...For Better or for Worst Sarah Stillman addresses the sweatshop debate from a primarily utilitarian standpoint. This standpoint doesn’t consider multiple important factors and is not an indication of how people actually act. In my opinion, Stillman’s stance reveals a failure to address the globalized nature of the sweatshop phenomenon with regards to the ease with which corporations are capable of moving their operations to other countries. On the other hand, she does bring up important ethical concerns that should be addressed. In her 2005 essay Made by Us: Young Women, Sweatshops, and the Ethics of Globalization, author Sarah Stillman provides the reader with a narrative of her experiences interacting with young women employed in Latin American sweatshops. She indicates that she believes that globalization – a process marked by the growing interconnectedness of global systems – has been lead to a proliferation of sweatshop factories in the third world and expresses concern that young women are “increasingly bearing the burdens of globalization while reaping relatively few of its tremendous rewards" . Although it is not explicitly stated in her essay, Stillman seems to espouse a primarily utilitarian philosophy in her moral judgements of the sweatshop industry. John Stuart Mill, an English philosopher and founder of the utilitarian school of moral reasoning, describes it as the following: [t]he creed which accepts as the foundation of morals, utility, or the greatest happiness...
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...Labor Practices Paper Reginald D. Webb Jr. PHL/320 April 13, 2015 John Preis Labor Practices Paper This week I have had the opportunity to learn more about labor practices and how they work. I have learn enough this week to talk about it and what I feel I got out of it from one week thus far. In this essay I will discuss sweatshop labor justification and explain how consumer demands affect a company’s decision in business. I also will discuss how sweatshop justification labor has different ethnical perspectives guiding ethical decision making. Right before my conclusion of this I will discuss one last topic which would be an explanation of how a company influences their ethical environment. I hope you enjoy the final paper I write in this course. Sweatshop Labor Sweatshop labor is all around us and many companies are having this issue even today. With parents’ teenage kids working or young adults working the sweatshop we see many people protesting this discrimination they feel needs to be resolved. Nowadays in America it is mostly employees who work long hours with minimum wage pay which is very difficult to comprehend. Companies like Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, and H&M have all experience some sort of criticism about having this type of labor in their company. I myself once attempted to apply for one of these companies not knowing the way they had planned to have me working and the type of pay they were going to give. It is unacceptable...
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...Final Exam Jessica ETH/316 Michael Scott Due June 30, 2014 Question #1 Introduction Ethics are considered the science in which one bases their beliefs, while morals are the choices made based on those beliefs. To be considered a virtuous person one must understand and demonstrate the “acceptable” beliefs of their society, by maintaining their personal character traits and standards, and by making and demonstrating good choices in their personal and professional lives. A person who is ethical and moral may not be considered virtuous, because of the differences between the three concepts. Virtuous Virtuous is used to describe a person who strives for excellence, in both their ethical and moral behaviors. Virtue, demonstrated as one who has good character traits, is often associated with ethical and moral beliefs, which is necessary for people to function in society with distinction. Virtuous examples are demonstrated in one who shows honesty, forgiveness, kindness, and respectfulness; among other exemplary character traits. A person who is virtuous shows commitment to doing the right thing, no matter what the cost; personal or not. Someone who is virtuous does not bend to desires, urges, or impulses, but acts according to their principles and values. Ethics Ethics are the rules and principles that govern the actions of people in comparative societies, while morality may differ from person to person. Ethics are described in our reading as, “what constitutes...
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...Wrongful Beneficence: Exploitation and Third World Sweatshops Chris Meyers Much of the merchandise produced by U.S. companies and sold to U.S. consumers is manufactured by workers in third world countries who earn as little as 12 cents per hour drudging away in harsh and even dangerous work environments. Such workplaces are referred to as sweatshops and are especially common in the apparel and shoe industries and in toy making. Many critics object to sweatshops on the grounds that they harm the workers or violate basic human rights. These moral objections are aimed at certain sweatshop practices such as coercion, unsafe working conditions, deception, paying workers less than promised, etc. These practices are not seriously defended by many people, if any. But the “sweatshop” label can still apply to jobs that do not involve any of these more obvious moral atrocities. A difficult job with long hours that pays very little may still be referred to as a sweatshop job and, I will argue, may still be morally objectionable. The question I want to consider is whether it is morally justifiable to pay the very low sweatshop wages for the very arduous sweatshop labor even if there is no coercion, deception, or direct causing of harm. Some defenders of capitalism and supporters of free-market economics have defended sweatshop wages on the grounds that they benefit the desperately poor workers of these impoverished countries who are very glad to get the work. In an important and widely reprinted...
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...INTRODUCTION ETHICAL ISSUES IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS Employment Practices Management Focus: Making Apple’s iPod Human Rights Environmental Pollution Management Focus: Unocal in Myanmar Corruption Moral Obligations Management Focus: News Corporation in China ETHICAL DILEMMAS THE ROOTS OF UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR Personal Ethics Decision Making Processes Organizational Culture Unrealistic Performance Expectations Leadership Management Focus: Pfizer’s Drug Testing Strategy in Nigeria PHILOSOPHICAL APPROACHES TO ETHICS Straw Men Utilitarian and Kantian Ethics Rights Theories Justice Theories FOCUS ON MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS Hiring and Promotion Organization Culture and Leadership Decision-Making Processes Ethics Officers Moral Courage Summary of Decision-Making Steps SUMMARY CRITICAL THINKING AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS CLOSING CASE: Google in China Learning Objectives 1. Be familiar with the ethical issues faced by international businesses. 2. Recognize an ethical dilemma. 3. Discuss the causes of unethical behavior by managers. 4. Be familiar with the different philosophical approaches to ethics. 5. Know what managers can to do to incorporate ethical considerations into their decision making. Chapter Summary This chapter focuses on how ethical issues can...
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...Global Business Ethics-Nike’s Sweatshops Ann T. Dale MGT/216 Global Business Ethics-Nike’s Sweatshops Nike is a worldwide sports name in wear and equipment. So, why is Nike’s ethics in question? Has greed and publicity become their motto at any costs? Nike spends multimillion dollars a year hiring well-known athletes to advertise their products yet cannot seem to stay out of the media’s eye of their contracting or subcontracting techniques of their products to be built in third world countries. In 1996, Nike has been charged by critics with engaging in a variety of unethical employment practices in countries that exercise little or no control over the conditions of labor or whose governments are corrupt and can be bought off (De George, 2006, chap. 20). In dealing with business issues, a company needs to be aware (what are the issues), articulate (justify and express decisions), and application (reach a decision, train and explain ethics to employees). Ethical behavior has to start at the top of a company and work its way down. Here we will compare ethical perceptions across cultures about the ethical situation, discuss the ethical issues that became evident due to globalization, and discuss the risks and consequences associated with the Nike ethical dilemma. Compare Ethical Perceptions Across Cultures About the Ethical Situation Trevino and Nelson (2007) defines business best stating the “definition of ethics—the principles, norms, and standards of conduct governing...
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...Next and Marks & Spencer in Sweatshop Scandal Story of case study Gap, Next and Marks & Spencer’s suppliers in India have been found paying low wages to workers and force them to work extra long hours. Workers told the Observer that the factories are usually hire them through middlemen, from whom they are paid “as little as 25p an hour, in the case of Gap and Next, and 26p an hour for M&S”, and they are forced to work 16 hours per day with only 2 thirty-minute breaks. For workers who refuse to do extra long hours would be asked to find new jobs or even get beaten up. "We need to work for the money and if we don't the company will kick us out, said Bitthu, 26.” Since workers have to work till late at night, their children are left at home along and many are roaming on the streets. A 6-year-old girl, Bubli, told the observer that her parents were both out working and they usually leave the house at 8am and return home after 10pm. Her 11-year-old sister was left in change while their parents were working. Because of the low wages, many families cannot afford £5.50 a month (which is 10% of their salaries) to send their children to school. However, all three companies claim that they are “totally committed to ethical trading” and abuses are not allowed in their supply chains, also, certain actions had been taken to solve these problems. (The Observer 2010) Sweatshop Definition The U.S. General Accounting Office defines a sweatshop as “an employer that violates...
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...of jobs to U.S. workers and quality of services or products received from abroad. However, the question of whether U.S. companies should have an ethical obligation to consider of the how workers abroad are treated, including working conditions, by the foreign contractors remains a hot topic. Many companies, such as Nike, over the last couple of decades has been in the spotlight for partnering with “sweatshop” type factories abroad. A “sweatshop” type factory consists of an unsafe, dirty or hazardous work environment, long work shifts, child labor, and low/minimal wages. Nike’s move of partnering with factories abroad was an innovative trend to save money for the company as well as make their shareholders wealthier. In turn it made Nike billions, but the global ethical downside cost the brand much scrutiny. Nike forgot something; the majority of it’s consumers purchasing their products have ethical values. Once the public was made aware of the “sweatshop” type conditions in which their product was being produced, Nike’s bottom line was negatively affected. As a result, top-level business decisions had to be reevaluated, particularly outsourcing. Employment labor laws globally are quite different than in the U.S. For U.S. based companies who partner with third-world companies to save money, they must take a stand to make sure they are doing it the right way – the ethical way. Outsourcing may be the new trend to save money for the parent company, but all aspects of...
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...Sweatshop is Conflicts With the Moral Standards PMP 400 Quan Zhang ( Lyla) Royal Roads University Elvira Perrella March 9, 2015 Sweatshop is Conflicts With the Moral Standards Green, B., & Norton, S. (2011). Reading. In. W, Anne & M. Laura ( Eds.), Essay essentials with readings (pp. 336- 341). Toronto, ON: Nelson Education Ltd. In the article, before the research, like many people, the author’s attitude was old, but after the research, the author’s attitude changed. The author chose the country of Bangladeshi to illustrate her point that working in a sweatshop can be a positive experience for women in developing countries by focusing primarily on one country. First, she argued that sweatshops offer jobs for women and give them the opportunity to improve the quality of their lives. Second, women can experience some independence about managing their finances and choosing their marriages although they have the small income. In this article, the author used others’ opinion, details and facts to develop her topic. The data and cases were enough to prove the argument, and the evidence was very creditable and believable. Although this article argued in the opposite way with me, it gave my article a new perspective about the sweatshop labors. What's more, the author gave me a good evidence about counterargument, which work at the sweatshop is better than no jobs. Then I can refutation this counterargument that the sweatshop conflicts with the moral...
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...to the question of a manager’s responsibility. I will then present the means of happiness as an employee along with the...
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...7 August 2013 Making Products Ethical Global Competition • As global competition increases, many international companies have transferred their production to developing countries. • Consumers demand for quality products at lower prices. • Consumer awareness and concern for ethics has grown. Thus, they seek for products that are made ethically. Products made in Sweatshops • This concern exploded in the late 1990s. • Activists embarrassed famous brands with exposés of working conditions abroad. • Nike and Wal-mart are two of the key targets of these activists. White House Task Force • Consumer activists and industry representatives collaborated to form the White House task force. • This task force suggests that codes of conduct must be established for overseas production. • Firms are to label their products “not made in sweatshops” • Mattel and Disney are two of the companies who adopted and attempted to enforce the codes of conduct. • Mattel hired an independent panel to monitor its factories; Social auditors visit Mattel factories three times a year • Disney conducted overseas inspections and cut off subcontractors who failed to make improvements. Social Accountability 8000 • Involves nongovernmental agencies operating in developing countries and major international auditing firms to oversee firms that comply with this standard. High Profile Culprits: • Nike o Formed a labor practices...
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...Adam Michel Professor Kofler English 1120 7 March 2015 Social Injustice: Sweatshops If an unfair conflict was developing right in front of you, would you go out of your way to do something to stop it? What if it would be to your benefit to stay uninvolved? Many people would say yes, but would they believe strongly enough to continue to fight for what is right? In the mid 1990’s and early 2000’s, several warehouse abuse scandals tainted the reputation of large companies such as Shell, Wal-Mart, and Nike. Cases of employee abuse in factories and sweatshops in Asia and Africa have raised awareness of human rights violations and have inspired people all around the world to continue to fight together to end human rights violations. One case of human rights violations occurred at a Shell oil facility in Nigeria. “Shell is different from other oil companies because it stations its facilities in Nigeria, rather than in the United States, where the company was founded” (Kaeb, 324). By doing this, the company has a higher risk of human rights violation incidents because the distance makes it much harder to monitor what goes on in Nigerian factories and refineries. When the American public gained knowledge of employee abuse in Shell facilities in Nigeria, Shell responded saying that employee abuse is not simply an issue of cruelty within the company, but rather “within a nexus of corruption, poverty, poor public services and infrastructure, government instability, and other factors...
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...different fronts, including gender and racial discrimination at workplace and overseas prison labor and sweatshops arising from questionable supplier selection. Discrimination towards women and the disabled As the largest stakeholders that build up Wal-Mart’s business empire, employees are of paramount importance to Wal-Mart’s success. However, over the two million employees it has worldwide, it is seen that women are treated differently than men. Over 100 female employees had submitted the unfairness treatment to the American highest court, claiming that women are discriminated in promotion, pay, training and job assignment. Evidence found supports the statements that two-thirds of the employees paid by the hour in Wal-Mart are women,and only 31% of the managers are females. Meanwhile, unfair treatment towards the disabled people were also found.Wal-Mart had first agreed an amount of $132,500 for two deaf applicants, hiring them to make corporate-wide changes in the hiring and training of new employees who are deaf or hearing impaired. But in June 2001, Wal-Mart failed to carry on with their words of the original court order and therefore was fined $750,200 for it. Overseas prison labor arising from questionable suppliers Wal-Mart has long been criticised for not providing adequate supervision for its overseas suppliers and has been charged for using prison labor and sweatshops. Despite the seeming strict global sourcing standards,legal violations and non-compliance of...
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...JUST DO IT RIGHT MGMT591 December 15, 2013 Introduction I am a track and field athlete that markets for Nike. They are my sponsor. Nike Inc. produces footwear, clothing, equipment and accessory products for the sports and athletic market. It is the largest seller of sports garments in the world. It sells to approximately 19,000 retail accounts in the US, and then in approximately 140 countries around the world. Just about all of its products are manufactured by independent contractors with footwear products in particular being manufactured in developing countries. Nike developed a strong working relationship with Japanese shoe manufacturers, but Nike moved on to other countries seeking after alternative, lower-cost producers. Today the company manufactures in China, Taiwan, Korea, Pakistan, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Mexico as well as in the US and in Italy. Nike has around 700 contract factories, within which around 20% of the workers are creating Nike products. Conditions for these workers have been a source of heated debate, with allegations made by campaigns of poor conditions, with commonplace harassment and abuse. As its founder and Chief Executive Officer, Phil Knight lamented in a May 1998 speech to the National Press Club, “the Nike product has become synonymous with slave wages, forced overtime, and arbitrary abuse.”(HBS Case # 9-700-047) “Hitting the Wall: Nike and International Labor Practices,” HBS Case # 9-700-047 Problem Statement ...
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...1. Nike: From Sweatshops to Leadership in Employment Practices 2. Starbuck’ mission: Social responsibility and brand strength 3. New Belgium Breweries: Ethical and Environmental Responsibilities You will be required to answer to the end of case questions. I expect personal opinion, don’t try to copy from a template somewhere Test 2: StarBuck Case 2 Starbucks’ Mission: Social Responsibility and Brand Strength Case Notes for Instructors: Students will likely have strong opinions regarding Starbucks. Many may be committed patrons who view Starbucks as a socially responsible company committed to green practices and free-trade coffee. Others might dislike Starbucks because it is a large chain that pushes out smaller local competitors. Another possible reason students may be opposed to Starbucks are its prices, which are higher than many of its competitors. Starbucks seems to be able to justify its higher prices because the company sells more than just coffee—it sells an experience. Starbucks patrons can order specialty drinks and hang out in what founder Howard Schultz envisioned to be the “third place” to be after home and work. Love it or hate it, Starbucks has been very successful at branding. Starbucks has had a profound influence on the U.S. coffee market. Before Starbucks came onto the scene, people perceived coffee as an uninteresting product largely consumed by older people in the United States. It did not have the “cool” factor or the cache that it does...
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