On the report of Oxam, it ranked the Top 10 food companies based on the seven factors such as the transparency of each company’s supply chain and their protection of Labors’ rights.
The report shows that the lowest rated company, UK food giant Associated British Foods, have the worst policies on its treatment of workers. Especially, women who are working on the supply chain were being treated unrespectfully. The violation of Labor’s right has always been mentioned and questioned by the politics and society. Although many parties are constantly putting pressure on these companies; however, these companies have only acknowledged the need to change but lack a significant commitment to solve the problem. What the company didn’t notice is that the policies and actions may cause the loss of workforce. People will not be working for the company afterwards if the company does not enfore ethical standards.
Another ethical problem that appears in the article is that most of the food companies did not provide report or information about the ingredients of their products and the processes of reducing their environmental footprints. It seems that these companies are more focused on earning the profit by neglecting business ethic; however, in the long run, they may start to lose its fixed consumers and public trust. Because on the consumers side, they have the right to know the productive process and the quality of the products which they’re consuming.
In order for a business to be successful, business ethic is always the primary thing that the company have to consider. By looking at the importance of each stakeholder and moreover, creating value and profits that lead the interest of stakeholders (customers, suppliers, employees, communities, etc) to go in the same direction can help the company to both achieve social responsibilities and gain profits.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-21582992