Ethics and Higher Profits

Closing down a factory, while leaving many people unemployed, to increase profits is only as acceptable as severity of the situation in which the company has to shut down. When such a big establishment as a company closes down, many people are left without a job and considering today's economy, it is difficult to find a new one. IF this happens because the owner and/or shareholders want to maximize profit, it unacceptable to purposely take away livelihood of so many people because of greed. However, there are cases when it's unavoidable and otherwise the whole company would bankrupt. In that case, the employees should be notified as soon as possible, which would give them time to find another job. Also, they should be given certain amount of money to take care of themselves and their families until they find new placement. This is not necessarily the solution to the problem, but it definitely helps to ease this kind of situation.

An example of this situation is a close down of Peugeot Citroen factory in France. This factory was one of the pillars of French industry and this announcement was a shock to its 8,000 employees. Toyota sold less cars than expected this year and lost 700m Euros and is struggling to save another 1b Euros. François Hollande's Socialist government immediately responded with questions and concern about the future ex-employees. Peugeot promised to take care of these people, expecting 6,500 to be voluntary redundancies and 1,500 workers will be redirected within the company.

SOURCE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jul/12/peugeot-citroen-cuts-jobs-close-factory-france

Ethics In Business

The new age marks children and teens as prey of commerce. The question of whether it’s ethic or not was washed away from most of the minds by the encouraging advertisement and ‘cool products’. However, the effects on the young people of our generation can’t be ignored.

Businesses made children and teens their objects of interest. This social group has money to spend and therefore represents the gold mine for companies. Businesses spend big money on exploring what teens like and what is the future thing they might get obsessed with. Trying to reach this goal, they interview children with the purpose of finding their interests, not caring for them but looking for pattern of future interests. For example they invite 5 random people to tell them about brands of clothing that are considered cool, paying them couple of dollars. The question whether this is ethical seems to be a "yes" so far. Companies get money from future profits and the kids make couple of buck just for talking about themselves, everyone seems. Yet, the effects of commerce are most of the time hidden from the world because of their unpleasant influence on teens. And by unpleasant it’s not meant the crazy amount they spend but the changes they undergo mentally and physically. For example, one of the newest untold trends is the shocking attitude of 13-yearolds; “I’m a sexual object and I’m proud of it” which shakes the world and spreads as fast as any plague. Since these teenagers copy what they see on TV and then television producers mirror their behavior to keep them in control, this turns into an endless mirroring cycle. And this is the point where commerce should have limits. Another problem are the values of teenagers. As products became more wanted, kids and teenagers value themselves based on the things they own. Instead of being kids they became materialistic zombies. Kids who once wanted to grow up to be nurses or fireman these days only want to grow up and make money. And one of the most disturbing facts is, that all this is possible thanks to psychologists who are paid great money for helping advertising companies. This abuse of knowledge lets advertisers know what each age category craves. For example 3-to7-yearolds go after toys that transform themselves and 8- to 12-yearolds collect things. Quoting the James U. McNeal, PhD “children under 12 already spend a whopping $28 billion a year. Teenagers spend $100 billion. Children also influence another $249 billion spent by their parents”.  It is OK to target children since they represent money for companies. Their parents should be enough to control them. Boundaries are crossed when companies rob them of their identity and turn them into moneymaking machines. Hunting children, who do not yet have enough experience and reason, to be hunted as adults is not ethic. The commercials should be more human and less material.

Corporate Social Responsibility

The basic idea of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is to meet their goals while they take on social responsibilities, like intergrating human rights, inveronmental concerns and ethnical rights. The point is to prevent negative impacts and enhance the positives, all by incorporating appropriate decisions, for example dealing with suppliers and business partners who do the same.

CSR is a common objective for businesses because of various reasons. The positive aattitude toward the environment and public and its influences make a company more valuable. The workers will have better attitude to their employer and will be proud to work for company like that. More job applications means more choices, and that gives more opportunity for the good workers. The customers will be more satisfied, since the staff is welcoming and willing to assist. The customers will be then more likely to come back for your product. Satisfied employees and satisfied customers go hand in hand. As a result, the company doesn't have to waste as much money for advertisments since it hase positive reviews and undergoes free mouth marketing. Hence it receives more opportunities. If everything goes according to plans, these points will be achieved, not even mentioning the right choices themselves which in fact, cause the positive influences. CSR Is a long term objective and therefore it has a future.

An example of a sucessful CSR is Häagen-Dazs® that spreads awarness about honey bees. This well known ice cream and sorbet company created a microsite that raises awarness about decreasing population of honey bees. They highlight the importance of bees by stating facst, for example that they pillinate one thirs of food. the "little heroes buzzing". Hangen-Dazs also gives part of profit from the honeybee brand to reasearch this topic and started a Twitcause campaign rasing thousands of dollars in couple of days. This company in not sucessful only because it makes good icecream, but because it has a good name for good qality and keeping everyone satisfied.
























An example of a CSR fail is Puma's failure to keep business running with suppliers that do not violate human rights. As an aftermath of the controversal Taiway case, when Puma's long time suppliers violated human rights, Chinese Labor Watch (CLW) reported the same problem with company's other supplier, Surpassing. CLW wrote on their website that they appreciate Puma's improvement with Taiway, yet the contrasting situation in Surpassing couldn't get unnoticed. Six to over tenthousand laborers (depending on season) were stepped on and faced horrible treatment. Abuse of workers included 12 hour working shifts, payment 0.64 USD per hour, fine of 43.35 USD in case worker rejects to work over time three times, poor food condition (insets found in food), poor dormitory conditions (garbage in the hallways, up to 80 men sharing bathroom), high risk work conditions, and made it difficult for workers to quit their job.
Considering that Taiway controversy was dealt with only after CLW reported the issue even when it was well-known before and that Surpassing followed the same path proved that Puma is not socially responsible and cannot present itself as a CSR.