Analysis of Ethical Practices in Manufacturing and Services Industries

This essay explores the importance of ethical practices within the manufacturing and service industries, emphasizing the need for sustainability, adherence to labor standards, and social responsibility. It highlights how these industries are increasingly focused on minimizing their carbon footprint and incorporating sustainable practices throughout their production, human resources, and supply chain processes. Examples such as the "green garment factory" in Sri Lanka and Starbucks' C.A.F.E. practices are used to illustrate successful implementation of ethical sourcing and manufacturing. The essay also touches upon the significance of labor standards, including freely chosen employment and child labor avoidance, and concludes by underscoring how ethical practices contribute to a positive image and increased profitability in a competitive market. Desklib offers a variety of resources, including past papers and solved assignments, to aid students in their studies.

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Ethical practices of Manufacturing and Services Industries
It is important for the industries to consider ethical practices, so that the activities can be
finished in a proper way. In this paper the discussion will be made on the ethical practices of
manufacturing and services industries. These industries also make collective efforts so that
carbon footprints of the suppliers and manufactures can be minimized.
It has been noted that, one of the ethical practice is sustainability. The manufacturing and
services industries focuses on maintaining sustainability by incorporating the production, human
resources and also the supply chain process. Also, the emphasis is on considering the best
technology which helps to manufacture ecofriendly products. For example: in Sri Lanka “green
garment factory” helps to cut the energy in half and also it reduces the water consumption by
70%. The manufacturing and service industries have considered business sustainability by
maintaining the practice of lean manufacturing with helps to reduce the cost of the overheads and
also enhance return on investment (Sri Lanka export development board, 2018).
The manufacturing and services industries also consider the labor standards so that the
activities can be controlled in a proper manner. The labor standards which are considered by the
industries are freely chosen employment in which it has been stated that forced and bonded labor
should not be used. In this all work should be done on the voluntary basis where workers are free
to leave by giving reasonable notice (Hoogendoorn, Guerra & van der Zwan, 2015). These
industries also have to focus on the standard related to child labor avoidance. At the stage of
manufacturing, the industries are not allowed to use child as a labor. The workers who are under
the age of 18 should not perform hazardous work and they are also restricted to do night work
(Tay, Rahman, Aziz & Sidek, 2015).
These industries also focus on considering social responsibility so that activities can take
place in the right direction. For example: Starbucks maintain 100% sustainably in coffee and it
uses the system called C.A.F.E (coffee and farmer equity practices) so that optimization can be
made in its sustainable sourcing. There are four ideas considered by the company at the time of
installing the sourcing system. The four ideas focus on maintaining quality, economic
transparency, social responsibility and also environmental leadership. The company also
purchases the coffee at fair prices by ensuring every step of coffee planting, harvesting,
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processing and purchasing in an ethical manner. So, these all activities considered by the
company come under the category of ethical practice. One of the best examples of the service
industry is H&M, who is the retailer in the clothing segment and they focus on maintaining the
supply chain transparency. The company has the goal to recycle the materials by the year 2030
and this has made the company one of the ethical leaders in the service sector (O’Brien, 2018).
Therefore, it can be stated that ethical practices are important to be considered by
manufacturing and services industries as it can help to maintain the image in the competitive
market and also boost profits.
References
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Hoogendoorn, B., Guerra, D., & van der Zwan, P. (2015). What drives environmental practices
of SMEs?. Small Business Economics, 44(4), 759-781.
O’Brien,B. (2018). 4 companies who succeed by focusing on ethical sourcing and
manufacturing. Retrieved from
http://www.tradeready.ca/2018/topics/supply-chain-management/4-companies-succeed-
focusing-ethical-sourcing-manufacturing/
Srilanka export development board. (2018). Social Compliance and Ethical Practices. Retrieved
from: http://www.srilankabusiness.com/apparel/sustainability-and-ethical-practices.html
Tay, M. Y., Rahman, A. A., Aziz, Y. A., & Sidek, S. (2015). A review on drivers and barriers
towards sustainable supply chain practices. International Journal of Social Science and
Humanity, 5(10), 892.
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