Ethics and Social Responsibility in International Business - Research Paper Example

Ethics and Social Responsibility in International Business Ethics refers to a structure of moral principles, that is, a sense of good or bad and wrong or right of individual behavior accompanied by their motive and consequences. Hence business ethics means the relevance of ethics in business. Specifically business ethics refers to the study of right and wrong, good and bad as well as just and unjust individual behavior in business. Social responsibility is defined as theory where by institutions, company and individual or organization is compelled to behave in way with the intention of profiting the society as whole. This responsibility is usually classified into two that is either passive or active. Passive responsibility refers to a case where the company shuns from indulging in socially risky acts while active responsibility is whereby companies engage in actions that directly advance social objectives. Any successful attempt starts with the customer by understanding their tribulations and attempting to establish how these problems are related to their needs. With the increasing world economy currently, customers are getting to be more of a mix of international and local consumers. The international demand has confined the interest of many multinational companies such as Microsoft, apple, Pfizer among others according Iyer (3). Therefore, today’s companies are trying to achieve competitive gain by providing services or products to attain the requirements of the international consumer. To make these companies to effectively develop and market their goods and or services globally a clear understanding of the social and ethical responsibilities should be established for all stakeholders. These ethical and social responsibility standards should be incorporated in a company’s DNA giving room for more conventional and positive effect on all stakeholders. Business is majorly an act of purchasing and selling of products and services with the objective of making profit according to Mitchell (89). In the process of carrying out these activities there are progressive interactions between buyer and seller either directly or indirectly. The interaction demands a harmonious means of relating the concerned to achieve the set goals, ethics and social responsibility thereafter enabling business achievement internationally and loc ally. Ethics usually centers on conduct or ethical evils that occur in a company, institution or any business enterprise. The conduct is thus analyzed from the position of an individual’s behavior or organizational behavior in general. It therefore essential that any time the firm’s morale standards are polished, the customer’s attitude and that of the society as a whole is positive towards the firm. Henceforth, the income accumulated form the sales are excessively likely to remain at all times high. For example I n the current world, big corporation’s opera ting internationally support their companies’ image with ethical standards and social responsibility bonds. In the past and even in the modern world, business involved inhuman activities like human trafficking, colonialism and slavery, this type of business only met the benefits of one party against the other. However, with the emergence of business ethics, the world of business has been transformed to a point where the demands of both parties are achieved without interfering with human rights as suggested by Trevino and Nelson (147). Therefore a company is required to make as much profits as it can as it conforms to the ethical guidelines of the society both those set in the law and those personified under customary ethics. Ethics and social responsibility overcomes every aspect, small of big in international business. The following are some of the practical business areas where this is a main concern: Management strategy A great level of sustainable success is attainable in an employee/customer facilitating environment. Where employees, consumers and suppliers are treated kindly, their basic need are satisfied by the employer, the company is bound to possess a satisfied workforce and thereafter the optimum work input will result to maximum profits accumulated. This means that there is therefore a sustenance of a company’s innovative force which demands that they be treated in a soft approach based on ethical and socially responsible code of conduct suggested by Aswathappa (127). Sales and marketing Ethics and social responsibility features more on the sales and marketing facets of international business. Marketing agents and institutions are required to behave by the standards of values or principles of conduct. They should be clear about the side effects of their goods on the customers, product ingredients, the prospective health effects and the environment threats. The marketing agents should also ensure fairness and be honesty when pricing and distributing products. The consumer’s privacy and autonomy in the use of the product is as well considered a concern of social responsibility. Production Even though only few goods can be produced and distributed with no risk on the consumer, it is the duty of the involved company to guarantee that process of production and products do not course risk to the user. However this excludes the cases where the consumers themselves require products harmful to their health such as tobacco. In such a case the company is required to forewarn the consumers on the health risk of such a product. Ethical and social responsibility in international business also requires that new technologies such as nuclear energy should undergo enough research before they are released to the market. There has been critique that social responsibility in business is an interruption from the main purpose of making profit. Others argue that this is the role of the government as a watchdog against unfair international corporations for the common good of all consumers according to Menipaz and Menipaz (137). Social responsibility has also been field as just a superficial window dressing in the world of business. So far there has not been an actual evidence to second support these allegations. However, it remains that the task of the business concerning its customers should not only be conditioned on services and goods in exchange of profits. But should also conditioned on contribution to social amenities including schools and hospitals. Conclusively, whether locally or internationally, no business can survive and succeed in isolation neither can any business exists as just a profit making venture. Ethics and social responsibility in international business deals with understanding business' effects on a wider world perspective, and how well one can apply these effects in a productive and positive way. Works cited Iyer, Gopalkrishna. Teaching International Business: Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility. London: Routledge, 2000 Aswathappa. International Business 4E. New York: Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2010 Menipaz, Ehud. & Menipaz, Amit. International Business: Theory and Practice. California: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2011 Trevino, Linda. &. Nelson, Katherine. Managing Business Ethics. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2010 Mitchell, Charles. Short Course in International Business Ethics: Combining Ethics and Profits in Global Business. Petaluma, CA: World Trade Press, 2009 Read More