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Essay about Responsible Commerce

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Brief Description of week 2 submission:
At the beginning of the semester my understanding of responsible commerce was, for companies to build a socially acceptable business, that not only conformed to shareholders wants but to that of society and the environment. Social responsibility is about being transparent so that the business has the trust of the community. It is about looking after all people who have an interest in the business managers, to employees, the community, government, it is all stakeholders. It is important because by building a responsible business you build a sustainable business. One that will not go bankrupt through dodgy accounting practices like Enron, one which the directors of the company do not have a tarnished …show more content…

Utilitarianism is the notion that an action is right only to the extent that it causes more good than ill to be produced. The classic design of this position is that of the English philosophers Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill (Shaw, 2009). Bentham and Mill identified utility with happiness. Happiness is the only thing desirable as an end in itself and all other things are only desirable as a means to the end of happiness. From a utilitarian perspective therefore, actions are right to the extent that they maximise happiness or, at least, minimise unhappiness (Shaw, 2009).
There are many different versions of the theory, all trying to define what consequences are applied to and how they may be applied. One version, rule-utilitarianism, considers that a rule of behaviour is morally right if the standard should be applied not to individual actions but to moral codes as a whole (Shaw, 2009). The actions driven by the rule would result in benefits, or goods for all of society.
On the other hand, act-utilitarianism, the most common form used in many circumstances, looks at the consequences of every case individually and works out the benefits before taking a morally right action (Renouard, 2010)
It is important to note that Bentham was not particularly concerned with the happiness or unhappiness of individuals, for him it is the ‘common good’ that is the arbiter of right

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