decline in natural resources is due to mostly to the over consumption and alteration of the planet and its resources. Where do we start though in the process to protect and preserve our resources? It starts with the very businesses that we all buy from; a major part of our everyday lives and the largest consumers of resources businesses can play a large role in sustainability and climate action. Increasing pressure is being put on businesses to create a more sustainable society, this is being done through many business sustainable business efforts.
Intro: This report will aim to define responsible business, in relation to the vast range of topics such as Corporate social Responsibility/Corporate Citizenship, sustainability, whilst comparing these through academia and their different meanings relating to Responsible Business. Furthermore, this report will also aim to critically analyse climate change and its effect in relation to making Business more responsible as well as the drawbacks/opportunities this holds for business. Finally, this report will exploit the relation between government and Business; identify possible barriers for businesses through government via academic views and evidential impacts on businesses and how government supports business to create a more sustainable world, through incentives such as the climate change Act 2008.
‘Corporate social responsibility’ (CSR) means that the firm has wider responsibilities in relation to objectives and people apart from the owners or shareholders (Beal and Goyen 2005). These responsibilities are achieved when the firm adapts all of its practices to ensure that it operates in ways that meet, or exceed, the ethical, legal, commercial and public expectations that society has of business. Objectives often associated with CSR include a responsibility to manage natural assets sustainably and not to pollute by chemical discharge, smell, noise, dust or other irritants; fair treatment of employees and ethical attitude towards clients. The other people include employees, customers, suppliers,