Corporate Business Ethics

Reference Article

The objective of business is to make money. Even at the expense of other people. Business owners would not be in business if there were no opportunities to generate profit. Decades ago, companies, for example Levi Jeans, manufactured their products in North America. However, with that objective in mind, production was moved to foreign lands where business owners could take advantage of non-existent laws protecting workers. They could pay people disgustingly small wages and enforce long hours, even upon children. Fortunately, over the decades people have become aware of production practices in third-world countries and codes-of-conduct have been implemented to protect workers.

However, these codes-of-conduct are not always practiced. For example, of the 276 factories analyzed by Richard Locke manufacturing for HP, only 7 were actually following proper conduct. When companies become so large, it is difficult to ensure proper practices are carried out. Even so, with today’s “just-in-time manufacturing” philosophy, workers in corporate factories are constantly on time constraints. Keeping up with product launches, such as by Apple, forces workers to work longer hours to complete the job.

Economist R. Edward Freeman (Stakeholder Theory) believes that for a company to be successful, all stakeholders need to contribute.  If employees are not happy, then they are not acting at their highest potential and their creativity is limited. With current conditions for workers, I don’t think their productivity and contribution is maximized. Wage increases that enable a higher standard of living for workers and a safer working environment would improve their output. I think that any company, like HP and Levi Jeans, would be better off simply by doing this.

Realistically, however, I think that if businesses were really interested in doing business ethically, products would be made in countries where laws restrict their power.

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