Thomas Friedman observed that no two nations with a McDonald's franchise had ever gone to war with one another. Developing nations do not want to risk the loss of multi-national companies who venture into their markets and include them in their global supply chain. Although there are no givens and war is still possible, but economic globalization acts as a powerful preventive. Although this theory seems as such a foolproof concept there is still an issue at hand concerning who manufactures the products in the middle of the chain of supply. Workers are forced to work long hours under horrible conditions for nearly nothing. They live in cramped 3-bedroom hostels with twenty other people. With all these conditions that the workers have to endure, it causes one to ask, does having a spot in the supply chain really compare to the importance of life. The ethical dilemma arises concerning what is right and wrong. The perks of being part of a supply chain do not amount to the benefits of being treated as a human being with rights. It is not right but seems like the only option that feels right for those that are part of the supply chain.
Apple is an American multi-national corporation, which specialties include designing, developing and selling consumer electronics. Foxconn is a multi-national manufacturing company, also one of Apple’s largest suppliers. Foxconn has recently been put under a lot of scrutiny concerning the way its workers are treated in their factories, especially the one in China. China has become a hot spot for employing cheap labor. Foreign companies from around the world, especially America, has profited extraordinarily from expending the low-cost costs from China and the enormous amount of labor force it uses. Natura...
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...l in anything that is done in life, things have to be done fairly, and The Golden Rule needs to be applied to everyone.
With all of the war and conflict going on in the world, finding a way to resolve it is the dream. The moment a way to prevent these conflicts arises, the best thing to do is take it. Though there are many benefits that come with the Theory of Conflict Prevention, the benefits do not outweigh the consequences felt at the end. These consequences may not affect the countries involved in the supply chain, but it will affect others. In brief I believe that perks of being part of a supply chain does not amount to the benefits of being treated as a human being with rights. If the countries apart of the supply chain would realize that their action affect others in a negative way, then change will come, and the theory of Conflict Prevention will be amended.
In today’s world, increasing big companies open factories in developing countries but many people said it is unethical and the factories are sweatshops. Most of the sweatshops were opened in east Asia and third-world countries and regions. The companies open the sweatshops in order to get more benefits is a kind of very irresponsible behavior. For example, Apple's factories in China are not good and unethical. Audit finds
With the continued rise of consumer "needs" in "industrial" countries such as the United States, and the consistently high price that corporations must pay to produce goods in these countries, companies are looking to "increase (their) profits by driving down costs any way possible... To minimize costs, companies look for places with the lowest wages and human rights protections" (Dosomething). Countries with lax or unenforced labor laws grant multinational corporations the leeway to use cheap foreign labor to mass-produce their commodities so that they can be sold in countries like America. These inexpensive, sometimes borderline illegal, establishments are known as sweatshops. In his book Timmerman discusses the topic of sweatshops in great detail. Originally in search of "where (his) T-shirt was made(;) (Timmerman) (went) to visit the factory where it was made and (met) the people who made (it)" (Timmerman5).
In China, Kelsey Timmerman spent time with a couple who worked at the Teva factory, traveled to the countryside to meet the couple’s son, insert name, who hasn’t seen his parents in three years due to his parents working long hours and it being expensive to take a train ride. In the US, the author visited one of a few clothing factories in the US to talk to the workers about his shorts, and the decrease of American garment factories. Timmerman wants the consumer to be more engaged and more thoughtful when mindlessly buying clothes. By researching how well the brands you want to buy from monitor their factories and what their code of ethics details, you can make a sound decision on if this is where you would want to buy your clothes. The author writes about brands that improve employers lives like SoleRebels, a shoe company who employs workers and gives them health insurance, school funds for their children, and six months of maternity leave. Brands like soleRebels that give workers benefits most factory workers have never even heard of help improve the lives of garment workers and future generations. From reading this book, Timmerman wants us to be more educated about the lives of garment workers, bridge the gap between consumers and manufacturers, and be a more engaged and mindful consumer when purchasing our
Bob Jeffcott supports the effort of workers of the global supply chains in order to win improved wages and good working conditions and a better quality of life of those who work on sweatshops. He mentions and describes in detail how the conditions of the sweatshops are and how the people working in them are forced to long working hours for little money. He makes the question, “we think we can end sweatshops abuses by just changing our individual buying habits?” referring to we can’t end the abuses that those women have by just stopping of buying their products because those women still have to work those long hours because other people are buying their product for less pay or less money. We can’t control and tell what you can buy or what you can’t because that’s up to the person...
How and why did the personal computer industry come to have such a low profitability?
1. How and why did the personal computer industry come to have such low average profitability?
Speaking about the business model of Dell, it has ability to remain on the higher end of the scale for a particular time period. Dell has business model, which primarily focuses on direct selling line of attack. It in a straight line supplies the PCs to the regulars. It does not believe in intermediary, retailers for the business practices. Undeniably, this gives them an edge to serve customer well. Nevertheless, it understood the importance of retailers and start offering products on the premises of retailers, such as Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and so on. Next, Dell administration is certain of the exclusive business of PCs. As time goes on, however, observing the
Before we start, we would like to briefly introduce the definitions of Supply Chain and Supply Chain Management (SCM).
Dell Computers Strategy Global companies play an important role in the business environment, because they connect their businesses together around the world. A good example of a global company is Dell Inc., an American computer-hardware company, headquartered in Austin Texas, which develops, manufactures, sells and supports a wide range of personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, personal digital assistants (PDAs), software, computer peripherals, and more. They design, build and customize products and services to satisfy a range of customer requirements: from the server, storage and Premier Services needs of the largest global corporations, to those of consumers at home. According to the Fortune 500 2006 list, Dell ranks as the 25th-largest company in the United States by revenue.
Lee, A. (2011, May 6). Inside Foxconn's Factory: Report Exposes Conditions At Apple Manufacturer. Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Retrieved November 7, 2011, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/06/foxconn-factory-conditions_n_858619.html
As the world trends towards a more globalized marketplace, the need for a universal definition of suitable ethical standards and corporate social responsibility is imperative due to the recent upsurge in global welfare issues. If successful, every facet of the business and supply chain would concentrate on not only the maximization of wealth, but the well-being of all stakeholders. However, many multinational corporations (MNCs) are encountering human rights issues resulting from unethical actions from overseas suppliers that conflict with their own code of conduct. These adverse engagements have been shown to cause significant damage and guilt by association to MNCs even though they are not directly overseeing
One major strength is the common ground basis for all to adhere by regardless of one’s religious, ethnic or personnel background. The application of treating others, as one would like to be treated is universal to the human nature regardless of personnel beliefs. It is also simple to use by putting oneself in someone else’s situation and observing it from their viewpoint. However, the “Golden Rule” is from the book Matthew in the bible and not everyone believes in Christianity. This might turn some people away from its application but several other religions have constructed its own version as well due to its universal cause. In addition, it can be easily manipulated to defend one’s immoral conduct by reversing its
First of all globalization has led to exploitation of labor. We can’t ignore the fact that ethical aspects of international business deserve special attention. Corruption and engaging in illegal practice to make greater profit is a source of continuing controversy. Sometimes companies go international and move their production to foreign countries so they could employ workers for long hours, at low wages and in poor working conditions (sweat shops). They are also using child labor, the employment of children to a full time work that can be otherwise done by adults all that so they could get out of their responsibility towards their workers by avoiding paying them national insurance …When these multinational firms go abroad they forget all about principles and about human beings and their rights, according to Kent, J., Kinetz, E. & Whehrfritz, G. (2008/March24). Newsweek. Bottom of the barrel. “The dark side of globalization: a vast work force trapped in conditions that verge on slavery”, David, P. Falling of The Edge, Travels through the Dark Heart of Globalization..Nov 2008. (p62) also agrees with them when he explained his concerns about Chinese and Indians t...
Foxconn has factories in Asia, Europe, Mexico and South America why is it that only China’s Foxoconn was in highlight and not any other country? While the Chinese factories happened to be the largest factories in China, these factories are also facilitated with dormitories and other infrastructure to host the workers and provide workers to go back at end of the 12 hour shift to relax and reenergize for the next shift. A quarter of the employees live in these so called dormitories. My Case study will analyze how the various news sources revealed the global sweatshop to the world and the reactions by the companies who were using Foxconn to manufacture electronic goods. The Chinese newspaper displayed Foxconn employees having social and psychological reasons leading to suicides whereas US news showed it as human rights violation. Both of them did not acknowledge the social justice and world economy aspects and steps that were taken by the electronics giants to rectify the problems that were being faced in Wuhan, China.
19. Sodhi, Sunil Chopra and ManMohan S. Managing Risk to Avoid Supply Chain Breakdown. MITSloan Management Review. [Online] October 15, 2004. [Cited: February 25, 2010.] http://sloanreview.mit.edu/the-magazine/articles/2004/fall/46109/managing-risk-to-avoid-supplychain-breakdown/.