The Role of Ethics in Sustainability

The provided document is an assignment that delves into the significance of ethics in sustainability within a business context. It emphasizes the importance of ethics in achieving stability and fostering growth, allowing a company to endure in the market for a prolonged period. The assignment also touches upon how ethics can help a corporation adapt to turbulent and evolving business environment conditions.

Critical Thinking

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Introduction to Apple Inc. and its history...............................................................................1
Literature review on relevancy of ethics for business decisions............................................2
Relevancy of ethics for business decisions in Apple Inc.......................................................3
Relevancy of ethics is relevant for Small business................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Ethics comprises of moral values as well as principles which provides assistance in
determining the nature of behavioural conduct in terms of what is right and what is wrong.
Sustainability refers to the phenomenon of continuous prevalence in marketplace. There is a
crucial role of ethics in the success of an enterprise in the long run. In today's modern and hyper
competitive world, one of the most essential and crucial objectives of organisations is to get
recognition for its ethical delivery of offerings as well as responsible management and execution
of business operations (Ethical Aspects Of Sustainability, 2010). This helps the entity to ensure
its sustainability within market place ahead of its rival firms. Integrating Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) within the strategy of company requires an unending process of
comprehensibility, improvisation and monitoring of all the stages of strategic course of action.
The primary aim of the following report is to determine the role of ethics in the long term
growth and success of enterprise in terms of its sustainability. It is conducted upon Apple Inc.
which is a large scale American MNC, engaged in the production, design and sale of online
facilities, software and consumer electronics. The paper consists of relevancy of ethics in
decision-making procedure, role of ethics in decision making of Apple Inc. along with
significance of ethics for smaller business enterprises.
MAIN BODY
Introduction to Apple Inc. and its history
Apple is a well established as well as globally renowned multinational corporation,
possessing its headquarter within the confines of California. The primary activity of this entity is
to design, develop and sell computer software as well as electronic items. This corporation has
been founded by Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne and Steve Wozniak during April 1976. at present,
this entity renders its business operations by way of its 500 retail stores across the global
territory. During the year 1985, Steve Jobs left the enterprise owing to certain internal conflicts
prevailing with the CEO of Apple Inc. Post the prevalence of such kind of issues within the
organisational premises, the CEO of the respective company altered a number of times.
However, this could not inflate the prices of company's stock putting the future of entity at stake.
Jobs returned within Apple Inc. during 1997 by incorporating major changes within the
culture of company. At that time, he introduced the policy of closed door whereby staff was not
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given the access to get open for their tasks. Furthermore, efforts were made for the protection of
IPR (Intellectual Property Rights). With respect to this, they took course of action opposed to
rivals who were suspected to be infringing patent. The structure opted by Steve Jobs is flattened
that results in eliminations of multiple layers. This was done with the wholesome aim of setting
direct communication between staff and Steve. During the year 2007, iPhone was launched
which disrupted the market and totally changed the scenario related to success of company. One
of the major reasons that has been highlighted by the top authorities of the respective
organisation behind the success of Apple Inc. is Culture as well as Ethics. This facilitated the
entity to take right decisions to lead the various components and aspects of entity towards the
attainment of success within market place.
Literature review on relevancy of ethics for business decisions
Ethics has been regarded as one of the most crucial and significant branches of
philosophy that deals with ascertainment of a standard and moral code of conduct which can be
stipulated uniformly within an entity to enable coordination and cooperation. This consists of
standards, principles, values, norms that are needed to be adhered to, by every company to
determine what is right and what is wrong in terms of behavioural conduct. The proper
compliance of this concept aids in development of a positive working atmosphere whereby
employees are encouraged and motivated to work with utmost efforts for the attainment of
predetermined goals in the stipulated course of time. This aids the entity in ensuring its
sustainability in market place for a long period of time.
Ethics aids an entity to set a proper and positive organisational culture whereby the
efforts of every employee are taken into account with the help of which corporation can be
recognised for being ethical and sustainable by all means. By keeping ethics in mind, the top
management of entity can take right decisions for the welfare and long term sustainability of
entity. Thus, adopting ethical conduct helps an entity to set a stable structure as well as cultural
atmosphere whereby the efficiency of staff can b improved by adhering to the 7 principles of
ethics. These principles are, namely, fairness, beneficence, accountability, fidelity, autonomy,
maleficence and veracity. All of these aid an entity in taking the right decisions for the welfare
and growth of entity.
Ethics is even incorporated into each and every decision undertaken within the premises
of entity in order to facilitate morality and fair grounds. In this regard, it can be said that the
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decision taken by keeping the principles and ethical code of conduct in mind is ethical as it
ensures maintenance of respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and care for internal as well as
external stakeholders of corporation. Thus, ethical decision-making is inclusive of the procedure
of choosing alternatives or options that accomplish all the before mentioned criteria of ethics
(Principles) and effectiveness. The procedure that is required to be adhered while making an
ethical decision consists of three aspects such as commitment i.e. desire to do right at any cost,
Consciousness i.e. adoption of consistent behaviour and application of moral convictions &
Competency i.e. ability of evaluate information and providence of alternative along with foresee
of potential risks.
Relevancy of ethics for business decisions in Apple Inc.
Ethics that are complied with, by Apple Inc. is inclusive of four different principles,
namely, honesty, respect, confidentiality and compliance. Furthermore, organisation drafted a
code of business conduct for being adhered within overseas also. This aids the entity in operating
all across the globe with the compliance of generally accepted practices with respect to corporate
governance, conflict of interest and to report questionable conduct. Apple provides business
conduct helpline that is taken into use by workforce all across the globe to do reporting any type
of misconduct to Apple's Audit and Finance Committee. Also, top authorities of Apple Inc. focus
on development of a supplier code of conduct and performs audit to ensure compliance with the
standards.
The provision of iPad was a decision undertaken by management of Apple Inc. by
complying with the ethical principles as well as standards in order to have a control over the
computer market and accomplish strategic edge over rival firms. In this regard, one of the major
elements of the organisational culture of Apple Inc. is evangelism. Evangelists are the persons
who spread the message of the respective corporation in order to generate interest among the
people regarding the offerings of entity. These can be referred to as the personnel who possess
belief as well as trust in the offerings of company and thus take efforts to persuade other people
to buy products rendered by Apple Inc. within global market place. Thus, these individuals, part
of the respective corporation are not just called the “employees” but also termed as the “loyal
customers”. The principle of ethic that fits in relation to this element of culture is honesty. To
justify one more principle of ethics that is important to ensure welfare of all the stakeholders is
the engagement of entity in CSR activities and the efforts undertaken by them to ensure decline
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in environmental impacts. With respect to this, the respective company initiated the provision of
subsidy upon use of public transportation. Further, they incurred approximately $850 million for
25 years of solar power. They began operating its services within the confines of Cupertino by
using around 100 renewable energies. These are some of the success stories of Apple Inc. by way
of adherence to some of the ethical principles as they enhance the decision making power of
managers.
However, there are still certain ethical problems which are being encountered by Apple
Inc. even after having won the recognition for the World's Most Admired Company. Such issues
would effect the success of entity in the long run. In this regard, one of the primary challenges
being encountered by the respective corporation is ascertained to be the breach of privacy due to
which the enterprise faced backlash. During 2011, Apple Inc. experienced the same owing to the
disclosure that some of the apps and software of entity use internal GPS devices and collect data
on phone's location. This was regarded to be the breach of people's privacy. Another ethical issue
is related to price fixing. It is assessed that Apple fixed the prices of electronic books with five
major book publishers. Apple also faced the ethical issue of rioting in China.
Relevancy of ethics is relevant for Small business
The relevance of ethics is not just limited to large scale corporations such as Apple Inc.
but also to smaller entities prevailing as a part of market place. Ethics tends to render aid in
adoption of the basic values, norms and morals, adhering to which small companies can avail the
opportunity to set uniform guidelines of behavioural conduct for all within the entity. All of this
will assist the company to develop positive working atmosphere for employees whereby they are
taught to make use of fair and ethical means to execute the business activities within the
stipulated course of time. Further, this would help the top management of entity to retain the
employees by instilling a sense of positivity, fairness, morals and ethics within them. Through
stringent compliance with the organisational ethical code of conduct, the timely completion of
activities can be ensured by staff. In an enterprise whereby the staff is satisfied with the
organisational culture and code of conduct, the chances of growth and success of corporation
itself inflates. This even results in enhancement of communication between top management and
employees, thereby setting right hierarchical networking. Further, ethics aids small organisations
to deal with the cultural and national barriers prevailing within the diverse workforce in order to
facilitate coordination and cooperation amidst the staff. Thus, the stable state of such entities
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would aid the management of companies in dealing with the turbulent and constantly changing
business environment, thereby helping to attain pre-set objectives.
CONCLUSION
The above furnished information and its analysis helps to reach to a conclusion that that
there is a massive contribution of ethics in sustainability of enterprise for a long period of time.
Compliance with ethical principles, standards and code of conduct aids in development of
effective and positive working atmosphere for employees enabling them to work with zeal and
passion. Ethics aids a corporation to achieve stability and deal with the turbulent and ever
evolving business environment conditions. This assists an entity to attain development and
growth in order to remain in market place for long term.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
Liu, X. and et. al., 2016. Comparing national environmental and economic performances through
emergy sustainability indicators: Moving environmental ethics beyond
anthropocentrism toward ecocentrism. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 58.
pp.1532-1542.
Markman, G. D. and et. al., 2016. Entrepreneurship as a platform for pursuing multiple goals: A
special issue on sustainability, ethics, and entrepreneurship. Journal of Management
Studies. 53(5). pp.673-694.
McNeill, L. and Moore, R., 2015. Sustainable fashion consumption and the fast fashion
conundrum: fashionable consumers and attitudes to sustainability in clothing
choice. International Journal of Consumer Studies. 39(3). pp.212-222.
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responsibility in supply chains: The state of research in supply chain management and
business ethics journals. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management. 22(2). pp.82-
97.
Reinecke, J., Arnold, D. G. and Palazzo, G., 2016. Qualitative methods in business ethics,
corporate responsibility, and sustainability research. Business Ethics Quarterly. 26(4).
pp.xiii-xxii.
Setó-Pamies, D. and Papaoikonomou, E., 2016. A multi-level perspective for the integration of
ethics, corporate social responsibility and sustainability (ECSRS) in management
education. Journal of Business Ethics. 136(3). pp.523-538.
Yin, J., Qian, L. and Singhapakdi, A., 2018. Sharing sustainability: How values and ethics matter
in consumers’ adoption of public bicycle-sharing scheme. Journal of Business Ethics.
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Online
Ethical Aspects Of Sustainability. 2010. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.humansandnature.org/ethical-aspects-of-sustainability>.
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