Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility Assignment

This assignment delves into various ethical considerations in business, addressing topics such as corporate responsibility for public health (obesity), online content regulation, and intellectual property rights (music piracy). It examines ethical issues faced by different industries, including the food industry, mobile phone operators, record companies, the financial sector, and others. The assignment also explores areas where businesses may lack transparency in social and environmental matters and highlights companies taking positive steps. Furthermore, it analyzes value statements of different companies, comparing similarities and differences, and deduces cultural values. The assignment includes exercises on matching statements to actions and a listening exercise analyzing global attitudes towards American brands, providing a comprehensive overview of business ethics.

ETHICS (2)
Put in the adjectives derived from the nouns:
Noun Adjective
Corruption Corrupt
Greed Greedy
Ethics Ethical
Credibility Credible
Generosity Generous
Fairness Fair
Deception Deceive
Discrimination Discriminate
No Hiding Place for the Irresponsible Business
A. In small groups discuss these questions.
1. Do you think companies are responsible for
a) people being too fat?
I think companies are not responsible for people being fat. This is because they outline the
contents of their products thus users should know what makes them healthy and what makes
them gain more weight while selecting on the products from companies.
b) children accessing pornography on the internet?
Companies are not responsible for children accessing pornography on the internet. It is the
responsibility of parents to monitor what their children are watching on the internet. Companies
are just doing their business as usual.

c) musicians not being paid because of illegal downloading of their music?
Companies are responsible for not paying musicians because of downloading their music
illegally. Companies must be ethical and uphold moral obligations in their undertakings
including remitting their subscription charges for downloading musicians’ songs.
B. Read the article and answer these questions.
1. What ethical issues do these industries face?
a. the food industry
They are being blamed for obesity
b. mobile phone operators
They are being blamed for not protecting teenagers from online pornography
c. record companies
They are being blamed for suing music-lovers for illegal files that they share on the internet.
d. the financial sector
They face blame on their lending to controversial projects in the developing word.
e. oil and mining groups
They face pressurized to publicize their payments to developing countries in bid to fight
corruption.
f. footwear and clothing brands
They ae pressurized to make transparent supply chain and steps to improve labour standards.
g. computer and telecommunication companies
They are being blamed for working conditions in their factories

2. Which areas of business do not give enough information about social and
environmental matters?
The financial sector.
3. What examples are given of companies taking positive steps?
Cooperate responsible companies in Russia, Turkey, South Africa and Poland. Besides, social
and environmental reporting companies in UK. I.e. the two UK consultancies.
No Hiding Place for the Irresponsible Business, by Alison Maitland, The
Financial Times
Read the value statements of two different companies
1.What companies do you think the value statements match?
Service providing companies
2. What similarities or differences can you find between the two statements
Their values are similar. This include integrity, honesty and excellence. They are both
committed to their customers and shareholders. The difference between the two is that company
A has passion for technology while company B is socially responsible, sensitive to environment,
communities and countries that they work in.
3. What do you think each company’s statement says about the values of the culture it originates
from?
Each company’s value upholds its employees culture and has a passion to serve customers
perfectly while growing its business.
Match 1 – 8 to a – h, so that each sentence completes a verb phrase used in the statements:

1. We always conduct e. our business with fairness and honesty.
2. We have g. a passion for innovation.
3. We work d. cohesively with all partners and colleagues
4. We are committed to c. achieve the highest quality in everything we do.
5. We hold ourselves f. accountable to all our stakeholders
6. We strive to c. achieve the highest quality in everything we do.
7. We pride ourselves in g. b. our customers, colleagues, and suppliers.
8. We continue to be a. sensitive to the needs of the communities we work with.
Listening
Listen to the discussion about a study of global attitudes to American brands and cultural values
by the market research company NOP World.
1. According to the study, why have global attitudes to America changed in recent years?
2. What does Carla say has been the effect on certain American brands?
3. What arguments does Doug make which challenge the results of the studies?
Match the adverb + adjective combinations from the discussion to the statement that is closest to
the meaning.
Potentially disastrous profoundly worrying relatively stable
Appreciably more hostile unexpectedly rapid irretrievably damaging
Significantly different increasingly difficult
1. ‘It’s going to get harder and harder.’- increasingly difficult

2. ‘Compared to earlier, the price hasn’t changed much.’- relatively stable
3. ‘The variation between them is noticeable.’ - Significantly different
4. ‘We didn’t think it would change that quickly.’ - unexpectedly rapid
5. ‘It could be a major problem and we can’t ignore it.’ - Potentially disastrous
6. ‘I’ve noticed recently that they seem quite negative towards us.’ - Appreciably more hostile
7. ‘We’re really concerned about this problem.’ - profoundly worrying
8. ‘We won’t be able to reverse the effects of this.’ - irretrievably damaging