Running Head: Business Ethics
Business Ethics
Business Ethics
Ethical implications of businesses polluting in a third world country
Multinationals are being accused of exploiting the resources and workforce of third world countries. Agricultural businesses take the best lands for harvesting the export crops which lessens the amount of good land that the locals can use for their own food needs. Hazardous chemical industries and drug industries misuse the slack safety laws and cause huge disasters. Developed countries are depleting the natural resources of developing countries. Developing countries have natural resources and developed countries have the technology. They make use of the natural resources of the developing countries while at the same time preserving their own natural resources for future (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2011). Manufacturing and service industries are bringing more and more poverty in third world countries. They hire more and more labors more than their requirement. They pay them very less amount.
The above mentioned exploitation in third world countries by multinationals is the result of violating the ethics of business world. Business ethics are to be followed strictly. Earning profit is no doubt the essence of business but doing it at the expense of exploitation is extremely brutal.
Now time has changed however, business ethics and corporate social responsibility are becoming crucial. People have been doing protests on a variety of
Generally, globalism has been attributed to better worldwide communication, advanced technological development, and a higher international standard of living, and rightfully so. However, with all these new worldwide advantages comes a new type of human exploitation. Many companies, specifically American ones, have been quick to take advantage of the cheap and dangerous labor available in most of the undeveloped world. Countries who are working through their period of Industrialization are being siphoned off and used to maintain America’s economy, while their developing country reaps no reward from the low paying, dehumanizing jobs that American companies offer their low class workers. This type of inhumane job outsourcing can only be compared
On the contrary, taking a more critical view on the effects of globalisation, the findings seem to differ. The fact is that globalisation is pretty much centralised on only a few countries run by a handful of governments. China and India, For example, have been the only two countries to realise any advancements in terms of development and poverty eradication through globalisation, whilst trade openness has led to a rise in income inequalities and generally very uneven gains in the South American regions. And one entire continent, Africa, has actually become more marginalised (Tsikata, 2001, p. 12). The governmental and economic institutions of the developing countries, especially the latter, put them at a disadvantage where weak political, economic and legal structures led to wide spread corruption, conflict and insecurity. Whereas, developed countries already had good infrastructures coupled with high levels of skilled labour, managerial competence and advanced technology making it almost impossible for developing countries to compete. For example, the Japanese government vs. Indonesian government car industry case at the WTO (Kompas, 19 July 1999 ed.).
Globalization has done a tremendous disservice to those that seek to create wealth and resource equality. Globally it has created a system where as the counties with access to strong markets, copious resources, and relatively educated populations will succeed, while those countries that lag behind in categories such as those willhave a difficult time maintaining in the global economic system.
It is also important to note that quite a number of multinational corporations have in the past setup operations in developing nations in an attempt to make cost savings especially in terms of labor and production costs. With a growing
Lila Rajiva used another perfect example in her article to show how globalization affects both the environment and culture of the native people. Hyundai built a factory in a small town in India. Since the factory opened, water has scarce for miles around the factory. Thanks to the scarcity of water, the local population doesn’t have water to cook, drink or bathe (Rajiva 2). Not only it is an inconvenience for the locals, it is a “death sentence” for them (Rajiva 2). From a brutal scorching dry summer, there was a death toll in the thousands (Rajiva 2). This occurred because they didn’t have enough water to survive. In this example Globalization disrupted the way of life of these people. Farmers didn’t have water to irrigate their crops. Also, thousands of people lost their lives because of globalization. These people would have been alive, if not for the greed of these corporations. In the state of Kamataka, globalization also ruined the lives of the native population. In this state, small farmers “committed ritual suicide to express their outrage at the destruction of their lives by multinational” (Rajiva 2). These farmers’ lives were completely ruined thanks to globalization. These corporations’ practices and operations pushed them out of business. The farmers had no chance to compete because of the deals and benefits these corporations receive. Corporations
In the past decade, a pattern has emerged of large corporations choosing to contract their labour to foreign countries in order to remain competitive. However, companies tend to relocate production to the poorest nations where labour is cheap and output is chief. As a result, outsourcing labour has made multinational companies subject to criticism for their immoral practices. This has created the classic ethical debate as to whether it is possible for multinationals to engage in developing nations in both an ethical and lucrative manner. For businesses, the difficulty is if one of these values should be favoured over the other.
a. MNEs often get accused for doing outsource in LDC. In less developed country, many workers and natural resources have been exploited to get huge amount of profit. The MNEs do not care about the country and its development, only thinking how to make higher profit. Since they do not care about the less developed country, they will disadvantage the LDC as the host country and make higher profit for themselves. As a result, the LDC country will suffer and lead them to great poverty.
These firms thrive on the low wages they pay the workers. Within the production of coffee, there is no profit made until the coffee reaches Nestle who sells it for prices far higher than what they pay the farmers. (Patel) This is seen in other industries as well, such as garments. Nike is a globally recognized shoe brand, but has it's shoes created in factories with horrible conditions. They denied this and claimed that these factories were contracted, and not under Nike control. (Love and Love) There are benefits to multinational corporations, such as issuing company code of conducts and becoming a corporate leader in this. (Love and Love) However, not many of these codes are followed in practice. In regards to building codes, many companies hire auditors to regulate the safety of the factories. What was found after investigating this, was that the safety regulations were ignored through the auditors being payed off by the corporations. (Henn) The multinational corporations exploited the safely of the workers just to avoid spending
Companies move to developing and third world countries for cheaper production cost. In those countries may be they do not need to provide the workers any benefits and the salary requirement is lower compared to what they had to pay in the home country. In this way the industrialized countries exploit the labor force of less economically developed country. They pay them less but earn more profit (by reducing labor expense). Child labor is also an
Multinationals are exposed to competitions, and today consumers own the corporations. Poverty rates raise in places that reject globalization, such as Kenya and other places in Africa. Barriers deny their freedom.
Public consciousness has become much more sensitive and demanding that organizations be more socially responsible. Much of the third-world countries have joined the global marketplace, creating a wider arena for sales and services. Organizations became responsible not only to stockholders (those who owned stock) but to a wider community of "stakeholders."
It is obvious that globalization and surplus labor market in “third world countries” play a huge role in a decision for the United States Congress to expand NAFTA throughout the Caribbean Islands, Central America, South America and even further. The big American corporations, who lobby the Congress for the expansion of NAFTA, are well aware that there is a lot of potential cheap labor in many countries throughout the region. It is so beneficial and lucrative for the big American companies to build their factories there, that they simply could not pass this opportunity to earn even more profits by exploiting poor people in the third world countries. By saving billions in costs, the corporations are ready to destroy dreams and lives of thousands of people by making them to work in inferior conditions for long hours and little pay. There are a plenty of other illustrations in other parts of the world. For example, about twenty years ago, when Lavtia became a sovereign country after the collapse of Soviet Union, big European corporation came into country and purchased a large chemical factory in the city were I
In order for a country to develop they have to be able to be part of a whole, this includes taking part in globalization. Globalization is a process where goods, information, people, money, communication, languages, values, and social issues move across national boundaries” (Class notes, Lecture 1). There are many factors that can make some believe that sweatshops and workers exploitation is a part of development to a country, but those same factors if looked at in another perspective can be viewed very differently.
The introduction and growth of globalization in the developing world coupled with the rise of Multi-National Corporations have produced an onslaught on factory workers who are forced to work in sweatshops for little or no pay. A business dictionary defines globalization as the worldwide movement towards economic, financial, trade and communications integration. Globalization points towards the opening of local and nationalistic perspectives to a broader outlook of a unified and independent world with free transfer of capital goods and services across national borders. The transfer of these goods and services is done by Multi-National Corporations (MNCs). MNCs continue to move their factories overseas to evade the strict regulatory guidelines that embody employees’ rights and privileges. Moreover, developing countries provide access to a vast pool of cheap labor. Utilizing cheap labor in less developed countries enables MNCs to continue to meet the demands of consumers in the developed countries as well as their bottom line. To gain competitive advantage in the market and increase profits, MNCs conduct business around the world utilizing the availability of cheap labor. Even though government has a part to play in protecting the human and environmental resources within host countries the question is should MNCs be allowed to abuse, exploit and violate the rights of these workers?
A great number of ethical dilemmas and issues in international business are mainly entrenched on the fact that laws, political systems, culture and economic development vary considerably