Business and Ethics: Human Rights and Globalization Impact on Bala Sports

This paper discusses the impact of human rights and globalization on Bala Sports, including offshoring production, corruption and bribery risks, and the ethical considerations of Article 23. The paper also analyzes the Deontology ethics theory in relation to Article 23 and the advantages and disadvantages of offshoring production.

Running head: BUSINESS AND ETHICS
Business and Ethics
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Answer 1
Generally people associate human rights with politics and war or a combination of both.
However the concept of Human rights is much wider then what they are generally thought.
People who have access to all forms of Human Rights take such rights for granted and do not
understand that there are people who do not have access to search basic rights which includes the
right to education or the right to be treated without discrimination. Human rights are the basic
rights which individual needs for the purpose of appropriately residing in a human society and
enjoying his or her existence. These lights have with time become increasingly significant to
businesses. This can be stated because the expectations a person have from an employment
contract have matured. Everyone knows that they are provided with a few fundamental human
rights. However these rights are superseded by a few other powerful individuals whose only
motive is to make profit
In the given situation Bala sports should definitely take into consideration the human
rights of those who are involved in making football. It is evident from the case study that people
who are involved in making football in country like Pakistan and not provided with adequate
remuneration for the work they do and are also subjected to a very unhealthy working
environment (Duffy 2015). The employees of such people only focus on Profit maximization and
not on providing certain basic rights to this people to properly reside in the society. They do not
have access to basic education, health care and clothes. The two basic Human Rights which are
suggested for Bala sports to consider in relation to the workers are as provided under Article 23
and Article 5 of the Human Rights convention. According to Article 23 of the convention every
worker has to be provided with favourable and just conditions to work in. They must also not be

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discriminated against and be paid equal pay for similar word. They must be provided with
minimum remuneration by which they can ensure that day along with their family can survive in
the society with dignity along with other forms of social protection. These rights as evident from
the case studies are not provided to workers in Pakistan working in football factories.
Consideration of this article would ensure that people working in degraded working environment
are provided with basic safety measures and amities so that they can work safely without risking
their health. In addition the right will also ensure that this work as an adequately paid so that they
can survive with dignity in the society. Article 5 of the convention provides that no person
should be subjected to cruelty, inhumanity or a treatment which is degrading in nature. This right
also needs to be considered by Bala sports with respect to the football workers. The employees
are being subjected to degrading environment by the employers. It has been seen in the case
study that one of the factories operates in the basement of a building where only source of air is
through holes in the ceiling. Therefore in order to address this situation adequately the company
needs to incorporate and consider this basic human right with respect to their business.
Answer 2
In this section of the paper the human right provided through Article 23 would be
analysed in the light of Deontology ethics theory. The theory had been purported by Immanuel
Kant a great philosopher in the 18th century (Winchester 2017). He had the belief that as human
beings have the capability of producing appropriate moral laws, they are imposed with and
responsibility of treating others as they deserve respect, dignity and equality. The basic
proposition of the theory provided by Kant is that human being should be treated as an end
themselves and not a mean to an end. When this ethical theory is applied on business is it

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denotes that it is the duty of the managers not to compromise in any situation with the duty they
have towards the other employees. Priority should be given to the needs of the people other than
the needs of the organisation or other persons. Thus, when a manager is following this ethical
approach he has to ask himself a question that whether the decision is feasible for the human
beings associated with it rather than for the purpose of achieving and organisational goal or the
benefit of the majority. There are few rules which have been provided by this theory. Firstly a
person should only involve in a decision if he is totally content that the decision can be accepted
as a universal law. Human beings should always be treated as an end themselves rather than a
mean to an end as per the second rule. A person should be sure that his decision can be accepted
by other rational human beings in relation to moral position according to the third rule. This
theory is therefore directly applicable on the human rights which are provided by Article 23 of
the declaration.
According to Article 23 of the convention every worker has to be provided with
favourable and just conditions to work in. They must also not be discriminated against and be
paid equal pay for similar word. They must be provided with minimum remuneration by which
they can ensure that day along with their family can survive in the society with dignity along
with other forms of social protection. When this right is analysed in the light of the ethical theory
a clear link up between the two can be established as both work towards the benefit of humans
rather than monetary or organisational objectives. The article in the same way as the theory
directly signifies that a person should only take decisions where human beings are treated as an
end themselves and not as a means of achieving ends. The employees are to be treated as ends in
themselves and they have to be provided with respect and dignity along with means with which

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they can fulfil their basic human needs rather than focusing on Profit maximization. Therefore
according to the theory Article 23 has to be provided and applied in a workplace.
Answer 3
Globalisation is the process through which organisations start operating at international
level or develop International influence. There are two aspects of globalisation. Firstly it is
represented by a few people as the final stage of economic integration in which operations in
relation to a global economy is conducted by Global Citizen for potentially benefiting everyone.
On the other hand it is a concept which depicts the profound domination of greedy and
aggressive multinational corporations who are exploiting the resources of the world beyond the
control of the state. It is very difficult to provide a precise definition of the term globalisation. It
can be stated as the process through which the world tends to become a single space and
proceeds towards greater political, cultural and economic interdependence among economies and
national institutions.
From the facts provided in the case study and can be stated that there is a significant
impact of globalisation on companies like Bala Sports. According to the case study the
organisation is struggling to get funds in order to promote a noble cause. On the other hand due
to globalisation investors are keen to invest in only those organisations who indulge in profit
maximization without giving much relevance to human rights. It has been provided that 70% of
the world's hand stitch football comes from places where Human rights are not provided to the
workers. One of the main reasons for this is that large organisations do not take necessary steps
to investigate into the working environment provided in these areas to the employees and only
focus on getting their product. The company is also facing strict competition in relation to the

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price of footballs which are provided by other multinational organisations such as Nike and
Adidas. Due to the impact of globalisation people are only interested in buying football
belonging to those brands who are well established and who put in a large amount of the
resources for the purpose of advertisements (Smolovic-Jones 2017). The customers do not
believe or give relevance to the special purpose for which organisations like Bala Sports work
for. They are only concerned about paying low price and getting a trendy product. The
organisation is not able to compete with those organisations who unable to sell footballs at a very
low price. This is because the price which is paid by such Organisation in relation to the
production of the balls is much lesser as compared to the price which is to be paid by Bala sports
as they are working for an ethical purpose which involves increased production cost. For the
same reason retail distributors are also reluctant to accept product Bala sports as they have to
provide greater effort to make the normal consumer understand about the concept behind
fairtrade football where such consumers are unwilling to make such consideration. Even where
the balls which are produced by Bala sports are of accepted quality and meet the requirements of
FIFA, elements like League sponsorships do not allow the brand to establish itself in the market
as the leagues are stuck to obtaining balls from other global leaders.
Answer 4
This section of the paper highlights the advantages and disadvantages which Bala sports
may be subjected to where they indulge in procuring balls from suppliers in Sialkot in the light if
concepts like global value chains, offshoring and outsourcing, Transnational corporations,
Corruption and bribery and sweathops, work and responsible businesses. It has been provided
that Bala sports are willing to offshore production of the Bala balls to Sialkot. There are a few

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advantages and disadvantages which they may be subjected to. The advantages which they will
have are that they will be able to control the cost, have a greater competitive advantage,
enhanced efficiency, more reach and more focus on business activity. On the other hand the
disadvantages which they would be subjected to are risk if untimely delivery, breach of
confidentiality and security, absence of flexibility and difficulties in management. Global value
chain also provides advantages to Bala sports as they are able to enhance their production and
reduce their cost.
However one of the primary risks they would be subjected to in the situation is that of
bribery and corruption. Corruption and Bribery is always associated with process of outsourcing
especially when offshoring is done to developing nations where corruption and bribery is
prevalent. In this situation Bala sports would have to indulge in the process of corruption if they
would want to appropriately carry out their production activity. They will also subject Bala
sports to legal and ethical compliance risk which may hamper the reputation of the company.
When it comes to offshoring they also have to comply with international conventions in relation
to the wages and working conditions of the workers or they would be held for the violation of
universal human rights. The situation where it has been provided that the workers are provided
with significantly degrading working environment along with low wages and little or no social
security, the organization would have to make significant investment to comply with
international standards and enhance the situation. However by indulging in the process of off
shoring they would be able significantly reduce the cost involved in the production as compared
to the cost which would be incurred in relation to outsourcing of the production within UK. Thus
it is clear that through indulging in the process of offshoring production there are both
advantages and disadvantages which the organization would be subjected to, including the risk of

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bribery and corruption and low cost of production. However due to Globalization the
organization have to indulge in the process of off shoring or else they would not be able to
survive in the global market due to high selling price of the Bala balls.

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References
Duffy, O. (2015). Scottish co-op launches Fairtrade football campaign. [online] The Guardian.
Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/ uk-news/ scotland-blog/ 2015/ jul/ 27/ scottish-co-
op-launches-fairtrade-football-campaign (Accessed 07 October 2016).
Smolovic-Jones, O. (2017). B100 An Introduction to business and management, Block 6
Business ethics. Milton Keynes: The Open University.
Winchester, N. (2017). B100 An Introduction to business and management, Block 7 The global
context. Milton Keynes: The Open University.