PHOBIAS AND ADDICTIONS

Phobias and addictions

Phobias and Addictions

Part A

Globalization has made the discussion more complex as firms that do business in different countries must come to terms with the legal and social mores in each situation. The debate has become so widespread that ethics codes of practice and frameworks for implementation are now found in most businesses. (Beauchamp, 2008) has suggested that many firms paid only lip service to the idea, but the growth of ethical consumerism and work of many lobby groups has driven many to take the issues more seriously. Sometimes this has been driven by fear of lawsuits, by the media scrutiny of corporate scandals that has forced companies to become more transparent, by the legislation that has increased, and by the use of the Internet to publicize bad practices that has forced big brands to protect their reputations (Boatright, 2007).

Across the globe, consumers are now insisting that companies address these issues and make ethics and social responsibility mainstream. That means that all employees from the Board to the shop floor must recognize the part that they must play in achieving the changes such concepts demand. Ethical manufacturing is a new, broad umbrella term coined to bring together a wide range of concepts and to consider their application to operations management. This term includes consideration of sustainability, pollution issues, quality management, the search for renewables, responses to climate change, development of new materials, labor issues, as well as all of the traditional aspects of production management (Allenby, 2006).

There is always change in operations management: pressure from rising customer expectations, the need to adapt to new technologies, constant innovation, and new legislation concerning treatment of workers have been key issues. In addition to these drivers, anxiety about the environment, sustainability, and resource management have all become serious concerns. The problems are not new. The difference is that the “greening” of manufacturing has become mainstream. Discussion of ethics, social responsibility, and sustainability is no mere management fashion.

Measuring and reporting performance and impact is another major monitoring area in which MNCs have been active, sometimes at the behest of groups external to them. A set of NGOs and academic research centers in the field of international business ethics have been quite vocal in expressing their views that MNCs should be engaging in the public reporting of their practices that have an effect not only on bottomline results but also on society ...