Business Ethics Report: Ethical Issues Faced by Food Retailers

This report delves into the realm of business ethics within the retail sector, specifically focusing on ethical dilemmas encountered by food retailers. It begins with an introduction to business ethics, emphasizing its significance for long-term sustainability, customer trust, and industry goodwill. The scope of the report encompasses ethical issues across all functional areas of the retail sector. The study identifies key ethical problems such as consumer fraud, misuse of customer data, and unfair supplier and labor practices. The report then explores normative theories like stakeholder theory and social contract theory as frameworks for addressing these issues. Finally, it provides policy recommendations for food retailers, including ethical trading approaches, compliance with laws, and the implementation of policies related to corporate information, employment, the environment, whistle-blowing, and transparency. The conclusion reinforces the importance of business ethics for sustainable growth and stakeholder trust, summarizing the discussed ethical challenges and their impact on brand image.

Business Ethics

• Introduction
• Scope of the study
• Focus of the study
• Ethical issues faced by food retailers
• Normative theories for overcoming ethical issues
• Policy recommendations for food retailers
• Conclusion
• References
Table of content

Business ethics is the concept which involves principles, morals, problems etc.
taking place in business environment. Business ethics identifies good and bad
behavior as per mind-set of an individual. For instance, in business, reasonable pay
to employees is an ethical practice. Business ethics is important for long run
sustainability of business, gaining confidence of customers, maintaining goodwill in
industry, creates loyalty among customers etc.
INTRODUCTION

This helps to achieve goals and objectives and
make long and good relations with consumers.
This report is based on retail sector including
super market chain. In this report, ethical issues
faced by retailing sector are discussed and impact
of normative theories in such situation and lastly
recommendations will be discussed in the
assignment.
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The scope of this report is that it provides an insight about ethical problems across
all functional areas of a retail sector that could further assist in maintaining and
applying ethical compliance by focusing on alternative courses of actions to rectify
the wrong business practices. Further, it scopes involves applying ethics in code of
conduct, in production and manufacturing, in marketing specifically in
advertisement, ethics in human resources management by applying policies in
benefits of labors and workers etc.
Scope of the study

The report undertaken take into consideration various ethical issues that are been
faced by organization working in retail industry. This aid in determining various
policies and strategies to overcome these problems for attaining good brand image,
customer trust and high sales volumes.
Focus of the study

Business is the place where number of people are working in order to achieve good
profits and brand image in industry. This can be achieved when business operations
are performed in ethical and appropriate manner. Business is the place where
number of people are working in order to achieve good profits and brand image in
industry. This can be achieved when business operations are performed in ethical
and appropriate manner
Ethical issues faced by food retailers

Some of the most prominent ethical issues related to retail industry is customers
fraudulent that refers to defrauding them by providing products that do not perform
as been advertised or are over prices, contain hidden charges through deceptive
business prices. Other issues includes use of customer information by company to
pass it on to other businesses like Insurance companies, banks etc. in return of
amount and supplier labor practices that involves non disclosure of information
related to business with them and also not following various labors laws.
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Normative theories consists of certain ethical codes, concepts and structural
characteristics that lays down certain reliable and justifiable principles that needs to
be considered by organization during its business activities. These theories
provides a systematic attempts to determine and explain moral or ethical conduct
and helps management of an organization to formulate and implement its policies,
procedures and programs by weighting them against right or wrong moral
behaviour
Normative theories for overcoming ethical issues

Mentioned below are certain normative theories
• Stakeholder Theory : This theory critically evaluate the relationship between a
company with its macro and micro environments and its impact of them in way
business operations are been conducted. Thus, applying this theory, it has become
essential for a retail organization to take into considerations its various
stakeholders such as employees, shareholders, suppliers, customers, government
and local community.
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• Social Contract Theory: According this theory
applied in business ethics proposes
determination and implementation of
universally applicable moral rules that rejects
common immoral behaviours such as theft,
fraud, murder and so on. This forms an
unwritten and strictly hypothetical agreement
that is not to violate moral rules.
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For a food retail firm, it is immensely important to implement ethical code of
conduct in its business operations. It is important as well as beneficial for the
organization as it reaps many benefits such as attracting customers, employee
retention, reduce turnovers, attracting potential candidates, investors, enhancement
in company's sales volumes, brand image and so on.
Policy recommendations for food retailers