Assignment | Business Ethics

RUNNING HEAD: BUSINESS ETHICS
0
Business Ethics

Business Ethics
1
Table of Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................... 2
Challenges and Corporate responsibility and sustainability.....................................................2
Clothing Companies: Case studies...................................................................................4
H&M.................................................................................................................... 4
Gap...................................................................................................................... 4
Best Practices in Clothing industry.................................................................................. 5
Ethical and Moral Issues............................................................................................... 6
Recommendations....................................................................................................... 7
Conclusion................................................................................................................ 8
References.............................................................................................................. 10

Business Ethics
2
Introduction
Corporate social responsibility and sustainability become important aspects of the business.
Sustainability is considered as the comprehensive approach that is used in organizations that
focused on maximizing and creating long term social, economic and environmental value
(Trevino and Nelson,2016). On the other side, corporate social responsibility is a model that
helps an organization to be socially accountable for its actions to stakeholders and to the
public. It is essential for the companies to take responsibility of the negative impact of their
actions on the community and society. The concept of CSR and sustainability are voluntary
business activities that include social and environmental concerns in business operations and
with stakeholder interaction. Due to this both of these concepts become a significant feature
of business ethics (Crane et.al,2019).
This report focuses on understanding and relating corporate social responsibility and
sustainability concepts in the practical scenario clothing industry. Further, two organizations
CSR and sustainable practices are discussed considering their long term objective and short
term objective. The businesses nowadays integrate business activities and goals with CSR
activities in order to give back to the society. There are many benefits that the companies get
by integrating CSR with their business goals and by formulating sustainable practices.
Further, the report highlights key challenges of corporate responsibility and sustainable
business in the clothing industry. After that, a detailed explanation about CSR activities,
goals and practices on the basis of the UN report is given of different businesses in the
clothing industry. With that best practices in the clothing industry are identifies and
considering the best practices recommendations are given on the basis of global consideration
related to corporate responsibility and sustainability.
Challenges and Corporate responsibility and sustainability
CSR is not a narrow concept rather it includes many aspects and becomes a valuable element
in the success of businesses. Due to CSR activities and sustainable practices many business
get benefits and able to compete in the market and contribute in the society and community.
Some of the best examples of CSR activities are Google, Coca Cola, Ford motor, Netflix,
Bosch and Starbucks (Bostrom and Micheletti,2016). This shows that by integrating CSR

Business Ethics
3
concepts with business goals the companies are successful and contributing their best for the
community and society and for economic development.
The clothing industry is one of the leading industries in the world, this industry is labor-
intensive due to that there are various challenges that the companies face in order to
implement CSR strategies and sustainability practices in the business. Every year people
spend a huge amount on clothing and this leads to excess level of production due to that there
are many natural resources that are used by the companies inefficiently and will bring the
next generation in trouble (Crane et.al,2019).
In the clothing industry, different types of clothes are produced which require different
conditions. “Nowadays, clothes which normally should be characterized by their endurance
and long life are completely redefined and in this modernization the desire for fast fashion
has created demand for 90 billion new garments per year, which represent consumption
hysteria that far exceeds human needs and planetary boundaries”. After looking into this
scenario it is identified that there are many challenges related to CSR activities and
sustainable business practices in the clothing industry that are highlighted below
(Ksiexak,2016).
The structure of the clothing industry and textile industry creates many challenges related to
CSR and sustainability. In the whole process of clothing manufacturing starting from creating
and selling garments the environment and society are affected. For instance, waste in the
fashion industry, CO2 emissions, use of pesticides and chemicals in fiber production, an
exertion of oil and a large amount of water, violation of human rights, and poor working
conditions are some of the challenges that companies face while operating in the clothing
industry. Further, the companies that operate in the clothing industry face challenges in
implementing CSR activities because employees and suppliers are not convinced to adopt
CSR practices and this trouble the companies as people who are connected need to do
activities voluntarily (Ksiexak,2016).
CSR is becoming a crucial area in the clothing industry as most of the companies in this
industry are not able to implement the CSR activities as required and as per the standard. In
the clothing industry, a huge amount of natural resources used by the companies and leads to
more waste. Mainly waste related to chemical dying, polyester clothing, tiny plastics, and
microfibers end up in oceans (Goworek et.al,2018). That leads to water pollution and loss of
biodiversity. There are many challenges that the clothing industry needs to overcome that are