Ethics in Emerging Economies (Essay Sample)

Ethics in Emerging Economies
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Ethics, is basically a philosophy branch that involves defending, systemizing and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct, often addressing disputes of moral diversity. There are a lot of different ethical issues that may arise in a business, in this case the business ethical issues can either be in form of professional ethics or applied ethics that monitors ethical principles and moral problems that may come up in a business environment.
The importance of international business ethics, has so far been growing due to the growth in international business. This has mostly been influenced by the tendency of many business switching to technology and the internet as their main way to advertise and sell their products. However, international ethics has been affecting many companies and firms across the world. For instance, in in the United Kingdom a clothing company Primark had faced ethical issues from several firms which were supplying cloths to them from India. However according to investigations which were done by BBC, it was discovered that Indian firms that supply cloths to Primark used child labor to finish their goods production (Citadel, 1994).
Child labor is basically illegal all over the world and Primark had to stop making any kind of trade with this firms that used child labor as a business venture. However, by firing this firms Primark had to basically lose a lot, since they had to prove that they had nothing to do with the child labor business. This meant they had to go through multiple law suits for them to prove that they were innocent and had no awareness of anything or how the firms in India used to produce their cloths. Therefore, the information provided by BBC helped Primark know that they were involved in a sub-illegal business with the Indian firms. In their defense, Primark said that, sub-contractors may have to work at home and this might be the main reason as to why child labor was involved since we find children at home and their parents or guardians may end up getting them involved in the production business. Primark which is owned by Associated British Food said that they actually did take that matter seriously and would make sure that they never let anything like that happen again. After this, many consumers came forth and demanded that, companies should produce goods in an ethical way, therefore turning the spotlight on working conditions and worker wages (Oxford 1983).
In this case, Primark had nothing to fear since they were innocent and their innocent actually helped them in retaining their customers and actually creating a good name for them. The other reason why Primark never collapsed is because they had already made their brand strong and they had never had any ethical issues before. However, Primark being concerned about its consumer concerns about ethical issues and standards in retail industries, they collaborated with various companies who supplied them with cloths and gave out public details of their legit suppliers.
Therefore on dealing with this situation Primark, had to make several changes on their way of doing business with the supply firms. First, they came out and said that they do not support child labor enforcement in any manufacturing chain and that it should be prohibited. Second, they also said that they will stop doing business with suppliers who act suspicious or who are guilty of any certain transgressions and also those who are unwilling to make necessary changes on how their employment practices are managed. Third, Primark and other leading European and US retailers came together and ensured that workers in the supply chain, mostly in labor intensive markets such as China and India are not exploited and that they earn according to the work they do and not to be under paid or being used as slaves.
International work trade is not as easy as it seems, since it involves working with people you will never meet personally and all that you have to do is trust them in either way. Since technology has created all possibilities in doing business most of this companies just have to go on social media sites or even open their own website and with that, a person from the other end of the world can instantly get their products. In my opinion about Primarkâ€&t...