Топики 2 курс / unethical behaviour

Intro:

Businesses can choose to work in a way that profits only the owners or in ways that benefit the community. Working ethically means acting in ways that are both fair and honest.

Big companies have a lot of power, which it can either use responsibly or selfishly. Many firms operate to meet the needs of owners. Ethical firms also carefully consider the implications of what they are doing and the effect it might have on the community and the environment.

Many owners believe that acting ethically increases costs and so reduces profits. For example, a business can cut costs by hiring child labour at very low wages in developing countries. Paying below average wages lowers the firm's total costs. Other companies have built an ethical brand image, believing that customers are prepared to pay more for products that consider the environment and pay a reasonable wage. Higher sales compensate for higher costs.

Business activities that meet the requirements of the law, but which are considered unfair by stakeholders can result in bad publicity. And today we want to give you examples of unethical business activities of extremely famous companies. Reputation is a company’s biggest asset so you would think companies would avoid engaging in shady business practices. However, many large corporate find their reputations and credibility destroyed due to practices that are harmful and illegal.

Example:

While tobacco advertising regulations are now stronger than ever, Philip Morris (and other tobacco companies) are still criticized for the prominence of their products and ads in delis, convenience stores, and magazines. There’s also the fact that they continue to pay for product placement in movies featuring “cool” characters who smoke and may influence the teens watching them to do the same.

Even their efforts to make themselves look better have been criticized; PBS wonders why anti-smoking ads created by Philip Morris point the blame at other smoking teenagers instead of tobacco manufacturers themselves. After all, the only reason that kid-friendly cigarette mascots like Joe Camel don’t exist today is because people made them illegal.

Example:

Bad business ethics example by McDonald's is what is known as the "McDonald's Legislation" in popular parlance. In 1972, Ray Kroc, the company’s founder made a rare donation of $250,000 to Nixon's reelection campaign and in return got a favorable legislation that allowed companies such as McDonald's to pay teenage employees 20 percent less than federal minimum wages. Most observers consider this a typical case of corporate influence on lawmakers to enact legislation that serve their selfish ends and harm society.

The judge court held McDonald’s guilty of exploiting children through advertising tactics, serving dangerously unhealthy food, paying workers low wages, indulging in union busting activities worldwide, and ignoring animal cruelty perpetrated by its suppliers.

In conclusion:

Many people think, that big university is also can be understood as a big company. There is an example, when many people started call rather big university in USA USC (University of Southern California) as an University of Spoiled Children because of its unethical behaviour and as we think, all people that are studying or working in our university mustn’t make such unethical business activities as companies in our examples and be on the top of worldwide ratings of universities.