Module 4 - Case Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility Essay

Module 4 - Case Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility - Essay Example Further, society as a whole expects that the behavior of all the citizens should be such that society advances on its own rather than regress due to actions and behaviors. During the recent times, high profiled failures of large organizations, unethical behavior being associated with the senior executives of the firms as well as fraudulent business, and accounting practices have highlighted the need for emphasizing more business ethics. The current financial crisis has also highlighted the vulnerabilities of the financial sector of the world and how senior executives used the money given for bailout purposes as their own bonuses. The hue and cry by the public, therefore, has been mostly directed towards the unethical behavior of organizations towards different stakeholders. This paper will discuss ethical behavior of two organizations, i.e. Primark and Anglo American, and will explore costs and benefits involved as well as discussing one component from Svennson & Woods’ model. What is Ethical Business Behavior Every business has a responsibility towards the society, and ethical behavior outlines the rules and regulations which actually govern the ethical behavior of the firms. ... It is also important to understand that society expects from the businesses and as such, businesses have to correspond to the basic rules of the society. This, therefore, requires that firms should not engage any such behavior which can effectively go against the values and norms of the society. Some of the critical areas where firms often face critical choices in terms of ethical business behavior include finance, accounting, supply chain management, human resource management, and marketing. These are the areas where firm often engage into behavior which may not be entirely considered as ethical in nature. There have been incidents where firms have engaged into actions which were not considered as ethical. Incidences such as falsification of information presented in financial accounts, insufficient and inadequate working conditions for the workers, unjustified bonuses and high compensation levels of senior executives, etc., are some of the issues which have come under heavy screener of unethical business practices (Dowling, Festing, & Engle, 2008). How Primark Applies Ethics One of the key concerns for Primark is to source ethically because it has to deal with variety of third party sources. Considering the overall nature of business of the firm, Primark has to procure its merchandize from different suppliers scattered all over the world. Ethical issues, particularly with regard to the supply chain of the firm, arise due to adverse labor situation in suppliers’ countries. Although Primark is committed to provide excellent value to its customers, it is clear on the issue of not delivering such value on the expense of those who actually produce for the firm. As such, Primark attempts to balance