Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility Essay - 1

Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility - Essay Example It is therefore no surprise that generations of corporate managers have grown up believing that business ethics consists merely of complying with civil and criminal law and not doing anything that would damage the reputation of the company or its products (Feiser, 2007). Goran Svensson and Greg Wood in their publication â€Å"A Model of Business Ethics† suggested that there is the need to define a new model of business ethics that needs to encompass not just the internal stakeholders but also the external stakeholders. This includes the society at large. They suggested that the society has expectations of each company, it has perceptions and it evaluates each company against those expectations and perceptions. They also pointed that these standards will be continually reviewed and modified and corporate managers have to measure up to these changes (Svensson & Wood, 2008). The trend for companies to measure up to society’s standards of ethics has been further enhanced by the emergence of large institutional investors as significant players in the capital markets from the early 1970s. These large investors have sparked the trend to what is termed Socially Responsible Investment where these large funds would only invest in companies that set â€Å"acceptable† standards of business ethics. ... This trend has strengthened after the 2008 global financial crisis with investors seeking much higher standards of corporate behaviour than had been acceptable in the past. Ethical corporate behaviour is now enforced by the power of the media scrutiny that can force change. A good recent example is Starbucks in the UK being forced to pay additional tax after social boycott of their outlets following media reports of their tax avoidance practices (Hurley, 2012). The access to the internet and the social media by employees, suppliers and other stakeholders of large corporations also makes sure that ethical business practices are not merely professed but also practiced. In recent times, most public corporations have adopted the practice of publicizing their business ethics and corporate social responsibility projects voluntarily to build up the image of their companies in the media and amongst the investor communities. Various organizations have come up to rank companies on their busine ss ethics and these awards are eagerly sought after. 2. The application of business ethics practices at Anglo-American and Primark 2.1 Anglo – American Anglo American is one of the world’s largest mining companies with revenues of ? 22 billion and profits of ? 8 billion (Anglo-American, 2012). Though it has mining operations all around the world, in countries such as Canada, Australia Brazil and Chile, 76% of its employees live and work on the African continent. The mining industry has some major challenges with respect to business ethics and sustainable development. A 2010 survey of stakeholders conducted by the International Council on Mining & Metals listed some of these issues.

Strategic management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Strategic management - Essay Example This paper shall analyze this article in terms of its structure, content accuracy and noteworthiness. Ty McMahan begins by highlighting the turning point towards the enhanced implementation of strategic management in the firm that came with the appointment of Michael Skarzynski as King Pin at Arbitron earlier this year. The content of the article finds its root in a rather vague introduction to the subject; one that can very easily be perceived differently by different readers. It proceeds to elaborate upon the numerous ventures that Arbitron chose to take a go at in light of the improved strategic management of its investment funds and the eventual outcomes to which they led. The article is quite accurate as Ty McMahan notes that not only is a higher degree of investment a part of this improved strategic management policy but also the acquisition of companies that could assist Arbitron in doing so. However, even though the author has highlighted how the redefinition of the implementation of strategic management in the firm has allowed it to bring about a higher and more accurate read out on the return on investment made towards marketing through television advertisements, there is a certain degree of noteworthiness that the article could do with since the author has spent most of the time merely f orwarding the opinions that have been expressed by other experts in the field rather than coming to a conclusion by himself in the end. However, the content of the article is a success in the fact that we can surmise from it that strategic management is an element that firm’s exercise in particular in matters where the firm’s center of stability is concerned. It is used as an instrument to ensure that no decision or measure is taken without keeping the long term consequences in perspective. McMahan, Ty. Arbitron, Looking To Make Strategic Investments, Takes Page