Journal #2 Corporate Social Responsibility Weeks 4-6

Corporate Social Responsibility

Lacey Robertson

Journal #2

Summary and thoughts:

In week four we finished watching the documentary “The Corporation” and learned about exploitation and externalities. In the documentary “The Corporation” it said that they sell directly to children to advertise products. They hire professional to analyse data about children to know how to manipulate their target audience. I remember that the most because I think its horrible that they exploit children and just say if it works then I’m doing my job. I don’t think that’s ethical in any way. Another thing we learn about was privatization of water. I looked into the subject and found about that some states in the United States privatize water. I never buy bottled water because I don’t believe we should pay for something that is a necessity of life but there’s places that cant even collect rain water. I feel there are more bad externalities then good because the effects from the bad externalities are more easily recognized.

In week five Les said, “ When decisions are hard to make it’s because you cant easily choose the thing that matters most to you.” I think this statement sums up making ethical decisions because we never really know what believe to be ethical until we have to make a decision that goes against what you believe. We learned about corporate social responsibility practices and the argument for and against them. If every business followed the three pillars of CSR (Sustainability, Corporate Philanthropy, and Stakeholder Management Model) they wouldn’t look like monsters and have the trust of the government and consumers. I think when Milton Freeman said there is a lack of expertise that he was extremely right and should have regulations to help that. I also think the government should punish business for bad ethical behaviour. It’s so sad that work that used to pay enough money for people to live on is now in a different country to save the business money.

In week six we learned about sustainability in lecture and how sustainable of a person we are. In lecture we were told a story about Easter Island and since I have never been told this story before I was blown away. I am horrified about what will happen to the earth if we don’t become sustainable soon because I do believe that Easter Island is a prime example of what will happen to humanity. It made me realize that I’m not a sustainable person and I am now trying to change. I am not only informing others and myself now but also implementing those actions. I think business will change for the better because of people like me. We have to pay more taxes in order to implement action plan’s to help clean the earth that people wouldn’t care if they were properly informed and I do think it’s a good investment. My biological footprint is so big that it would take 3.8 worlds to sustain people if everyone where like me. To support my lifestyle it would take 8 global hectors. To reduce my lifestyle I will reduce the amount of time and distance that I travel, use less energy, eat less animal products, and walk to local destinations instead. One thing we talked about that I thought was crazy was that there is an argument against recycling. I never thought about recycling being bad but It does make sense that it is as good as it is bad. All the emissions going into the air and time spent when really we shouldn’t be making so much packaging.

Questions and Opinions:

If grocery stores and gas stations closed tomorrow, would you be able to survive?

I would like to say yes but I am very depended on businesses. I love to buy cool things and go home too use them once and forget about it. For the first year or so of the stores closing I would struggle until I was able to harvest vegetables. I would be very hungry and the taking the adjustments in at first but I’m good with change so I think I could adapt.

What is the basis upon which people should receive rewards? Equality, ability, merit, or need?

I believe everyway is a good way to reward someone but there are negativities to each of the ways. If people were rewarded equality then the people who work really hard will feel like they worked for nothing. If you rewarded people by merit then the people who couldn’t do it or were good at other things then they wouldn’t get rewarded at all. If you rewarded people by need then the people who strived to do the best will feel unrewarded. I think the best reward system is ability because if people try there hardest they will do there best. I think everyone can achieve this and its fair and justifiable.

Do you want everything to be owned (privatized) or regulated?

I think that something’s, not everything, should have strict regulations. I think this because there will always be someone with bad motives and the strict regulations would deter him or her.

Is CSR a meaningful new force or a misguided redirection of profits?

I believe CSR is very important to every business even to people them selves. It helps give meaning to regulations that help being sustainable. Because businesses/corporations have such a huge impact of society it is there responsibility to ensure that they aren’t negatively effecting there stakeholders, shareholders, and consumers. The global scan website is a great example and proof of how CSR is actually something that consumers and investors care about and impact their buying decisions.

Does it matter if the company is doing it to make money or to make a difference?

No as long as the company is actually making the difference and being honest about what there doing or what they did; then it doesn’t matter. The more sustainable they are, the more profits; I think that’s fair for both parties.

What is business evolving too?

I believe the business world is changing because its stakeholders and consumers are changing their needs. It is becoming a trend to be environmentally friendly and buy recycled products. It is now a need to become more sustainable and find new technologies to help increase the amount of time the earth has until it can no longer sustain humans. I know for myself its important because I am always looking for new things and when I buy something its usually just because the business has made an effort to be sustainable. Just the other day I bought head phones that were recycled I could have chosen the most trending brand of headphones but I chose those one just because they’re good to the environment in someway. I believe this era goes out of their way to inform themselves and with new technologies its easier and easier. I don’t believe people will turn their heads to child slavery or any other horrific business practice anymore because people have much more power now and we can make a difference. Through the Internet, especial social media sites, we reach out to so many people at once and share the message to at least have awareness about the issue.

Definitions:

Privatization: To remove from government control and place it in private control or ownership. To make private: to change from public to private control or ownership.

Despotism: rule by a ruler who has total power and who often uses that power in cruel and unfair ways.

Merit: a good quality or feature that deserves to be praised; being good, important, or useful.

Externalities: are defined as third party effect arising from the production and/or consumption of goods and services for which no appropriate compensation is paid. It can either be positive or negative.

Sustainable Development: The World Commission for Environment and Development defines it by it “meets present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” (WECD, 1987)

Links provided in class:

·       Documentary “The Corporation”- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4ou9rOssPg

·       Norway’s Oil/gas policy/ natural engery- http://credbc.ca/norways-oil-gas-policy/

·       Canadian Ethical Mutual Funds Providers- http://resps.org/emfcdnlist.htm

·       Survey on CSR trends-  www.globescan.com

·       Dow Jones Sustainability index- http://www.sustainability-indices.com

·       Issues and trends shaping our environment, health and economy- http://www.sustreport.org/



·       Sustainably flooring company- http://www.interfacesustainability.com/



·       Centre for Sustainability and the Global Environment- http://www.sage.wisc.edu/



·       Sustainable Development- http://www.sustainablemeasures.com/Sustainability/

·       Find your Biological footprint-http://footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/calculators/

Reference:

·       Desire to learn.

https://fleming.desire2learn.com/d2l/le/content/34799/viewContent/396351/View

·       Merit Definition. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/merit

·       Despotism Definition. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/despotism

·       Privation Definition. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/privatization

Made in Bangladesh

A Documentary about Corporations exploiting under developed countries for cheap labour costs 

I made this report for my class Corporate Responsibility about the documentary Made In Bangladesh.

Documentary Information

This documentary was made by Fault Lines and was released August 20^th 2013 in America. It was created by a man named Al Jazeera and was presented by Josh Rushing, Zeina Awad, and Sebastian Walker.The second video I watched was called the same thing but The Fifth Estate produced it. It had a bit of additional information but it was mostly the same information as the first documentary.

Video Summary

Made in Bangladesh documents clothing corporations choosing to have factories in Bangladesh make their clothing. Corporations do this for the cheap labor costs that Bangladesh has. Corporations like Lulu Lemon, Nike, Joe Fresh, GAP, H&M, Wal-Mart, George and Loblaw’s all have there clothing made in factories in Bangladesh.

On April 24^th 2012 one of the deadliest factory fires happened in the Rena Plaza and when they examined the damages they found clothing from Wal-Mart. 1100 people died during the fire and hundreds more were injured. The windows had bars on them and all the doors were locked so people jumped three levels out of the windows to save themselves. The factory had levels built on to it that weren’t safe to keep up with the demands from Wal-Mart; Wal-Marts only policy was ship it on time and they didn’t care how. The day before the clasp cracks were seen in walls and an evacuation happened because of a fire. Later on the factory workers were forced back to work and the people who worked in the businesses below and managers didn’t go back into the building. The owners and Wal-Mart knew that they were more then double the capacity but they continued to make the people work.

In the documentary people were coming up to the reporters to share their stories about what happened to them. The workers that were interviewed lost their limbs, are now paralyzed, or lost someone close to them and can no longer work to feed their family. The people who work there make about 30 dollars a month and work twelve hours or more a day. Some of the workers are as young as 9 years old in “finishing houses” sewing on buttons. One person said that when they heard the fire alarms they got up but the managers yelled at them “You son of a whore, sit down and get back to work!” Some one else told the reporters the managers weren’t going to allow the workers out of the building when there was a fire. Another person who was just a young girl had to work in the factory to look after her sick mother; had lost their leg during the collapse and can no longer work. Her family depends on her because she is the only one able to work but no one will hire her now. Most of the people in the collapse vowed to never work in a factory again. People who work in apparel factories are afraid to go to work because people die every day in factory fires and collapses. They know it’s not safe but they don’t have any choice and sometimes the mangers will threaten to take away their pay if they don’t come in. During the interview the faces of the workers were blocked for there protect; if there work found out they would be fired.

Wal-Mart accepts no responsibility for what happened. The workers have received no compensation and a lot of them are unable to work anymore to support their families. They demand the supplier to cut costs so the factory lowers its regulations; safety measures and pays the employees less to meet Wal-Marts demands. They try to distance themselves from the suppliers by adding third or fourth parties to represent them so they don’t directly get blamed for sub-contracting with bad suppliers. Wal-Mart claims they are “unauthorized” sub-contractors but Wal-Mart is the one telling them get it done no matter the case. Wal-Mart barely even knows where their products are being made or how; all they know is that they arrive on time. They like it like this so they can’t be liable and risk their image and reputation because they choose not to know what’s happening. Wal-Mart requires that all there suppliers implement Wal-Mart’s Policy but they never inspected workers or buildings for safety measures. One million dollars was promised for inspections and safety programs but nothing ever happened. Wal-Mart openly employ’s factories that hire children even though they are against child labor. There were records that showed items made from a factory that was on Wal-Mart’s banned list. Another incident like that happened where a factory on the banned listed closed down and reopened with a new name and continued its business with Wal-Mart. Even after the Rena Plaza collapse the products that were being made there still were sold in stores. Wal-Mart refused to pay for the products as well. When the reporters asked the business why they simply just didn’t turn down the business they said they couldn’t. Most of the businesses are struggling to meet their obligations as it is because of the intense competition and many factories. They have to sub-contract in order to meet the demands of Wal-Mart because if they don’t they will lose them entirely as a customer.

Personal Opinions And Thoughts

I am astonished by the amount of corporations that have factories in Bangladesh. One of the things I was I most surprised about was Wal-Mart. It’s upsetting to see the young children working in such places to be able to look after a family at that young age. I can understand that without those jobs they may be worse off but with them they aren’t getting any further ahead. Then the factory will shut down because the wages go up and another one will quickly take its place “saving the day” for a penny more. It’s horrendous to see corporations like Wal-Mart who are supposed to be against child labor and say that they are sustainable but do the complete opposite.

Another thing I was amazed about was that on average people in the garment industry make about eighteen cents an hour and that the garment industry is eighty percent of Bangladesh’s exports; its one of the largest. How in the world could you possibly be able to survive on that little of pay? In the second video I watched that there was a Factory from Toronto that moved its location to Bangladesh. It pays its workers more then the minimum wage there. The factory pays twenty-four cents an hour, which isn’t much but its more then the minimum wage. The owner also has safety measures and policies in place; the workers are actually safe. I think that more business should start being like that.

This impacts me deeply because I am model and sometimes have to wear products by corporations I don’t choose. From now on I will try to avoid those corporation’s and warn people about where they are choosing to buy. I believe being aware of what’s happening is the first step to change so I have even shared this documentary on Facebook and my Blog. This problem is an open secret and I believe something should be said. If the people do say something the businesses image will be at risk and they will possibly change so they don’t lose profits. I feel like I have to really do research now to ensure that companies are not manipulating me.

This applies to Corporate Social Responsibility because the corporations that make their garments in Bangladesh are exploiting them for their low labor costs. They are also not taking responsibility or compensating for their actions. They are not fair about labor practices and are greedy about profits. The corporations have bad motives and intentions making them have a bad nature. They do anything they can to avoid liability and risk to their reputations by avoiding the problems and pretending like they didn’t know. Their misdirection has a negative impact on the companies.

Bibliography

·      Jazeera, Al. Fault Lines. Made In Bangladesh. 2015. 12 02 2015 <http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/made-bangladesh/ >.

·      The Fifth Estate. Made In Banladesh. 2015. 12 02 2015 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onD5UOP5z_c>

·      IMDB. Made In Bangladesh. 2012.12.02.2015 <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3890610/>

·      Wikipedia. Fault Lines(Tv) . 2015.02.12

·      <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fault_Lines_(TV_series)>

·      Google. Made in Bangladesh. Image. 2015.02.12 <http://cdn.tdfimg.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/made-bangladesh-95x125.jpg>

·      Google. Made in Bangladesh. Image. 2015.02.13 < http://www.cleanclothes.org/news/press-releases/2013/05/16/global-breakthrough-as-retail-brands-sign-up-to-bangladesh-factory-safety-deal/leadImage>