CSR in a Global Business Environment-Free-Sample for Students

Question: Discuss about the International Sweatshop from a Utilitarian Point of View. Answer: Introduction The report will discuss in detail about the international sweatshop from a utilitarian point of view. There has been a lot of discussion related with the sweatshops which can be defined by different forums like International Labor Rights Forum where a company is able to violet two and sometimes more laws like labor law. These kinds of laws can be associated with concerning remuneration, with working hours and bad working condition with so many disciplinary actions and safety. Employees working in Sweatshop are usually perceived as tortured, beaten and harassed in all sense at every possible occasion (Schlegelmilch, 2016). At the same time, there are arguments which says that sweatshop do violate laws which bring more advantages than any other kind of harm in long run. On the other hand, it is also being argued that the sweatshops must be immediately abolished because of the usage of bad working conditions. International sweatshops from an act utilitarian point of view The theory of Utilitarianism was founded by John Stuart Mill and the theory is developed on the basis of a principle of Greatest Happiness Principle, which is based on the rightness of any kind of action taken with right amount of happiness which can further be promoted among people. It is important to understand here that the more happiness any kind of action produces better is the situation and vice-a-versa. The principle of utilitarianism also says that the usage of sweatshops will be looked as bad or negative thing (Schlegelmilch, 2016). As discussed before, the concept of utilitarianism is primarily based on the amount of happiness that any action is able to promote. In taking right decisions, an individual want to pick several alternatives that can help in promoting the maximum happiness with less pain and solutions. This principle thus depends mainly on quantities because the basis is on the amount of pain as well as pleasure. At the same time, quality plays an important role and is also taken as some type of pleasure which makes it desirable further as well as valuable than any other. It is also true that people who have more requirements have to promote the concept of happiness more and vice-a-versa (Ballet et al, 2014). The greatest happiness principle also based on how right an action can be and how great can be solution of any kind of action and the amount of pleasure taken from the results. In case of sweatshops, the pain usually overpowers the happiness and pleasure. If perspective of a businessman is taken, while using the concept of sweatshops, there are lots of pleasures because of this. Greater profits can be gained in order to have a cheaper cost for which highly paid labor was utilized. Here money is taken as a main source of happiness (Schumacher et al, 2015). In the present case, the workforce must also face so many challenges along with sufferings. The labor also suffers because people can earn little amount of money to work for long time period in bad situations for working. The overall payment earned is never sufficient and not sufficient for supporting the families on salaries which also keep them surviving in long term. It is vital to gain more clarity about the lot of amount based on suffering to sweatshop workforce and it is also greater them profit earned for the business gain for using them because sweatshops never really follows the principles especially principle of Happiness (Allhoff et al, 2016). This is why, utilitarian concept normally agrees with the fact that use of sweatshop is not ideal thing and therefore, the amount of pain cause is much more than the profits. Effect on foreign workers When there is a rise in the level of international trade then there is lift in millions of people out from bad situations like poverty and bad working conditions. As per World Bank, the overall population which is living under the poverty line is actually defined as an income group people that are equal to one US dollar every day or even lesser. The level of poverty has fallen in the quicker manner in different areas of the world especially for those countries that have globalized in the rapid manner like China. On the other hand poverty level has increased in those areas that are far from globalization specifically some region in Africa. Factors like openness for trade and development brings as well as also exerts a positive kind of influence on the overall welfare of children in some developing countries by decreasing the rate of child labor . The global or international labor communities can be reported that there are number of people like children in the workforce rather than in school all across the world that has been dropped by eleven percent approximately. Going global or concept of globalization is an important factor for making positive kind of trend in child labor. Since the overall incomes rises in number of developing nation, specifically where wages are paid to females members with few families faces the economic significance of sending the children out to work. The studies also confirm that participation from labor forces by children age of 10 to 14 is declining with rise in GNP per capita. There is majority of child labor which is toiling in number of developing and under developed countries work in sectors which is far removed from international economy (Everett et al, 2017). There is usually more than eighty percent of work which goes without pay and normally for those parents or families living in bad conditions or under the poverty line. Most of the other labor work for so many small scale local businesses which are typically for the non-tra ded services like shining of the shoes, delivery of newspaper and other kind of local or domestic services. In places like Australia and New Zealand, trade based liberalization and other kind of reforms in past twenty years have spurred not just on development in level of income and it can also be measurable the progress on social level. The World Bank also says that the rate of literacy for people working especially under the age of 15 have risen since 1980 (DesJardins McCall, 2014). Consequences of cheaper price and lost jobs for people in Australia and New Zealand There is constant debate on the long term benefits and its impact of it on the society. It has constantly being argued that concept of sweatshop should completely be diminished or removed since it is an outcome of impoverishment of number of country employees. It has been justified a lot of times that countries are part of bidding war by decreasing the minimum standard for wages to attract more and more international investment since high remuneration will restrict the overall growth. The employees or workers are also quite unaware of the real wage standard in global market and are also constantly experiencing false level of consciousness. As per number of researches at the time of privatization in growth nations, the countrys total inflow for FDI rose from twenty six percent to thirty seven percent during 90s (Carson, 2013). The outcomes in the present decline in living standards for workers since the interest is not properly protected as the minimum amount of wage is further reduce d to rise with FDI. Also people who oppose sweatshops are also some of the reason that sweatshops are actually contributing in increasing the gap that exist between the rice and the poor as well as among the countries. In the global context, many developed countries like Australia and New Zealand get a better amount of trade off because of rise in profit as compared to many host nations. As an outcome, this kind of gap exists between the poor as well as the rich countries are also increasing with time. Moreover, any kind of connection or alliances that exist between the elites of many developing nations and multinationals will finally lead to so many countries wealth which is collected in the hand of some people and companies. Rise in FDI in developing countries usually results in rise in the nations GDP. At the same time, there are some people that will earn more or higher power for purchasing and it exist in the hand of few people. Rise in overall consumption will finally lead to rise in the price and it further caused good and services way less affordable for the poor over a period of time (Langlois, 2014). Concept of corporate social responsibility in global business environment The concept of corporate social responsibility can be defined with the help of number of interest groups, companies and many academic scholars in so many manners. However, there is no kind of universally accepted concept of corporate social responsibility in the current literature. The concept that helps in understanding the concept is actually provided by World Business Council of Sustainable Development. The concept is defined the concept as the counting of the number of commitment by organization in order to be a part of economic growth and at the same time also improving the overall quality of the workforce and their life and society at large (Thomas, 2017). Anybody can easily break down the elements of CSR into two segments that have been considered time and again. These factors aim on the internal culture of the company which consists of concepts like treatment of minorities and women, relationship with employees and advancement based potential. These factors also aim on the ex ternal environment where concepts like environment friendly practices, external opinions associated with quality and perception of workforce compensation because of marketplace and various associated comparisons. In addition, there are three angles or dimensions to the concept of CSR as well that are economic, ethical and legal accountability (Singer, 2013). Conclusion There are some scandals like Nike and many other that tend to pay the workers more than local companies in the Third World culture. There are critics of the concept of Sweatshops that constantly maintain that since the subcontractors can make products for MNCs, calculating the wages of such firms does not address the complaints of the critics which is completely against the sweatshop. It is also important to address the overall deficiency in the present literature by constantly comparing the apparel or other similar sectors and the wages given by them in nations that are most probably have sweatshops and the wages provided by single company is constantly accused of being a sweatshop to calculate the averages standard of living in such nations (Singer, 2013). The surveys and other kind of data further shows that the workers in such industries are far from being better than most people in the economies. At the same time, the best option present is with data utilized which is actually f ar from the perfect. Biasness is also causing to undermine the earnings which work as a percentage of the current living standard. There are so many data restrictions and single companies are also accused of paying this sweatshop remuneration which can be compared in favorable manner with different kind of standards of living (Singer, 2013). References Allhoff, F., Vaidya, A., Ciulla, J. B., Martin, C. W., Solomon, R. C. (Eds.). (2016). Business in Ethical Focus: An Anthology.Environment,225, 231. Ballet, J., Bhukuth, A., Carimentrand, A. (2014). Child labor and responsible consumers: from boycotts to social labels, illustrated by the Indian hand-knotted carpet industry.Business Society,53(1), 71-104. Carson, T. L. (2013). Free Exchange for Mutual Benefit: Sweatshops and Maitlands Classical Liberal Standard.Journal of business ethics,112(1), 127-135. DesJardins, J. R., McCall, J. J. 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