Business Ethics and Social Responsibility - Essay Example

?Table of Contents Executive Summary………………………………………………………… 2 Introduction ……………………………………………………………….. 3 Body of paper ……………………………………………………………… 3-7 Conclusion………………………………………………………………….. 7 Work Cited Page…………………………………………………………….. 8 Executive Summary The restaurant industry is one of largest employers in the United States. The industry generates billions of dollars in sales each year. It is important for the players in this industry to consider the importance of ethics and social responsibility. Restaurants should apply ethics in their food delivery, pricing, and internal environment. The fast food industry is part of the restaurant industry. There are ethical issues associated with the way fast food chain treat their employees. These workers are paid low wages, but are expected to do a lot of work. Restaurants should be responsible in their selection of suppliers. Corporate social responsibility can be used by restaurants to improve the quality of life of its stakeholders. Introduction People expect business enterprises to behave in a socially responsible manner and to apply the highest standards of ethics. Ethics can be defined as the study and evaluation of human conduct in the light of moral principles (Credo Reference). It involves making decisions between right and wrong. Business enterprises in all industries are faced with ethical dilemmas. It is important for companies to behave in a proper manner to resolve these types of issues. Corporations today have become the target of society due to the fact that their behavior affects the community. One of the largest industries in the United States in terms of locations is the restaurant industry. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and describe the influence of social responsibility and business ethics in the restaurant industry. According to the Manta business listing there are approximately 796,633 restaurants in the United States (Manta). People visit a restaurant in order to comply with their physical need of hunger. When a customer visits a restaurant they expect to be served quality food at reasonable prices. Going out to a restaurant is a good way for families to spend some quality time together. The atmosphere of the restaurant is very important towards satisfying the customer. Sometimes restaurant owners want to capitalize on the wall space of the restaurant by renting advertising space to other businesses. This may be a nice way to increase income, but it may be an unethical practice. The customers of a restaurant are looking to eat in a quiet environment. Seeing a bunch of ads on the walls can be perceived as an undesirable practice. People are bombarded with advertisement everywhere they go. They do not need the added hassle of viewing them while eating at a restaurant. A factor in the restaurant industry that can lead to ethical discussion is the pricing of the restaurant. It is common business knowledge that businesses have to price their goods or services at a level that will allow the company to make a profit. A particular attribute of the restaurant industry is that any meal served by the restaurant can be replicated by the consumer at their own home at a fraction of the cost. Some restaurants do not care about cost and they charge exuberant prices for their meals. This action can be viewed by many as an unethical action. Some restaurants charge their customers over $100 a plate for a meal. Their cost for that meal is likely to be less than 20% of the sales price. This implies that that restaurant would have made a nice profit at a lower price point such as $50, but many restaurants continue to charge their clients exorbitant prices. This type of ethical dilemma is more likely to occur in the high-end of the restaurant marketplace. An ethical dilemma faced by all restaurants is how much food to serve its customers. The serving size of a meal should be sufficient to meet the nutritional needs of an adult. When a person purchases a meal there is nothing worse than being serve a tiny meal. Even if the food is good the customer will perceive that they got robbed in the transaction. It is important for restaurants to not be too greedy in their serving size because small meals can lead to losing a lot of customers. Along with making a profit one of the primary goals of any restaurant should be satisfying the nutritional needs of the customer. The fast food industry represents a large portion of the restaurant industry. McDonalds is the biggest player in the industry in terms of revenues with global sales in 2009 of $22,745 million (Annual Report: Mcdonalds). The company serves over 60 million customers daily. The fast food industry is characterized by its quick service and low prices. The benefits for the customer are tremendous because blue collar workers can rely on the fast food industry to provide them with a cheap and fast meal during lunchtime. Working for a fast food is a completely different story. The actions of fast food restaurants towards their employees can be categorized as unethical. Most fast food restaurants only hire part time workers. The reason they do so is to save money on fringe benefits. When a company intentionally does not let its workers gain full time employment with the sole reason being that they want to save money despite needing the man-hours the action is unethical. Also people that I have talked to that have worked in the fast food industry claim that it is a very hard job. Fast food restaurants exploit their workers for every penny. The saddest part for workers in the fast food industry is that most of them only get paid the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. A company such as McDonalds which is making billions of dollars in revenues should be more considerate about the pay it gives to its workers. An issue of ethical concern that impacts the restaurant industry is advertisement techniques. Due to the fact that the restaurant industry is one of the most saturated industries in the United States competition is fierce. Sometimes companies are willing to undermine their competition in their ads. This type of advertising can be viewed as an unethical tactic. An ethical television commercial will emphasize on the virtues of a company instead of the deficiencies of the competition. Another ethical matter in the restaurant industry is the content of grease in the food. The nutritional needs of an adult male or female are 2,000 calories a day (Weight-loss-center). A lot of the meals at restaurants exceed the calorie specification for a meal due to the high content of grease. Eating a burger and fries might be cheap, but it can have negative consequences on your health such as weight gain and higher cholesterol levels. Ethical restaurants cook their meals in a matter that it will not negatively impact the health of the customers. Corporate social responsibility can be defined as the continuing commitment by businesses to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce, the community, and society at large (Mallen). The goal of all businesses including those in the restaurant industry should be to comply with the highest corporate social responsibility standards. Restaurants are exposed to corporate social responsibility in their sourcing for materials. A lot of the food items that restaurants used in their operations are sourced from local farmers. It is important for restaurants to ensure that their suppliers run legitimate operations. A lot of times farmers utilized illegal immigrants in order to save money on labor costs. Between 2001 and 2006 the average wages in the agricultural sector did not rise due to the usage of illegal immigrants (Cary). Restaurants should boycott sourcing food items from farmers that utilize illegal immigrants. A way restaurants can give back to the community and get engage in social responsibility is by donating leftover food to the homeless. If it becomes too difficult to provide the food on an individual basis the restaurant can take the food to a local shelter. These organizations know how to reach the homeless people that need the meal. Restaurants can also help the community by donating money to non-profit organizations such as Feed the Children. Feed the Children is a non-profit organization that delivers food, clothing, medicine and other necessities to children in need across the world (Feedthechildren). A company in the restaurant industry that has a great sense of corporate social responsibility is Starbucks Cafe. The actions of Starbucks Cafe help out poor farmers across the world due to their use of fair trade coffee. Fair trade coffee is a practice that guarantees poor farmers across the world a minimum price per pound of coffee of $1.26 which is twice the going rate for that product (Globalexchange). The practice of fair trade coffee also benefits the farmers in the form of financing and technology transfers. More restaurants should follow the example of Starbucks in order to raise their levels of social responsibility. Conclusion The restaurant industry in America represents one of the largest employers in the nation due the fact that there are nearly 800,000 restaurants in operation. The restaurant industry serves the social need of providing prepared food for workers and other citizens. People expect to be served a quality meal for a reasonable price. Due to the cumulative wealth of the restaurant industry this industry should do more as far as corporate social responsibility. When companies invest in corporate social responsibility initiatives they are helping out the community. Corporate social responsibility can occur directly or indirectly. When a company takes a stand against a supplier that is acting irresponsible they are improving the business community as a whole. Hunger is one of the world’s biggest problems since there are more than one billion humans suffering from food insecurity. There are many Americans that are facing that predicament. The restaurant industry should do more to help out poor Americans in need of a meal. It is unethical to throw away food that can be eaten by a person in need. As we move forward in the 21st century the restaurant industry must make changes in order to become more socially responsible. Work Cited Page “Annual Report: McDonald’s”. 2009. 22 March 2011. Baker, M. “Corporate Social Responsibility: What Does it Mean?” 22 March 2011. Cary, L. 6 February 2008. “Illegal Immigration and Low Wage Labor.” American Thinker. 22 March 2011. Credo Reference. 2011. “Ethics.” 22 March 2011. Feedthechildren.org. 2011. “Help.” 22 March 2011. Globalexchange.org. 1 December 2009. “What is Fair Trade Coffee all About?” 22 March 2011. Manta.com. 2011. “796,673 Restaurants in the US.” Manta. 22 March 2011. Weight-;loss-center.net. 2010. “2000 Calorie Diet Plan.” 22 March 2011. Read More