Children labor was found in Nestle’s supply chain. Image via Crossing Guard Consulting.
When living in a society that is focused on the importance of organic living and free trade, it’s almost impossible to imagine a place where children are being forced into dangerous labour to support their families. These children are essentially made to not exist, a form of deception that enables big companies like Nestle to turn a blind eye to the inhumane ways their suppliers run these factories. With the combination of both corruption and poverty, developing countries continue to create a favourable environment for child labour.
It seems as though Nestle is guilty of what Friedman refers to as “window dressing”, by putting up a front that suggests their company is ethical while simultaneously ignoring the immoral actions of their suppliers. After many years, Nestle allowed its entire system to be traced, at which point it was discovered that while the company’s main suppliers support the Nestle code of conduct, the same cannot be said for the smaller suppliers that aren’t regularly supervised. Friedman’s ideology states that it is not the onus of the business itself to be socially responsible, but of society as a whole, which makes us wonder how he would feel about Nestle’s corrupt way of operating. This entire way of operating goes completely against Freeman’s Stakeholder Theory, which proposes that the foundation of a business is based on the values and integrity of their employees, suppliers, customers and financiers. In Nestle’s case, many of these parties are lead to believe that the company is operating in an ethical manner, while many of the smaller areas continue to deceive them. In my opinion, it may be time to remove the curtains from the windows of all these companies and publicly reveal the unethical and inhumane techniques they employ to make a profit.
Sources:
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/sep/02/child-labour-on-nestle-farms-chocolate-giants-problems-continue
http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethicalcompanyratings/nestleethicalcompanyratings.aspx
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-18644870
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-18644870