In Focus: Business Ethics

Article retrieved from: (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/02/world/asia/02milk.html?ref=melamine)

Picture retrieved from: (http://groundreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Whole-Milk-Powder.jpg)

The news of melamine discovered in sanlu Chinese baby milk was a severe breach in corporate responsibility. Melamine is a toxic substance and when consumed leads to complications such as kidney stone and cancer. The producers tempered with the milk formula in order to lower the cost of production and profiting off the portion that would have otherwise cost them. Business is a competitive field and many corporations resort to unscrupulous ways to earn that extra market share but there is a sacred social line involving the health and safety of the consumers that should be considered. We may be free individuals but as members of a community entails conformity to an agreed set of shared values and responsibilities that encompasses the will to not harm one another. Corporations are inanimate objects that have no feelings, the heart and soul of it is driven by people, hence we are well in the position to control our actions. Businesses can consider using stakeholder theory as an evaluation of their commitments to customers, suppliers, employees and the community. If they can balance their stakeholders well, they are effectively growing their business to benefit the community and themselves which ultimately leads to an overall improvement of society.

References/Interesting reads:

Timeline of Milk Scandal: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7720404.stm

Social responsibility of business, Milton Friedman: http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html

Little comfort in milk powder scandal verdicts: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7845545.stm