Business Ethics project Assignment

BUSINESS ETHICS
PROJECT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1 . Examine the key challenges related to corporate responsibility and sustainability ..............1
2 . Analyse and explain what you consider to be ' best practise' within clothing sector, make
references to ethical and moral issues.........................................................................................4
3 . Recommendations for clothing sector....................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Business ethics is the study of practices and policies of business related to those subjects
which can create controversy. These study consider subjects like insider trading, corporate
governance, discrimination, bribery, fiduciary responsibility and corporate social responsibility
(CSR). The business ethics are guided by the laws, but business ethics also helps the company to
gain the attention of the public and get their approval. Government and Organisation have guide
all the industries to follow the guidelines which are provide to them regarding business ethics to
successfully practice their business activities. Clothing industry is among those sector which
pollute the earth most. The clothing and fashion industries were well known for not following
business ethics and for exploitation of employees. The company from these industries are often
in controversies like Human right violations, forced and trafficked labours skilled labour
exploitation, sustainability and many more. These report will discuss about the key challenges
related to corporate responsibility and sustainability as well as the report will also highlight about
best practise within clothing and fashion sector with references to ethical and moral issues of the
environment. Lastly this file will highlight the recommendations about the policies and practices
that clothing and fashion industries should adopt.
MAIN BODY
1 . Examine the key challenges related to corporate responsibility and sustainability
Corporate social responsibility helps the companies to create a positive impact on the
society, these increases the goodwill of the company. CSR consider of social and ethical impacts,
sustainability, how the companies are generating revenue, core business activities and their
impacts. The business of Europe are more focused on practising their business activities under
Socially responsible way, practice is more sustainable because it reduces the waste material and
pollution, it helps to improve the society. CSR is basically what business return back to society.
The benefits of Corporate social Responsibility (CSR) are
Satisfied Employees : The employees of the company feel proud to work in company which is
contributing towards the society as well as towards the environment. This will help the company
to decrease the employee turnover ratio as well as the company can easily attract more potential
candidates for job(Devireddy, Mekala and Veeredhi, 2016).
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Satisfied Customers : If the company is holding strong record of corporate social responsibility
it is sure that that the company will attract more customer and will able to earn the loyalty of the
customer for a long time.
Cost reduction : CSR programs helps the companies to decrease the cost of the product because
it helps to increasing the retention rate of the company as well as helps in more efficient hiring,
the CSR having programs like energy saving programs, waste management and many more.
Corporate social programs helps the company to reduce investment from traditional advertising
methods
The challenges faced by clothing industry are
Human Rights :
The Clothing industry is famous to violated the human rights of the employees. Human
right of the employee in related to the social, economical and environmental aspects of corporate
activities. For example the right to non-discrimination are in the social aspects of human rights.
The company need to pay fair wages to the workers of company under labour right and clean
drinking water, clean wash roams are all under environment aspect of human right. Many
company had violated(Kolk, 2016). Marks and Spencer was fined by the UK government for
violation of Human right. The company was not paying fair wages to their labours the company
was also finned for not violent the health and safety act. The company was fined 1 million
pounds for violating the health and safety act.
Social Contribution :
The clothing industry contribution to the society to increase their goodwill of the
company, the companies mostly donate those cloths which are returned by the customers or the
cloths which are not purchased by anyone for a long time, the companies also donates the cloths
which are having some design related defects. Marks and Spencer donate the the return cloths as
well as the cloths which have some defect in them to the handicap and disable people as well as
to homeless people. The GAP company has burned their dead stock and revived a lot of heat
from the people. The company had receive many hate mails on social media for burning the
cloths instead of donating them to those who need them but can't afford it(Yoo and et.al., 2018).
Forced and Trafficked labours :
The labour problem in the clothing industry is grown beyond of overwork,
underpayment, inappropriate working environment, The 50% of trafficked victims are sold and
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force to labour. These activities generally take place in developed countries where the labour rate
is high. Fashion industries are common with forced workers, even the luxurious brands are also
known to have force workers in their supply chain. A journalist Sharysi Tondon have exposed
some big companies for forces labours and child labours the journalist published a documentary
in which companies like GAP and ASOS were exposed by the Mr Tondon on camera of having
forced and child labour in their supply chain(Tumula and Burch, NetIQ, 2016).
Technology :
Clothing industries are the slow adopter in term of technological innovations. Many
clothing company are still using the tradition methods of manufacturing, designing and many
more. There is a huge gap between the fashion and the technological world, even after so many
innovation the fashion industries still uses manual production methods. Marks and Spencer is
among the biggest company in fashion world but the company is still known for using the
tradition methods for their production designing and finishing of their cloths. These increase the
cost of production of the cloths.
Sustainability :
The clothing industry is among those industries which pollute the plant most. The
clothing industry is well non for toxic chemicals and washing polyester fabric sheds plastic into
water system. One of the major cause of cancer is the pesticides used in the production of cotton.
Many fashion industries use to dispose their chemical waste into rivers, lakes, seas, oceans.
Many brands are trying to to business operation by those activities which are less polluting the
planet. Many clothing companies are charge for doing activities which increase pollution H&M
is the company which was fined by the government for releasing the harmful chemicals and
waste materials into the rivers and ocean(Tomé and et.al., 2015).
Theories related to corporate responsibility and sustainability
The triple bottom line theory suggest that company has to focus on the social and
environment responsibility rather than to only focus on earning high level of profit. It suggest
that rather than the one bottom line profit it should be three bottom line which are profit, people
and planet. They have to work towards the planet and people and produce the clothes which are
in the reach of the customer with the quality. The aim of triple bottom line is economic
sustainability and social sustainability.
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Stakeholder theory describe the individual and group which are affected by the
company activities and actions (Three Theories of Corporate Social Responsibility, 2019). It
suggest to the clothe industry that for their packaging they have to use the paper bag or cloth bag
rather than to plastic bag because it create pollution and affects the environment.
Stakeholders:- It refers to a person that will have interest in investing into business and having
share in the company for the purpose of earning profit in the future. These includes creditors,
directors, employees, suppliers, owners etc. There are four categories of it such as users,
providers, influencers and governance. It help in taking decision and enhancing more
opportunities for the future.
Skilled Labour Exploitation :
Skilled labour are those person who had specific skills, knowledge ability and training to
finish the work. A skilled works may have attended any school, technical school or university.
The fashion industries is well known for Exploitation of of labours as well as Skilled labours. In
these the employees were not treated fairly as well as the company use to pay less for to the
skilled works . The company such as ASOS was very famous to for exploitation of skilled works
the company do not use to play the employees according to their capacity and their skills and
many them the minimum standard salary to the employees according to their designation of
work. That increased the employee turn over rate of the company and the company use to hire a
lot of employees in very short period of time.
2 . Analyse and explain what you consider to be ' best practise' within clothing sector, make
references to ethical and moral issues
Clothing industries generates revenue of more than 205 billion pounds every year all over
the world. The companies can easily practising ethical practices, such as pay rate, safety of
employees, sustainability and many more(Sousa and et.al., 2015).
The best moral and ethical practise within clothing sector that companies can adopts are
Livable wages :
These helps the company to support themselves without finding dependence on outside
assistance and need to search extra employees to finish the work .Clothing and fashion sector is
well known for not practising regarding the fair and liveable wages. Only some companies pay
minimum wages to their labours while other just pay the competitive rates. The producer who
outsource such job to foreign countries like China, Sri Lanka where the labours are much
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cheaper and under paid than their home country, To counter these types of activities of such
company, other rival companies has guaranteed their customer that the labours working for their
companies in foreign countries are paid fair price and livable wages for he work they have done.
Marks and Spencer outsource there production and manufacturing work to foreign countries like
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India About 6-7 years ago the company wasn't paying sufficient
amount to the labours of these countries. After facing some issues related to this Marks and
Spencer assure the customers to support their workers and pay them fair and lively wages to
them(Kann and et.al., 2016).
Going Green :
These are some fibers which are hard to dye than other fibers, these fibers are generally
synthetic fibers. The manufacturer of clothing companies add toxic chemicals and heavy metal to
the water to dye these inorganic fibers easily and rapidly. These types of method create huge
water pollutions are the water is released in lakes, river, seas and oceans, With increasing
pollution on the planet some company has switch to more Eco-friendly products. In Environment
Friendly clothing the manufacturer of clothing companies use organic fibers, bamboos, hemps,
organic cotton to weave fabrics and using the plant based dye to colour the fabrics moreover
many company has also adopted the strategy to use recycled synthetic fibers such as plastic bags,
polyester and many more in their products. This is an effort by the fashion companies to keep
non-biodegradable items out of the landfills. Alternate Apparel cloths are made up from recycle
materials, non toxic dyes, low water footprints as well as organic fabrics. The company is
making a clean impact on the nature as well they are providing safe working environment for the
people in the world. The company admire this practise whereas other companies are cutting
corners.
Fair Labour Practices :
The clothing manufacturer of Europe is guide by the International Labour Organization to
follow some guide lines to practice their business activities(Fong and et.al., 2019). The
manufacturer should provide fair wages to the workers of the company as well as the company
should follow all the business ethical practices such as the company will not do any exploitation
of child labour, the companies are also not allowed to hire illegal immigrants, the companies
should provide the wages to the workers according to the local standards of the countries and
many more. All the companies around the world was affected by these guidelines and started
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following these guidelines Nike is sport wear company which company is famous for their
quality as well as paying their workers fair wages. The employee turnover rate of Nike is very
low because the company always pay the employees and workers according to their work. These
small efforts of Nike towards their employees has played a key factor in becoming the leading
company of the world in sports wear.
Employee Safety :
The clothing sector must provide a safe working environment for the working of
employees as well as the company should take safety measure to guarantee that all the
employees of the company are treated moral and ethical manner. The Occupational Safety and
Health Administration has provided a strict guidelines to the companies in clothing industries.
These guidelines are related to the ergonomics, machine operation, substances, noise, hazardous,
heat stress, dye safety and cotton dust(Devireddy, Mekala and Veeredhi, 2016). The companies
are forces to follow the detailed guidelines of The Occupational Safety and Health
Administration to practice their business operation successful. For example the workers should
work in a healthy and safe environment with proper precautions for emergency cases and proper
facilities like clean toilets and clean drinking waters. Burberry is United Kingdom based
Clothing brand . The company is well known for the maintaining proper and safe environment
for their employees. Even the labours of the company are provide a safe and healthy
environment. These helped the company to decrease the employee turnover ratio as well as
increase the efficiency of the employees. The company believe that their employees are their
greatest resource and treat them properly in every possible aspects. These belief of the company
helped the company in many ways.
Utilitarianism theory of Ethics
This theory defines an ability to predicting some consequences that may lead to certain
actions in clothing industry. It comprises of two segments as act and another one is rule
utilitarianism. In act utilitarianism person will get benefited from different aspect and providing
different aspect that help in minimizing societal constraints. On the other hand, Rule
utilitarianism includes different laws that provide changes as it is important for providing justice
and help in gaining various segments that defines ethics in business. As this follows both
perspective and providing effective use of resources that will be helpful for providing changes
that lead to enhance business for the future. It is important for maintaining ethics in company as
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it help in providing changes by taking into consideration ethics that will be followed in
enhancing business operations. Ethics plays an important role as it help in making information
confidential that is essential for every business.
Deontology theory of ethics
According to this theory there are different perspective that help in providing various
aspects that lead to create changes in evaluating ethics in business. In this certain obligation is
taken into account for making decision and providing ethics in the company. From this it can be
evaluated as different aspect as through this behaviour of employees affect due to changing
ethics in the clothing industry.
3 . Recommendations for clothing sector
Respect for human rights :
Clothing sector industry must engaged in protecting the human rights. Like for example
there must be no discrimination on the basis of religion, colour, race, thoughts, beliefs and
values. This will help the industry in increasing their goodwill and attracting more consumers
towards them. They must not make use of child labour in any procedure. According to the law
workers must be at least 16 years of age, or past the national legal age of compulsory schooling
and minimum working age, whichever is higher(Contemporary, 2019). If these laws are not
being followed by company, then this can hamper their goodwill. It can reduce the profitability
and operational efficiency. Like for example Nike has long recognized these risks and has
specific standards to protect women workers. Our requirements for suppliers include equal pay
for equal work, safe work in connection to pregnancy, childbirth and nursing, prohibitions on
discriminatory pregnancy testing or forced use of contraception, and provision of maternity
benefits.
Customer concerns :
Clothing industry needs to analyses the consumer concerns so that they can resolve it.
They must engage in taking feedback from consumers so that they can involve in solving their
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queries. This will help them in establishing their base in market. Also the clothing sector must
not hamper with the quality of services provided by them as by this they can lose their customer
base. The industry can engage in taking feedback from consumers about the issues they are
facing. This can support them in making better relationships with customers. It will help them in
attracting more consumers and retaining the present one. Also industry must be honest with
customers, they must not involve in any type of fraud that can hamper their image. This will help
them in creating employee loyalty. Burberry always takes reviews and feedbacks from their
customers about the quality of the products as well as about their experience regarding the
products and their services and the company start working on their mistakes. These helps the
company to increase the satisfaction level of the customer which leads to increase the loyalty of
the customers towards the brand(Cai and et.al., 2015).
Social Contribution :
The clothing companies in United Kingdom has generated more than 27 billion pound
revenue and more than 203 billion pound world world. Contributing toward the social factor of
the environment will increase the goodwill of company. By just donating their returned cloths
from the customers, the cloths which have some manufacturer defects in their design or patten or
the stock which is not purchased by the any customers and return back to warehouse then
company can donate such cloths to the homeless and physically disable people this will have a
good impact on the society and it will be it wont cost much for the companies. It will also help
the company to build a positive image of their brand in front of their potential customers. Marks
and Spencer participate in various social events as well as the company donates cloths which are
returned by their customers or have some manufacturing defects or the cloths which are not sold
for a long time to the handicap and homeless people. The company organize various campaign to
successful donate their cloths and spread awareness about this social cause.
Sustainability :
The Fashion industry is among one those industry which release the most pollution on
earth. One of the major pollution way of fashion industries is releasing washing polyester fabric
sheds plastic and toxic into the seas, rivers, oceans. These cause a lot of problems to the
environment and cause many diseases to the humans like cancer, infection and many more.
Many clothing industries use to dispose their chemical waste into rivers, lakes, seas, oceans. But
various brands are now practising their business activities by less harming the nature and
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recycling the materials such as Alternate Apparel. The cloths of this company are made up form
recycled materials, low water footprints , organic fabrics and non toxic dyes. The company had
taken a step to save the environment as well as the company admire this new methods(Barata and
et.al., 2016).
Going Green :
The clothing industry also produce cloths which are made from animal product and
which lead to mass killing of animals for their fur, feather, skins and many more. These mass
murder of animals have and negative impact on the environment of the planet the company can
switch from based products to plant based product just like Stella McCartney. Stella McCartney
is one of the most successful fashion house of England. The company is a vegetarian brand.
Stella McCartney doesn't use any animal skins, leathers, fur, feather in their products. The
company has proven the Brands can survive in the market without harming the environment.
CONCLUSION
The above report has concluded about the clothing and fashion industry and the key
challenges related to corporate responsibility and sustainability, which are Human Rights, Social
contribution, forced and trafficked labours, technology, sustainability, skilled labour exploitation
in detail. Further the report has summarised about the best practise' within clothing sector, make
references to ethical and moral issues in detail, this will include Livable wages, Going Green ,
Fair Labour Practices, Employee Safety lastly the report has discussed about the
recommendation about the policies and practices that fashion and clothing industry should
implement in their business operations which includes respect for human rights, customer
concerns social contribution, going green
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