Evolution of Corporate Social Responsibility - Term Paper Example

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE SUPPLY CHAIN EVOLTION OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILTY For a business to be successful,it is paramount that the economic, social and natural environments be maintained utterly for the benefit of all. This responsibility is always associated with maintaining or uplifting the social standards of the public, especially the community that is directly associated with the organization. For this to be achieved, the organizations have to support the actions of the local authorities and vice versa. These public authorities include the local authorities, national authorities and international authorities. Paradoxically, the same parties whom they collaborate with monitor the corporate social responsibilities of organizations. Due to interdependence between companies and suppliers, corporate social responsibility has evolved to an extent of monitoring safe practices within the backyard of the suppliers (Bidgoli, 2010). The need to integrate the two has arisen due to the effect that the production has on the distributors’ reputation and hence by extension it falls under the responsibility of the distributors. Due to globalization and off shoring practices, it has become difficult for institutions to do the monitoring of their suppliers actions. In this paper, we will analyze some of the stakeholders that should ensure human rights and safety practices are carried out during the production of their products by third parties or directly. This paper will also look at the specific responsibilities and policies that organizations’ and other stakeholders can enforce so as to improve the working conditions of the third party employees, especially in cheap labor countries Introduction Social responsibility As much as social responsibility is a voluntary act by organizations, it bears a moral obligation that cannot be ignored by any organization. This is because of the impact social responsibility has on public relations. Good public relations through corporate social responsibility depicts the image of the organization as a body that is ready to and willing to positively influence the surrounding community through encouraging responsible actions. Most organizations carry out corporate social responsibility as a public relations stunt but in the long run they become committed to the agenda because of the direct positive impact that comes with the commitment. Supply chain In the previous business models, most organization were self sustained and concentrated much on the finished product than the process of coming up with the product. This means that organizations concentrated so much on the value chain. However, as organizations started interdependence, many organizations paid keen attention to the type of suppliers that they dealt with. This concern about the source and processes involved in the production of products brought about what is known as s supply chain .This model is currently embraced by organizations’ and the concern has gone further to look at the ethical considerations when the processes happen. In short, the supply chain has been linked up to the responsibility and ethical level. However, the nature of the supply chain is always to aim at reducing costs while still producing quality standard products. This can be done by innovativeness or by minimizing on the production expenditure. Due to globalization, the supply chain has been extended into various regions of the world that give the companies a competitive advantage. This is especially in the quest for cheaper and sustainable resources. These resources include raw material s and human resource. Because of this, companies move into areas, which provide cheap sustainable labor. These areas are mostly in East Asia as cited by Cline. (2012). Case: Fire in a Bangladesh garment factory In November 2012, a factory whose owner was a major supplier to large stores like Li & Fung, Kmart, Carrefour and Wal-Mart came down to flames. In this incident, 112 lives were lost and several hundreds injured due to lack of basic safety measures in the factory. These basic safety measures include presence of fire exists, fireproof warehouse for flammable products, smoke proof staircases and sufficient accessible fire exit either, through windows or doors. The basic safety measure in a building should ensure that in case of an emergency, evacuation procedures can be smooth and hence assist in saving lives and property, respectively. After the unfortunate incident in Bangladesh, several concerned persons started pointing out the stakeholders who were supposed to bear the responsibility of the incident. The stakeholders included Wal-Mart who the products were destined for them, the Bangladesh fire inspectorate and the Tuba Group factory whose subsidiary’s (Tarzeen Fashions Limited) factory was involved in the fire incident. In my own opinion, the Bangladesh fire inspection department and the Bangladesh building inspection department should bear maximum responsibility for the fire incident. This is because they allowed the construction of a facility with no public safety consideration during emergencies. In subsequent investigations, it was found out that the main cause of death in the incident was due to smoke suffocation. This was because of the lack of adequate aeration in the building. The windows in the factory were located very high above. Another factor that contributed to deaths is the fact that the windows were grilled with metal bars. This did not provide any access out of the building during an emergency. The doors were also narrow and they opened inwards, this made it difficult for the employees who were trying to escape during the incident. The building also did not only lack fire fighting gadgets, but it was also difficult for firefighters to access the premises. These are construction flaws that could have been avoided if the fire inspection department and the building inspection had done their work. The second stakeholder that in my own opinion should bear responsibility for the Bangladesh fire incident is the Tuba Group. The fact that Tazreen Fashions is its subsidiary, it was charged with the responsibility of ensuring that its factories meet the minimum safety standards and moral obligations of ensuring humane working conditions. The Bangladesh incident occurred in November 2012 while documents indicate that an inspection carried out in May 2011 exposed all the flaws and categorized the factory a high-risk safety premises. The company promised to correct the flaws by June in order to make the premises a safe environment to work from. From the turn of events, it is evident that these flaws were not corrected and that the company ignored the recommendations. From the inspection carried out in the factory, it can be noted that the company does not train its employees about occupational hazards and safety procedures that can be followed in the case of an emergency. The employees had no idea on what to do in case of a fire, and in any case even if they knew what to do, the premises lacked any kind of equipment for firefighting. These levels of neglect and irresponsibility definitely led to the fire hazard at the factory. As much as Wal-Mart is also part of the chain, it does not bear the utmost responsibility in the unfortunate fire hazard at the Bangladesh factory. Information prior to the event shows that Wal-Mart was concerned about their partners and showed commitment to finding out the working environment conditions of their suppliers. The only bone of contention that implicates Wal-Mart into bearing responsibility is the fact that despite getting the report about the deplorable condition of Tarzeens facilities, Wal-Mart still continued to do business with the fashion company. Wal-Mart also showed a lot of negligence and recklessness when they did not follow up on the company’s promise of implementing the report that showed a lot of flaws in their facility. Wal-Mart would have followed up on the report to confirm whether the desired relevant changes were made in Tarzeen’s Bangladesh factory. Despite the fact that Wal-Mart’s supplier, Canada’s NTD Apparel Inc., had subcontracted Tarzeen it should have followed up on the red flag that was raised by the report. Recommendations The supply chain should impose fines and severe punishments to any organization that would flout the basic rules and agreements laid. Government authorities should take up their mandates more seriously so as to ensure constructions and licensing passes the basic required thresholds before commencing. They should also schedule impromptu checkups to ensure that the standards are maintained. This is from the fact that the affected building did not measure up to the basic safety standards even though the government has clearly outlined them. By checking licenses, qualified contractors would carry out the construction and reduce the risk of malfunction. This is because 80% of fires in Bangladesh are started by faulty in electrical units. Physical inspection units in the supply chain should be formed to ensure monitoring units are formed to ensure responsible partnership from the supply chain and their subcontracted partners. Organizations should work towards adopting the Internationalization Standardization Organization 26000, which talks about social responsibility. It proposes that organizations should work in accordance with laws that are in tandem with international ethical norms and behaviors. This includes human rights and union labor rights. According to Fisk (2010), this will drive sustainability because it puts into consideration the people, the planet and the business’s profitability. Conclusion The evolution of business models from value chain into supply chain has integrated the relationship between suppliers, consumers and organizations. Through this integration, it is now easier to monitor corporate social responsibility because the members of the chain are intertwined, hence the value of the product and implications affect all of them. The supply chain has therefore integrated corporate social responsibility into a necessity within partners. In order to achieve utmost sanity in terms of working standards, every stakeholder has a crucial role to play, and ignoring this role implicates all other partners in the supply chain, including customers. Firm measures should therefore be put in place so as to ensure indirect implications do not affect ones existence. References Fisk, P. (2010). People, planet, profit: How to embrace sustainability for innovation and business growth. London: Kogan Page Cline, E. L. (2012). Overdressed: The shockingly high cost of cheap fashion. New York: Portfolio/Penguin. Bidgoli, H. (2010). The handbook of technology management. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons. Read More