...The case study Slavery in the Chocolate Industry raises systemic, corporate, and individual ethical issues with all the parties involved in the chocolate industry. Systemic issues in business ethics are ethical questions raised about the economic, political, legal, and other institutions within which business operate. (M. Velasques) Corporate issues in business ethics are ethical are ethical questions raised about a particular organization. These include questions about the morality of the activities, policies, practices, or organizational structure of an individual company taken as a whole. (M. Velasques) Individual issues in business ethics are ethical questions raised about a particular individual or particular individuals within a company and their behaviors and discussions. These include questions about the morality of the decisions, actions, or character of an individual. (M. Velasques) The farmers who are kidnapping or buying children on a “black market” type situation are displaying their individual ethical issues. They have no concern for the boy’s welfare, their only concern is to make a profit off the cocoa beans they farm. The systemic ethical issues raised in this case study are the public officials in the neighboring communities of the cocoa farmers who allow the sale of children and who take bribes from the farmers enslaving these children. The corporate ethics issue present in the case is with the large manufactures in the chocolate industry fighting...
Words: 653 - Pages: 3
...What are the systemic, corporate and individual ethical issues raised by this case? Slavery in the chocolate industry case has systemic, corporate and individual ethical issues.Firstly, from the point of systemic ethical issue , economic systems should be taken intoconsideration. Between 1996 and 2000, cocoa bean prices had declined. The decline wasdictated by the global forces over which farmers had no control. With low prices, farmersturned to slavery to try to cut labor cost for their survival in this situation. There is another systemic issue relates to the legal aspect of slavery in the chocolate industry. Actually, slaveryon farms is illegal in the Ivory Coast but the law is rarely enforced. Open borders, a shortageof enforcement officers, and the willingness of local officials to accept bribes from membersof the slave trade all contribute to the problem.Secondly, corporate ethical issue raised by the case. Middlemen who grind and processcocoa beans they acquire from the Ivory Coast and sell the product to manufacturers. Somiddlemen aware of the slavery labor problem. After the media attention and antislaverygroup activities, U.S. Senator Tom Harkin and U.S. Representative Eliot Engel, the membersof the Chocolate Manufacturers Association and the World Cocoa Foundation, together withseveral human rights groups and the Ivory Coast. signed Memorandum of Cooperation. Theyalso agreed to establish a system of certification. But the problem is, they can not control over anything...
Words: 583 - Pages: 3
...Slavery in the Chocolate Factory 1. What are the systemic, corporate, and individual ethical issues raised by this case? First of all, this article was interesting to read because it pertains to ethical issues on several levels as we can see throughout and I personally never knew about slavery in the chocolate industry. From a systemic approach, ethical issues arise from the producer or farmers of the cocoa beans to the manufacturer of chocolate and ultimately the end consumer of the goods. As the media and formal documentaries have pointed out, the reason for child slavery in this industry is because farmers need to keep their costs down in order to meet the demand of the world’s chocolate consumption. This world consumption is the driving force that continues to sustain child slavery in areas like the Ivory Coast. We can see that some governmental action has tried to disrupt the systemic ethical issues that arise, but the problem continues today because the corporate level has a lot of political weight that adds to the problem. The corporate figures of our world including Hersey Foods Corp. and M&M Mars, Inc. continue to add to the problem of child slavery in the Ivory Coast. With self-interests in mind, these chocolate producing powerhouses unethically know that they are toying with legislation to give Americans the impression that they are actually attempting to solve the issues at hand. We can see from their lack of effort and extended deadlines to complete their...
Words: 714 - Pages: 3
...Case Study: Slavery in the Chocolate Industry 1. From the perspective of Utilitarianism, child slavery contributes the financial side spot of the country. As far as I am concerned, the financial condition of the nation is corrupt. They are one of the third world nations. What is more, cocoa beans prices decreased in the year 1996 - 2000. So, farmers want to decrease the rate of manufacture with deducting the salaries and using slavery. Conferring to Utilitarianism, the “right” action or policy is the one that will produce the highest net profits otherwise the lowermost net costs. From that point, they decrease costs, and capitalize on their net profits from child slavery. The foremost struggle with Utilitarianism is that it is not capable to deal with rights and justice. For example, from the point of social justice, it is clear that child slavery is the result of unequal distribution of burdens. Utilitarianism only looks at the utility, not the distribution of it among the members of society. The important ignorance on ethics in Utilitarianism, bring the consideration of justice and rights. Justice looks at how the benefits and burdens distributed among the society. On the other hand, rights look at the individual entitlements to freedom of choice and well-being. From the rights point of view, there are no clues about the legal rights of the children. I do not think that government has labour or child labour rights. Also, poor children deprived of the moral rights. They...
Words: 1127 - Pages: 5
...Business Ethics “The case of slavery in the chocolate industry” ‘ What are the systemic, corporate and individual ethical issues raised by the case? First of all what is ethics? According to Manuel G Velasquez “Ethics is the discipline that examines ones moral standard or the moral standards of a society. It asks how these standards applies to our lives and whether these standards are reasonable or unreasonable, that is, whether they are supported by good reasons or poor ones.” In a nut shell ethics is what individuals and the society view as being right or wrong. The case "Slavery in the Chocolate Industry" discusses labor exploitation in the chocolate industry. It specifically addresses the cocoa beans grown on farms in West Africa, especially the Ivory Coast and Ghana, which make up close to half of the world's chocolate. The cocoa farmers of these nations, rely on slaves to harvest their beans, and in some cases, enslavement of young males. The plight of the enslaved children was publicized around the world in September 2000 when True Vision, a British television company, took videos of slave boys on several Ivory Coast farms and broadcast a documentary in Britain and the United Sates. In 2002, the Chocolate Manufactures Association and the World Cocoa Foundations along with major producers signed an agreement to establish a system of certification to certify use of “slave free” cocoa beans. There are many ethical issues raised in this case, let’s commence...
Words: 1087 - Pages: 5
...The case study Slavery in the Chocolate Industry raises systemic, corporate, and individual ethical issues with all the parties involved in the chocolate industry. Systemic issues in business ethics are ethical questions raised about the economic, political, legal, and other institutions within which business operate. (M. Velasques) Corporate issues in business ethics are ethical are ethical questions raised about a particular organization. These include questions about the morality of the activities, policies, practices, or organizational structure of an individual company taken as a whole. (M. Velasques) Individual issues in business ethics are ethical questions raised about a particular individual or particular individuals within a company and their behaviors and discussions. These include questions about the morality of the decisions, actions, or character of an individual. (M. Velasques) The farmers who are kidnapping or buying children on a “black market” type situation are displaying their individual ethical issues. They have no concern for the boy’s welfare, their only concern is to make a profit off the cocoa beans they farm. The systemic ethical issues raised in this case study are the public officials in the neighboring communities of the cocoa farmers who allow the sale of children and who take bribes from the farmers enslaving these children. The corporate ethics issue present in the case is with the large manufactures in the chocolate industry fighting...
Words: 305 - Pages: 2
...Case Study - Slavery in Chocolate 1. What are the systemic, corporate, and individual ethical issues raised by this case? • Local and Global Laws are not enforced due to lack of resources or the desire to enforce the laws. • The number of farmers (1M) and the system makes it difficult to identify the source of the cocoa beans harvested using slavery. • Global decline in cocoa bean prices drove farmers to use slavery to lower labor cost. • Corporations are unable or unwilling to take action to improve the situation in harvesting the cocoa bean. • The fundamental demands of shareholder profits drives corporation to turn a blind eye to how cocoa is harvested. • Chocolate Consumers are kept so far removed from the Cocoa source that they are unaware or choose to be ignorant of the cost involved to create chocolate. 2) In your view is the kind of child slavery discussed in this case absolutely wrong no matter what or is it only relatively wrong i.e. if one happens to live in a society like ours that disapproves of Slavery. I believe that Slavery is wrong. Kidnapping is wrong. Forced labor for children is wrong. I would like to believe Slavery is absolutely wrong but this is coming from a Western perspective where we hold personal freedom as a right. We also don’t see the populations of poverty that some third world countries face. In countries where there is a high infant/child death rate due to poverty, and starvation, living as a slave could be seen as a preferable...
Words: 1274 - Pages: 6
...3.0 Systemic, Corporate & Individual Issues Slavery in the chocolate industry case has systemic, corporate and individual ethical issues. Systemic Ethical Issue The substance incomes in worry ethics are ethical raised about the economic, sentiment, aggregation, and other institutions within which worry operate. It’s related to the economic system within many countries that rely to a great extent on many exports, including potable bonzes. In yr 1999 and 2000, food product bean prices are downward because the global aggression over which cook had no test. The fall was dictated by the global forces over which civil rights leader had no hold. With low-spirited prices, farmers turned to subjugation to try to disrupt Labor Party cost for their natural selection in this state. Several global deep brown giant companies dictate the prices of cocoa in the marketplace. As political cognitive content known as, not only our country dealing mercantilism with these other countries, and if we plosive consonant doing business with Dentin Glide & Ghana the other countries that also doing business with them, might be stop doing business with us. Besides that, there is another systemic issue related to legal aspect of practice in the chocolate diligence. Actually, a slavery farm is illegal in the Ivory Coast but the Laws are implemented is for the most part out of our control. But the government from their country had their own situation, shortage of social control officers, the willingness...
Words: 614 - Pages: 3
...themselves failed to address the issue of slavery, so the African American community had to endure intense oppression until the Civil Rights movements. However, at every turn the American leadership in power either pushed the public to see the heinous acts as justified or enacted laws to create a further inability to escape the oppression. As a result, the initial creation of the...
Words: 2020 - Pages: 9
...get many different answers. Just as in our ethics classes where different scenarios were put forward and we were required to evaluate the situation and take a stand based on what we believed, there were always opposing views. More interesting though, was the fact that even among the people in the same camp, the reasons that they based their decision on differed greatly. The common approach The three most common perceptions relate ethics to feelings and beliefs, following the law and what society accepts. Feelings and beliefs Our feelings and personal beliefs are probably the first things we consider when we come across a situation requiring us to make a choice. However, ethics is not the same as feelings and beliefs – that is, being ethical is not as clear cut as simply following one’s own feelings and beliefs. This is primarily due to the fact that feelings and beliefs are likely to be influenced by the environment we live in – our parents, our friends and our cultures, amongst others. Take for example a neglected child whose parents are criminals and are constantly committing crimes and going in and out of jail. It is possible that the child may grow up thinking that committing crimes is not necessarily a bad thing because he saw it happening around him all the time. While we as outsiders know that committing crimes is not right, the child may well see it as the ‘normal’ thing to do to survive in life based on his experiences. Abiding by the law Ethics does not equate to...
Words: 1068 - Pages: 5
...MODERN DAY SLAVERY EXISTS AND IT NEEDS YOUR ATTENTION Slavery is thought of as a practice of the past but enslaving human beings as property still exists. There are approximately thirty million people in the world right now that are victims of slavery. Children are forced to work as laborers, prostitutes, child soldiers, etc. against their will and are paid very little of nothing. They cannot simply walk away, they have lost all control of their lives and are being exploited and traumatized in terrible ways. Trafficking victims are often tricked into slavery through promises of work. Human traffickers tend to prey on impoverished people who live in countries with little access to education, health care or jobs. The basic flow of this global traffic flows slaves from poorer counties to richer countries (Bales, 2008). The advertisement showcasing a magazine cover ‘Good Slavekeeping’ sends a grand message about one of the biggest world issues right now and is very effective in giving the reader an insight on all aspects of modern day slavery. It uses ethical and emotional appeal along with irony to effectively to get the readers involved with the situation. The advertisement uses the ethical appeal to make people question their morals and what they believe in. It ironically presents issues throughout like ‘slaves do the dumbest things for mercy that makes us LOL’ and ‘hide that passport where she’ll never find it’. It is informing readers that slaves around the world are continuously...
Words: 823 - Pages: 4
...Ethical Relativism 1. Ethical Relativism: In this lecture, we will discuss a moral theory called ethical relativism (sometimes called “cultural relativism”). Ethical Relativism: The view that what is morally right or wrong is dependent upon what one’s culture believes is right or wrong. In short, if your society or culture BELIEVES that some action is morally wrong, then it IS morally wrong for everyone within that society. Businesspeople often claim something similar. They say, for instance, that businesses operate under their own system of morality. What is deemed to be right by some business IS right for that business. This makes morality relative. For instance, if one society says cannibalism is morally wrong, while another says it is morally permissible, then the fact of whether or not cannibalism is morally wrong will just be a relative one—namely, whether or not it is wrong for someone will just depend upon which society they are in. We will now ask the question: Does some action become right or wrong just because one’s society, or employer, SAYS it is right or wrong? Or rather, is it the case that there are some moral standards that apply to ALL businesses and societies, regardless of whether or not those societies believe in those standards? 2. The Argument From Disagreement: Why believe that morality is relative? Relativists often say that widespread moral disagreement proves that their view is true. They say: 1. Different people have different beliefs...
Words: 2510 - Pages: 11
...Ethical Consumerism: Opportunities and Challenges Globally Your full name Your ID no. Unit code and name Lecturer name Assignment # Completion Date Emergence of new business concepts resulted due to global pressures. This result is in the form of business ethics and corporate social responsibility. Besides economic and environmental diligence, these concepts have become a marketing instrument to evaluate the performance of businesses. They are now designing products that are ethical and consider factors like health, safety and morality in their offerings (Hamelin et al. 2012). Similarly, consumers are the ultimate users of the products. They make a huge influence on the offerings by the concerns by accepting it or boycotting it. They attempt to bring changes in the society through their purchasing decisions. So the special market segment could be seen as the "ethical consumers"(Deng 2011). Thus, ethical consumerism could be defined as the ethical concern about the organizations and their products and services by choosing or not choosing a product or service that meets or fails certain ethical standards respectively. There are many aspects and matters included in the ethical considerations. These include safe environmental concerns, fair trade, animal welfare, labor standards and health concerns (Cho and Krasser 2011). The consumers reject the unethical offerings by the organizations through boycott or buycott. Boycott refers to the negative ethical purchase behavior...
Words: 1618 - Pages: 7
...Case Study: Slavery in the Chocolate Industry- Close to half of the world's chocolate is made from highly prized top-quality cocoa beans that are grown in the farms in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, a small nation on the Western side of Africa. The farmers of these poor nations are notorious, however for sometimes relying on slaves to harvest their beans. The slave are boys between 12 and 16 , sometimes as young as 9-- who are kidnapped from villages in surrounding nations and sold to cocoa farmers, who use whippings, beatings, and starvation to force the boys to do the hot, difficult work of clearing the fields, harvesting the beans and drying them in the sun. The boys work from sunrise to sunset and are locked in windowless rooms where they sleep in bare wooden planks. Far from home, unsure of their location, unable to speak the language, isolated in rural areas and threatened with harsh beatings if they try to get away, the boys rarely attempt to escape their nightmare situation. Those who do try are severely beaten as an example to others and then locked in solitary confinement for a prolonged period of time. Every year an unknown number of boys die or are killed on the cocoa farms of the Ivory Coast and Ghana. The plight of the enslaved children was publized around the world in September 2000 when True Vision, a British television company, took video on slave boys on several ivory. Coast farms and broadcast a documentary in Britain and the United Sates. An erlier 1998 report...
Words: 719 - Pages: 3
...Sectional Issues in American Society (1844-1860) Sectional issues in America have been deep rooted, even extending into the colonial era, where various colonies tried to outsmart one another in regards to survival, and more importantly, profit. However, in the era of 1844-1860, larger issues were at stake in the nation. The key issue that separated Americans was the concept of equality. Specifically, who exactly was meant to be equal to whom. The Northern Americans thought that everyone was meant to be free and disagreed that slavery was a perfectly ethical institution. Contrary to that, the Southern Americans thought that slavery was a normal practice that would not only benefitting society but benefitting southern economy. The two sections...
Words: 1802 - Pages: 8
