Wild West’ of groundwater:
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/wild-west-of-groundwater-billion-dollar-nestlé-extracting-b-c-s-drinking-water-for-free-1.587568
Nestlé is taking advantages from government regulation and getting water resources for free.
Nestlé is paying nothing for taking underground water from HOPE, which violates business ethics and affects local people’s life. Nestlé, as a world famous corporation, is risking its reputation and image for taking free water resource.
As is discussed in Comm101’s class, an entrepreneur should understand the value proposition of that business and never take advantage of vulnerable people. Personally, business ethics is related to a company’s image, its social responsibility and the public’s welfare. Company violating business ethics for profit is damaging its reputation and will lose advantages in the competitive market, and this is especially true for Nestlé as the problem have been discussed for years. Since customers always buy products and services from companies that they consider trustworthy, Nestlé will probably keep losing its customers in the future. Hence, such behavior will be supervised and regulated In the long run.
Furthermore, the lack of regulation is a major reason for the problem. The government of BC should establish profound laws to stop water resources from being taken for free.
To sum up, I believe companies must observe business ethics for the sake of development (both of themselves and the community). What’s more, the government should perfect related regulations to provide a healthy business environment.