Analyzing Asda's Ethical Operations: A Business Ethics Essay Example

This essay provides an analysis of Asda's ethical operations, focusing on how the company integrates ethical considerations into its business practices. It begins by defining business ethics and corporate social responsibility, setting the stage for an examination of Asda's specific initiatives. The essay highlights Asda's ethical policy for suppliers, emphasizing its commitment to international labor standards and national regulations. It delves into Asda's sustainability efforts, including the Sustain & Save Exchange, waste management strategies, and energy-saving technologies like solar panels and rainwater harvesting. Furthermore, the essay explores Asda's community engagement, including programs for young people, health and well-being initiatives, and support for local causes. It also addresses the company's animal welfare policies. The essay concludes that Asda demonstrates a comprehensive approach to operating ethically across various dimensions of its business, including suppliers, customers, community, environment, and employees. It references several sources, including academic journals and online resources, to support its claims.

English academic skills

The essence of ethics comprises of those moral judgements that are decided and framed
by organizations taking into consideration of the right and the wrong acts (Burnes and By, 2012).
The full weight of any corporate decisions can only be ascertained when it has taken into account
corporate social responsibility and business ethics. Asda is a British supermarket retailer which
proves a range of products such as grocery, general merchandise and financial services. The
present essay is on Asda and describes the application of theory of ‘Operating Ethically’.
Asda takes substantial efforts to operate ethically. The organization has developed ethical
policy for the suppliers. The aim of the policy is to ensure that direct as well as domestic
suppliers of the company follow the set of internationally acceptable conditions of employment
which manufacturing products (Eckerd and Hill, 2012). The organization ensure that the policy
will be strictly followed to make the operations ethical, achievable and in accordance with
national laws and regulations of the country.
Considering the aspect of sustainability, the chosen retailer asserts that their focus on
sustainability has been efficient at reducing the environmental impact. A world class supplier
base has been made by the organization with the help of Asda’s Sustain & Save Exchange. This
is an online tools developed by the retailer and obtains support through live events (Ferdous and
Aziz, 2014). Through this, the suppliers are enabled to share ideas and information about the
best practices that can be adopted. Currently, 1250 suppliers are registered on Asda Sustain &
Save Exchange. Asda works with customers as well as local communities so that people may
become more sustainable at their home.
‘Waste walk- throughs’ is another initiative that is taken by asda with regards to
operating ethically. In this, every point in the supply chain is visited to get a better understanding
of the ways in which waste is created. On the basis of it, changes are made regularly to save
product and packaging material (Sustainability at Asda, 2017).
Asda also worked towards the community welfare by focusing on main areas such as
providing better prospects for young people, improved health and well-being for people and
greener life. Each of Asda’s stores has a community champion who works with charities as well
as community groups for providing support. Further, colleague and in- store fundraising has been
undertaken by the retailer for supporting local causes (Leat and Revoredo-Giha, 2013).
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Asda also takes care of the aspect of animal welfare. It has an animal welfare policy in
place. None of the beauty products provided by the retailer are tested on animals. With regarding
to energy consumption, low carbon technology is used by Asda for reducing its impact on
environment. This includes solar panels, combined heat and power plant and rain water
harvesting (Energy, 2017).
From the present essay it can be concluded that Asda goes a long way in incorporating
each and every dimension of operating ethically into its functions. The efforts made by the
company lie in various streams such as suppliers, customers, community, environment and
employees.
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REFERENCES
Journals and Books
Burnes, B. and By, R. T., 2012. Leadership and change: The case for greater ethical
clarity. Journal of business ethics. 108(2). pp.239-252.
Eckerd, S. and Hill, J. A., 2012. The buyer-supplier social contract: information sharing as a
deterrent to unethical behaviors. International Journal of Operations & Production
Management. 32(2). pp.238-255.
Ferdous, J. and Aziz, M. N., 2014. Consumer Perception, Behavioral Gap, and Response to
Ethical Business: The UK Perspective. Journal of International Business Ethics. 7(2).
p.46.
Leat, P. and Revoredo-Giha, C., 2013. Risk and resilience in agri-food supply chains: the case of
the ASDA PorkLink supply chain in Scotland. Supply Chain Management: An
International Journal. 18(2). pp.219-231.
Online
Energy. 2017. [Online]. Available Through: <https://sustainability.asda.com/energy>. [Accessed
on 2 April 2017].
Sustainability at Asda. 2017. [Online]. Available Through: < https://sustainability.asda.com/?
utm_source=asdacom&utm_medium=internal&utm_term=navigation&utm_content=ho
mepage&utm_campaign=generic>. [Accessed on 2 April 2017].
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