business ethics Flashcards
window dressing
covering the greed of a business intent on making profits by presenting accounts in a favourable manner
globalisation
The growing integration of the world’s economies
CSR
corporate social responsibility
examples of CSR in companies
Pret gives away leftover food to charities and advertises this on the food
Innocent gives away 10% of profit to charity
Whistleblowing
When an employee decides to inform an outside person or agency about illegal or unethical managerial behaviour
Friedman - business responsibility
The only responsibility businesses have is to make money. Any money invested or lost due to ethics is stealing from shareholders.
Giridharadas on Amazon
“Jeff Bezos wants to start a school for kids whose parents are underpaid by people like Jeff Bezos”
case study Primark
Primark in Bangladesh collapsed in 2013
Direct impact of globalisation and consumerism- cutting the corners to maximise annual revenue leads to unsafe working conditions
Utilitariansim on CSR
- Climate damaging to mental health so would support environmental
- would not support philanthhropy as a responsibility for business - arguably could help invest int ocompany to pay workers more etc and have more worker benefits
philanthropy
charity; a desire or effort to promote goodness
an example of CSR for the community
to minimise the negative effects of an activity
an example of environmental CSR
ensuring they are complying with regulations and reducing its impacts
a company that does animal testing
MAC
how many children are working illegally
160 million
Benefits of CSR
- workers will like their company and work hard (productivity)
- brand loyalty
- improves image
- ppl will support a company with good values
shareholder vs stakeholder
Shareholders: people who have invested in the business and therefore own shares in the public or private limited company
Stakeholders: everyone who has a direct interest in the business or the impacts of the business.
what was the Nestle scandal
sold breastmilk replacement powder to young women in developing countries for very cheap and then raised the price once mothers were reliant on it and could no longer breastfeed
problems with CSR
- expensive
-slow down decision making (have to take into account much more) - MAC does animal testing and is still very popular
- lose profit
what are the issues surrounding globalisation
Exploitation of staff-low wages
Different countries means different health and safety laws so products can be made cheaply but by putting workers at risk
benefits of globalisation
-markets become bigger so firms benefit from economies of scale
-increased employment reduces absolute poverty and improves living standards
-lower prices for consumers from increased competition
- helps less economically developed countries develop
