Avon incorporation is one of the leading door-to-door distributors of cosmetics. After a long period of successive trading in China, the internal audit of the subsidiary company indicated some form of misappropriation. This was attributed to management disregard to ethical management in financial decisions. The company, which engaged in direct sales of cosmetic products, exposed the malpractices of foreign officials. Although China prohibited the direct sale of products in the period prior to 2006, it allowed Avon to begin the direct sales on a limited basis. After February 2006, the act underwent amendment, which allowed for direct sales, but on strict regulations. As a result, it opened up the market for Avon. These subsequent events of the company lack of emphasis on ethical values led to the vulnerability of the company to employee malpractices. After the company realized the poor performance of its subsidiary in China, which was followed by Continue reading
Business Ethics
Business ethics (also known as corporate ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and business organizations as a whole. Business ethics can be both a normative and a descriptive discipline. As a corporate practice and a career specialization, the field is primarily normative. In academia descriptive approaches are also taken. The range and quantity of business ethical issues reflects the degree to which business is perceived to be at odds with non-economic social values.
Difference Between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Creating Shared Value (CSV)
Corporate social responsibility is a deliberate action taken by investors to ensure they participate in activities that promote positive development in the community around them. It involves the establishment of programmes that ensure a business pays back to the society through participation in community activities. This may include constructing schools, establishing sponsorship programmes, easing the implementation of environmental conservation policies and empowering local communities to safeguard their future. Creating a shared value involves the implementation of policies that ensure businesses get quality raw materials and offer awareness and education programmes to their suppliers to help them get better rewards for their participation in promoting businesses. CSR and CSV help organisations to create a good public image and avoid conflicts with local communities and authorities. Differences between Creating Shared Values and Corporate Social Responsibility CSV differs with CSR in the following ways. First, CSV focuses on improving the value of products Continue reading
Corporate Governance Models – Anglo-American Model and European Model
Corporate governance comes into play in cases where the management of the organization has to be carried out by a manager or a group of managers who are not the owners of the organization. In essence, corporate governance is implemented by a business’ financers in order to monitor and regulate the organization’s utilization of its investments. In this case, the individuals hired to manage the business are paid employees and are responsible for the effective execution of the organization’s processes. As a result of this arrangement, it is only natural for a separation to exist between the ownership of the organization and the management of the organization. While this may appear to be a simple concept, modern-day business models have allowed corporate governance models to develop rapidly over the last few years and this has led to the development of different corporate governance models. The implementation of these corporate governance Continue reading
Blending Spiritual Values with Business
The root for value is valor, which means strength. Values are sources of strength because they give people the power to take action. Values are deep and emotional and often difficult to change. Values are the essence of any organization and philosophy for achieving success. Values provide employees with a sense of common direction and guidelines for day to day behavior. The first step in creating an atmosphere of common commitment is to invite the hearts and minds of employees to join the purpose of the organization. Shared missions, values and vision bring people together. They unite and provide the link between diverse people and activities. People who share values or vision are more likely to take responsibility; they are more likely to challenge the limits of convention. Values provide guidance. Spiritual value is a way of expressing more humanity and recognizes each persons own beliefs. Traditional ways of achieving Continue reading
Why Integrity, Ethics and Core Values are Necessary in Business?
Today’s business environment faces many problems such as exploitation of resources, fraud, unfair trade practices etc. The basic reasons behind these problems are lack of integrity, ethics and core values in business. Integrity, ethics and core values helps to protect the interest of all stake holders, increase the goodwill of the company, earn more profit and minimize the regulations. So integrity, ethics and core values are essential for the survival of a company. So every organisation should have these qualities. This will bring many advantages to the organisations and will help to increase the trust of society and government in the company. Integrity Integrity is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one’s actions. Integrity can be regarded as the opposite of hypocrisy, in that it regards internal consistency as a Continue reading
Aligning Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
History tells us that ethics generate trust. But before anything else, ethics create a reputation, which in turn develops the elements of trust between people. The thrust of intensive ethical attention in business is brought about by the growing power of consumers towards businesses. Gone are the days when they would just buy products based on what it offers because now they would likely care about the brand’s practices. Consider the impact of Nike’s marred reputation on its economic activities when unethical workplace environments and practices were made public. The company was quick to decide on what it should do to the situation, which is to gain public trust again through public showmanship of ethical efforts. Although ethical choices are unavoidable and ethics is inescapable even in business, the intensity of such phenomenon has increased due to the growing concern on the collective impact of a business’ unethical action. The Continue reading