Fiji Water and the Chocolate Slaves
“The fact of the matter is that today, stuff-selling mega-corporations have a huge influence on our daily lives. And because of the competitive nature of our global economy, these corporations are generally only concerned with one thing…the bottom line. That is, maximizing profit, regardless of the social or environmental costs.” —David Suzuki
Bottling of freshwater from a rare resource in the Fiji Islands, and harvesting of cocoa beans via child slave labor in West Africa, are both ethically questionable. Business practices from both commodities have little regard on damages inflicted during their production. Ethical issues, similarities, and differences with both commodities will be contrasted, a presentation of socially responsible strategic alternative(s) will follow, and finally possible impact(s) of said strategic alternative(s) to stakeholders highlighted.
Identification of both contextual and evolutionary issues is needed to form a comprehensive picture of the situation, linking questionable business performance(s) to Applied Ethics standards. This will assist to adequately categorize the issue and develop a socially responsible strategic alternative(s) to remedy the damages caused, and determine their possible impact(s) to stakeholders. Two generic determinants influence the outcome of either proactive or reactive business ethics practices, the internal and external perceptions of a corporation; in conjunction these two determinants create a generic conceptual framework and also contribute to underpin the sources of proactive and reactive business ethics performance (Svensson & Wood, 2004). Business ethical norms reflect the norms of each historical period, as time passes norms evolve, causing accepted behaviors to become objectionable, these too evolve with time (Business Ethics, n.d.). Business ethics is rooted in the concepts of the philosophical underpinnings of ethics (Svensson & Wood, 2004). When linking issues to Applied Ethics two
Bottling of freshwater from a rare resource in the Fiji Islands, and harvesting of cocoa beans via child slave labor in West Africa, are both ethically questionable. Business practices from both commodities have little regard on damages inflicted during their production. Ethical issues, similarities, and differences with both commodities will be contrasted, a presentation of socially responsible strategic alternative(s) will follow, and finally possible impact(s) of said strategic alternative(s) to stakeholders highlighted.
Identification of both contextual and evolutionary issues is needed to form a comprehensive picture of the situation, linking questionable business performance(s) to Applied Ethics standards. This will assist to adequately categorize the issue and develop a socially responsible strategic alternative(s) to remedy the damages caused, and determine their possible impact(s) to stakeholders. Two generic determinants influence the outcome of either proactive or reactive business ethics practices, the internal and external perceptions of a corporation; in conjunction these two determinants create a generic conceptual framework and also contribute to underpin the sources of proactive and reactive business ethics performance (Svensson & Wood, 2004). Business ethical norms reflect the norms of each historical period, as time passes norms evolve, causing accepted behaviors to become objectionable, these too evolve with time (Business Ethics, n.d.). Business ethics is rooted in the concepts of the philosophical underpinnings of ethics (Svensson & Wood, 2004). When linking issues to Applied Ethics two
References: Buckless, B., Francis, C., Lutter, S., Lynch, I., Takase, D. (2010). Fiji Water A Sustainability Report. (Sustainability Science, ENVS 195). Retrieved from University of Vermont, website: http://www.uvm.edu/~shali/Fiji.pdf Business ethics Chanthavong, S. (2002). Chocolate and Slavery: Child Labor in Cote d’Ivoire. (TED Case Studies #664). Retrieved from American University, website: http://www1.american.edu/ted/chocolate-slave.htm Children in cocoa production Ethics. (n.d.). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14:17, May 10, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ethics&oldid=499831232 Fontaine, C., Haarman, A., Schmid, S Heap, T. (2008, February 18). Bottled Water: Who Needs It? BCC Panorama. Retrieved 14:55, June 24, 2012, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/7247130.stm Labor theory of value Lenzer, A. (2009, September/October). Fiji Water: Spin the Bottle. Mother Jones, 272. Retrieved 14:27, June 24, 2012, from http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/09/fiji-spin-bottle?page=1 Parenti, C Stakeholder theory. (n.d.). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14:20, May 10, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stakeholder_theory&oldid=491732196 Svensson, G., Wood, G Tort. (n.d.). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 14:23, June 28, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tort&oldid=499713307 Waterway, W