Business ethics in a 21st-century

Subject: Business
Type: Analytical Essay
Pages: 2
Word count: 560
Topics: Business Ethics, Child Labour, Ethics, Globalization
Text
Sources

The globalization of business affects the manner in which one would analyze the ethical issues surrounding the use of child labor around the world. Essentially, the new global marketplace that has resulted from globalization efforts in the 21st century has been noted to create challenges based on moral principles (Carroll, & Buchholtz, 2014). Although moral principles are used to challenge ethical issues such as those surrounding child labor, the fact that globalization engages various economies makes it difficult to analyze these issues ethically since child labor is viewed differently in different economies in that one economy may view child labor as a culture that the nationals have embraced while to another may view the practice on moral grounds thereby discouraging it (Crane, & Matten, 2016).

Temptations differ from ethical dilemmas in that temptations offers two options – right and wrong, while an ethical dilemma offers two different options that are both right. An example of a scenario involving temptation could be that involving a store owner who offers more change due for an amount tendered for a product (Sethi, 2016). One may be tempted to pocket the change even if it I more than what is due to them. On the other hand, an ethical dilemma would involve a student struggling financially and a store owner who overprices a commodity and offers more change due for the amount tendered for the commodity. The scenario presents the student with two choices, to return the excess change end up with less finances than he would have if he shopped at a different store and to keep the excess change and help his struggling financial state. Involved in the above scenario, I decided to return the excess change to the store owner since it was my decision to shop in his store. However, knowing that the overpricing would set me back financially, I bargained and the store owner agreed to lower the price to fair price. Exiting the store, he thanked me and commended me for considering the resolution that was fair for both of us.

There are many issues confronting the 21st century businesses today. One such issue is false advertising by companies and producers with the main goal of attracting customers and capitalizing on the traffic they enjoy to make more profits. Deceptive advertising includes giving information that gives the perception that a product accomplishes certain aspects of human lives while, in reality, it does not and instead, probably causes more harm than the good it promises (Xie, Madrigal, & Boush, 2015). Analyzing the issue, I would enquire about: the extent of damage the issue causes from statistics and existing literature, preponderance of evidence of companies that engage in the practice, cost incurred by the public to address the effects of the practice, laws and regulations governing the use of the practice and the loopholes in legislation being capitalized on by business people and lastly, the available procedures or means to discourage and criminalize the practice (Xie, Madrigal, & Boush, 2015). With information gathered from inquiries about false advertising and relevant research, I can now identify the basis on which I would make my determination. The determination I would make regarding the case would majorly be based on an ethical foundation, which would render the mere act of providing false information to innocent customers for profit and gains criminal and illegal.

Did you like this sample?
  1. Carroll, A., & Buchholtz, A. (2014). Business and society: Ethics, sustainability, and stakeholder management. Nelson Education.
  2. Crane, A., & Matten, D. (2016). Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
  3. Sethi, S. (2016). Globalization and self-regulation: The crucial role that corporate codes of conduct play in global business. Springer.
  4. Xie, G. X., Madrigal, R., & Boush, D. M. (2015). Disentangling the effects of perceived deception and anticipated harm on consumer responses to deceptive advertising. Journal of Business Ethics, 129(2), 281-293.
Related topics
More samples
Related Essays