Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility: LMS Report

This report provides an analysis of ethical considerations and corporate social responsibility (CSR) within a business context, drawing upon the framework of a Learning Management System (LMS). The report examines ethical dilemmas through case studies of companies such as Volkswagen, TOMS, an...Read More

Running head: LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Q1.
Ethics is considered to be a moral philosophy. An individual’s ethical framework is
assembled upon an individual’s philosophical framework.
A company like Volkswagen had faced immense backlash for unethical decision that
had been taken by the company. It was reported that Volkswagen had received a notice of
violation of the Clean Air Act from the United States Environment Protection Agency. The
cars that were manufactured by the company were programmed in a way that during road and
lab tests the nitrogen oxide emission was of considerable amount but the on road emissions
were forty times higher than the amount shown during the tests. It was later found out that the
manager of the company knew about this yet tried covering it up for the company. This
shows how the managers just to see the sales and the profits of the company and reflect on
their ethics.
The banking industry has been very active in Offshoring these days. Several banks
have been setting up their business in other countries to expand their business and generate
more revenues. Offshoring has been beneficial for the developing countries as it has provided
job opportunities however it has had negative impacts on the employees as well as the
country they are operating in. The banks had generated good amount of revenue but gave low
wages to the employees. This shows that the managers and their ethical philosophy do not
align with the social and moral goals of the society. The managers of the banks were
interested in their profits rather than the benefit of the country they expanded in and nor for
the employees residing in different countries.
In India the company PepsiCo was accused of having pesticides in their drinks. The
CEO of PepsiCo India, Indra Nooyi blamed herself for the controversy and not being able to

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control the safety measures (Gentleman, 2019). However she later assured that the drinks will
be safe and the reports will be shared with the government so that people can consume it.
Here we see the transparency of the leader and the ethics where the leader had taken
credit for the fault and issues in the company rather than hiding it. The company has been
taking strict measures since then making it one of the most successful companies over the
world.
Q2
Good corporate social responsibility (CSR) show the ethics of the company and also
the concern that the company or organization has for the society. There have been many
companies who have been successful by combining the commercial objectives and social
goals that have helped companies to build a competitive advantage in the market. A company
like TOMS has been successful partly because of the CSR and the social message they put
out (Schiebel and Pöchtrager 2003). The owner of the company TOMS had come up with the
idea,where with each purchase a person will help to donate the poor and the needy shoes and
glasses that they require as they are a necessity and this has affected the lives of many poor
people negatively. It has been seen that the sales of TOMS had shot up and increased day by
day because of the noble cause. People always want to associate themselves with the good
that made them buy TOMS products thinking they are contributing to a good deed.
However, many times commercial objectives and social goals cannot be aligned or
combined together. In the case of Volkswagen it had been seen that the managers and the
companies tried covering up the emission of gases from the cars that were violating the U.S
laws as they could not meet the standards of the U.S protocol of the emission of gases. A
social goal is to preserve the environment and its people. In this case even if this would have

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been the social goal then it would bring negative impacts on the company resulting in huge
loss as the company would not be able to sell so many cars in the U.S and Europe.
A company named The Body Shop had become successful as they were against
products being tested on animals (Nytimes.com, 2019). This campaign garnered success and
helped the company to gain a positive position in the market.
Q3.
TOMS has used the One for One business model very affectively that has created a buzz and
has helped the company garner appreciation and a positive reputation in the market. The
philosophy that has been put forth is, purchase of every pair of shoe by a customer will help
them to donate a pair of shoes to the poor and the needy who need shoes. This has attracted
many people as TOMS put forth the fact that purchasing of shoes means that the customer is
indirectly helping people socially (Taylor 2018). People want to do something good for the
environment and doing a good deed brings a satisfaction for people. The fact that purchasing
something that someone likes will help in contributing to the happiness of a poor person
without sacrificing or donating something extra has appealed to many. A company that is
doing a good deed without asking for extra money from the customers is the thing that has
appealed the most to the customers. After the One for One business model the sales of the
company had shot up and have generated huge profits in the market.
The One for One principle that has been implemented by the company TOMS shows the
successful combination of profits and social goals. This business model created by the
company has attracted many people to buy products to contribute to the welfare of the people.
This philosophy will appeal to many people who are not motivated to support CSR principles
to buy products as this principle does not demand anything extra from the consumer and

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provides high quality products that actually matters to the customers. The sustainable
products offered by the customers will help the company to grow and people to buy products
from this company that will also help the society by contributing to the needs of the people in
need.
Q4.
The Russel Athletic has sweatshops in many places where the working conditions are poor
and the employees get a poor wage compared to the efforts that they put in. After a battle
with the Worker Rights Consortium, Russel Athletic had to surrender and compensate the
workers and also had to recognize the unions. After this incident the Russel Athletic has
maintained a high standard and regulations in their own country. It is important for big
multinational companies to look into the matter and try to avoid sweatshops that pave way for
the poor reputation of a company and is ethically and morally wrong.
The multinational companies should maintain their high standards and should make rules and
regulations against sweatshops. Companies should not be biased and should make maintain
these rules and regulations in other countries where their companies operate. Sweatshops
violate and exploit workers in bad ways and this has been seen mainly in developing
countries where people live in avid conditions and their only way of survival; is to agree to
this torture that is presented by the multinational companies. However there are companies
who think about the profit and they may go to any extent in order to generate profits violating
rules and also exploiting people. The companies feel that the wages they provide is good
according to their standard and take advantage of their financial condition. It is important for
big companies to take steps so that other companies also follow the footsteps and the
sweatshops distinguish.

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Q5.
Sweatshops have been existed in the society for a very long time. Big multinational
companies and corporate have been supporting sweatshops for their own benefits and profits.
The companies do not provide any facilities and provide the workers with poor wages and
working conditions. There have been many laws that have been passed in support of the
workers to help the workers from being exploited. However it will be difficult to completely
destroy sweatshops. Sweatshops have exploited workers immensely but they have provided
employment to many people who come from poor and avid conditions. Big companies will
support sweatshops as the companies do not have to spend a lot of money on the
infrastructure of a factory nor they have to pay a heavy amount as wages to the workers. The
companies generate profits by exploiting workers. It somehow fulfills the main objective of
the companies to generate revenue. However companies like this do not consider or support
the corporate social responsibilities. Destroying and eliminating sweatshops will somehow
affect the workers as well, in developing countries they face a lack of job opportunities thus
sweatshops provide jobs in many developing countries. The poor standard of living paves
way for the low wage the company provides the workers however the workers get some
money rather than begging on the streets thus the lack of job opportunities for the poor people
have made them agree to work in such bad situations.
The system that the world has been running since so many years it will be difficult to
completely eliminate sweatshops however the working conditions can be improved so that
the people can at least work in safe conditions where they feel protected and can work
efficiently. Sweatshops are not good and many workers and union members have been
fighting for this for years however they have not been successful to help bring a positive
change.

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Reference
Gentleman, A. (2019). Coke and Pepsi Try to Reassure India That Drinks Are Safe. [online]
Nytimes.com. Available at:
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/08/business/worldbusiness/08soda.html [Accessed 30
Apr. 2019].
Nytimes.com (2019). Expanding Efforts to Keep Cosmetics Testing From Animals. [online]
Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/29/fashion/expanding-efforts-
to-keep-cosmetics-testing-from-animals.html?
mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=44AF835079A41196D5A8ACD6A9DC2B86&gwt=pay
[Accessed 30 Apr. 2019].
Schiebel, W. and Pöchtrager, S., 2003. Corporate ethics as a factor for success–the
measurement instrument of the University of Agricultural Sciences (BOKU), Vienna. Supply
Chain Management: An International Journal, 8(2), pp.116-121.
Taylor, G.A., 2018. One-for-One Companies: Helpful or Harmful?. IU Journal of
Undergraduate Research, 4(1), pp.63-72.

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