This post is in response to Jessica Lao’s post on Sweatshops

It is no surprise that outsourcing production to factories in developing nations have been a practice of multinational corporations (MNCs) that rise and base in developed nations. While there are certain benefits for the MNCs such as cheaper production costs, this is also said to be able help developing nations out of poverty and unemployment. This may be the case in terms of goals but in reality, there is much to take into light; when exploitation has come into picture – worsening of the already low standard of living as well as the negative associations of countries seen as hubs for outsourcing (e.g. China and India). While Milton Friedman states that the only social responsibility of business is to “earn profits while following the law and basic ethical customs”, I would definitely argue that the disregard for working conditions have crossed the line in terms of ethics. Even though many developing nations fail to have laws regulating working conditions and compensation, attributing to the possibility of such cheap labour costs and why so many MNCs take advantage of such outsourcing “benefits”, I believe there is a need for those of us in developed countries to recognize that perhaps our laws in protection of human and workers’ rights should follow the MNCs to the countries they are blatantly exploiting.