ANSWER THE Business Ethics QUESTIONS BELOW
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12-EnvrironResp.pdf
• 1. INTRODUCTION • 2. FOLLOW-UP ON PROJECTS • 3. RECAP • 4. ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES • 5. HOMEWORK
PLAN FOR TODAY
HOMEWORK
CONSULT THE RESOURCES ON C4
READ CHAPTERS 8-9 OF YOUR TEXTBOOK
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: A) 1- DEFINE EXTENDED PRODUCER
RESPONSIBILITY? 2-WHERE DID IT START AND WHY?
B) EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MANIPULATION AND DECEPTION? PROVIDE
ONE EXAMPLE IN THE MEDIA FOR EACH C) NAME THE 6 PHASES OF A PRODUCT LIFE
CYCLE
RECAP
RESPONSIBILITY FOR PRODUCTS
Responsibility:
‘’ The state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone.
The state or fact of being accountable or to blame for something.’’ Source: Merriam Webster dictionary
Responsibility is usually
determined in 3 ways
1. Cause – Why did it happened? 2. Liability – Who is to blame? 3.Accountability – Who is accountable?
Context
Limited responsibility for businesses
Before 1960s 1960s
Increased responsibility for businesses
1990s
Strict Product Liability
1990s
Extended Producer Responsibility
Strict Product Liability
What is it?
It focus on the performance of the product.
In the absence of fault, who should be responsible for paying the damages?
It assigns the responsibility to the producers.
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
What is it?
It is an approach in which the producer is responsible for its product until the very end of the life of the product.
Extended Producer
Responsibility (EPR)
Product Safety
What is it?
‘’Standards relating to the design and manufacturing of consumer products to ensure they do not represent harm or hazards to consumers.’’
Source: The Business Dictionary online
Product Safety
Many products that we use in our everyday activities contain chemicals that can have serious effect on human health.
i.e. Fuel additives in gas, flame retardants that are added to our couch and our clothes, solvents used for carpets, toys, construction materials, food and beverages containers, cleaners and air fresheners.
ETHICAL MARKETING
Ethical Marketing
The Ethical Framework for Marketing is;
1- Is the exchange voluntary? 2- Is consent informed? 3- Are customers really benefiting from the exchange? 4- Do competing values override?
Ethics and Pricing
On the surface, a fair price is a price that both parties agree upon.
But many situations such as ; price fixing, stressful situations and externalities suggest that the economic model has some limits and that ethical grounds also need to be considered.
Ethics and Advertisement
There are, ethically good and bad ways for influencing customers to buy products.
• Persuading, asking information and advising are means for influencing others that respect them and their autonomy.
• Unfortunately, sometimes marketing uses deceptive and manipulative techniques to sell and advertise.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES
STAKEHOLDERS MODEL
WHY ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES?
The many market failures, suggest that businesses have responsibilities towards the environment;
1. Externalities are created by economic exchanges 2. Public goods have no price on the market 3. Individual interests vs Social consequences
1. Externalities are created by economic exchanges
An externality is a consequence of an economic activity experienced by unrelated third parties; it can be either positive or negative.
i.e. Pollution emitted by a factory that spoils the surrounding environment and affects the health of nearby residents is an example of a negative externality.
Source: Investopedia
1. Externalities are created by economic exchanges
The costs of things such as greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, groundwater contamination, soil erosion and nuclear waste are typically borne by external parties to the economic exchange;
• Government • Society • People downwind or downstream • Neighbors • Future generations
EXTERNALITIES - EXPLAINED
2. Public goods have no price on the market
The value of important public goods such as ; stable climate, clean air and water, ocean fisheries and scenic vistas do not have established market prices.
Their value is not recognized in the actual market exchanges.
2. Public goods have no price on the market
Because their value is not reflected in the traditional economic model, the market fails to protect and preserve these public goods.
3. Individual Interests vs Social Consequences
Important ethical and policy questions need to be addressed when it comes to individual interests, the social consequences of individual decisions and the common good.
Because what is good or in line with the interest of one individual is not necessary what is good for a society.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES – THE CONTEXT
Context
Limited responsibility for businesses
Before 1970s
Context
Limited responsibility for businesses
Before 1970s 1970s
Adoption of the first environmental regulations
Context
Limited responsibility for businesses
Before 1970s 1970s 2000s
Customers demanding for environmentally friendly products
Adoption of the first environmental regulations
Context
Limited responsibility for businesses
Before 1970s 1970s 2000s
Customers demanding for environmentally friendly products
2000s+
Sustainable business
Adoption of the first environmental regulations
How can business be environmentally responsible?
THINK-PAIR-SHARE
1. Business can start internally, by looking at its consumption of energy, water, carbon emissions and its production of waste
1. Business can start internally - EXPLAINED
2. Business can offer products that are designed to respect the environment, the customers and the employees.
i.e. Organic, Eco-friendly, Local, FairTrade
ECO-FRIENDLY PRODUCT
ECO-FRIENDLY PRODUCT
Eco-friendly products means that they do not harm the environment.
The ingredients they contain will not contaminate of pollute the waterways, the air or the overall health and safety of individuals
LOCAL PRODUCTS
Local products refers to products that are manufacture or grown within a certain area and a short distance away from the distributors and the customers
ORGANIC PRODUCTS
FAIR TRADE PRODUCTS
FAIRTRADE- EXPLAINED
3. Business can also commit through their supply chain
By ensuring that they do business with suppliers that provide eco-friendly products
Creating a ripple effect throughout the business community
3. Business can also commit through their supply chain - EXPLAINED
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
There are biological, physical and ethical limits to growth, many of which we are approaching if not overshooting.
Significant changes to our understanding of economic activity and the way we do business are needed.
If we want to meet some of the basic ethical and environmental obligations.
The last couple of hundred years have seen an incredible rise in the world’s average standard of living. This increase in living standards is a result of an unprecedented level of economic growth.
i.e. Higher life expectancy and decreases in mortality rates from disease and malnutrition.
Source: Investopedia
Yet that economic growth has also been accompanied by massive consumption of the Earth’s natural resources and environmental degradation.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The neoclassical economic model will inevitably fail to meet these challenges unless it recognizes that the economy is but a subsystem within Earth’s biosphere.
And that economic activities take place within this biosphere and cannot expand beyond Earth’s capacity and within its capacity to sustain life.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Sustainable development proposes an economic development that is conducted without depletion of natural resources.
Source: Oxford dictionary
CONCLUSION
• Businesses have responsibilities towards their stakeholders and one of them is the natural environment in which they operate.
• Customers put pressures on businesses to provide environmentally products ( Organic, Fairtrade, Local, etc.)
• Sustainable businesses are looking at alternative ways to grow economically without harming the environment.
HOMEWORK REVIEW ALL THE RESOURCES ON C4
READ CHAPTER 10 OF YOUR TEXTBOOK
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
A) HOW CAN BUSINESSES BE ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE? NAME AND EXPLAIN 3 EXAMPLES TO
SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER.
B) DEFINE ORGANIC PRODUCTS. PROVIDE ONE EXAMPLE.
C) DEFINE FAIR TRADE PRODUCTS. PROVIDE ONE EXAMPLE
D) DEFINE ECO-FRIENDLY PRODUCTS. PROVIDE ONE EXAMPLE
E) DEFINE THESE WORDS:
1) EXTERNALITIES
2) PUBLIC GOOD
3) SUPPLY CHAIN
