Corporate Ethics

Through globalization many companies have found the opportunity to source their goods and services from all over the world, reducing their supply costs, through relocation to areas offering cheap labor and materials. At the same time, customers are more aware of the impact that the production of those goods has on their lives. People have more money and are more discerning when it comes to how much they spend and who they make their purchases from, while considering the social environment in which these products are produced and transported. (Thoughts On Ethics, 2010). Few are comfortable with the fact that poor and/or oppressed people may have produced the pair of designer jeans they are wearing.

Ethics, including business ethics, is the questioning of the rightness or wrongness of our actions in certain situations, as well as whether actions are good or bad, or whether they will bring good or bring harm. Business ethics is not a new concept but in recent years it has increasingly come to the forefront, in light of the fall of such companies as Enron, WorldCom, Arthur Andersen, and others, due to their participation in unethical behavior. There is an increased focus on supply chain ethics and corporate social responsibility and this paper briefly discusses some aspects of this in a supply chain context.

There are several pacts that have been created that attempt to promote principles regulating the activities of governments, groups, and individuals. There are a few that are paramount, and when their codes are combined, they provide an outline for global corporate ethics that spans many cultures. Together the principles listed within these doctrines provide a set of guidelines on corporate behavior. They include the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the European Convention on Human Rights (1950), the Helsinki Final Act (1975), the International Labor Office Tripartite Declaration of Principles Concerning the Multinational Enterprises and...