Social Responsibility

Ethics in Business

• Martha Stewart Charged with insider trading
• Kathie Lee Gifford- sweatshops and child labor laws in the factories that manufactured her clothing
• Nike- Sweatshops
• American Apparel- Selling Sex/Plus Size model hunt
• Target- Missoni Collection

Ethics in Business

• According to a 2007 survey conducted by Junior Achievement and DeLoitte, 41% of teenagers believed they must act unethically in order for them to get ahead.
• In 2007, organizations began devoting large amounts of time and attention to corporate ethics .

Corporate Codes of Conduct

• Many organizations have corporate codes of conduct, which help guide decisions
• The purpose of codes of conduct:
• To increase public confidence- public trust and confidence in business.
• To stem the tide of regulation- government regulation of business has increased.
• To improve internal operations- standards of conduct to ensure that employees were meeting the business objectives of the organization in a legal and ethical manner.
• To respond to transgressions- when a company itself is caught in the web of unethical behavior, it responds with its own code of ethics/conduct.

Corporate Codes of Conduct Continued

• Just as individuals have certain responsibilities as a citizen, so do corporate citizens in the operations to the society they are privileged to operate

Corporate Social Responsibility

• Corporate social responsibility (CSR)- is about how the organization manages the business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society.
• Social responsibility touches nearly every level of organizational activity: marketing, hiring, training, hiring and work standards.

Responsibility to Stakeholders

• Stakeholder: anyone who have interest in or are affected by how an organization conducts itself.
• Owners, stockholders, employees, customers, suppliers, communities.