IV. Give the summary of the information in English taking into consideration the given items. Translate it into Ukrainian/ Russian.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

• Planning is paramount

• Guard against scope creep

• Think skills, then team

• Consider the risks

• Communicate constantly

• Review, reflect and report

Unit 3 business ethics presentation

I. Read the brief, answer the following questions and translate the collocations in bold using the context and the information given below.

1. What is the meaning of the term CSR ? Why has it become the corporate agenda?

2. What are the changes in the relations between the society, government and businesses?

3. What is meant by ethical working practice, commercial viability of ethical fashion.

4. What are the pros of ethical fashion?

5. What issues do sustainability reports cover?

6. How can it be demonstrated that business ethics play a role on both the macro and micro level?

BRIEF

Corporate social responsibility, or CSR, is fundamentally about the obligations of a company to society and the ways in which it can affect society and the environment. CSR has recently become a fashionable item or the corporate agenda. Even tobacco companies now make reference to CSR in corporate literature.

However, as demands and expectations of governments and society have become greater, many think that businesses need to show a stronger commitment to issues such as social responsibility, sustainability and transparency.

The fashion business particularly faces significant challenges. In the 1990s, Nike hit the headlines with allegations that some of its products were made in sweatshop conditions and by child labour. In 2005, Nike published the names and locations of more than 700 suppliers that manufacture its goods in an attempt to highlight the sportswear group’s ethical working practice in developing countries. Companies are now seriously considering the commercial viability of ethical fashion.

The tendency to switch production frequently, to achieve the cheapest prices, means that relationships between brand owners and their producers in developing countries are often short term. Nevertheless, many believe the time is right for companies to market their ethical stance and that brands can leverage their position internationally by being ethical. A brand's value nowadays may not just be about profit and loss, but also accountability - being able to demonstrate clearly where and how a product is made.

Brand owners also risk being criticised for exploiting the concept of being ethical for commercial gain. Some would argue that the product comes first and ethics will always be secondary to the consumers’ self-interest. Nevertheless, evidence suggests that consumers, especially younger ones, do care about where and how the clothes they buy are made.

Companies need to be specific and transparent about every aspect of their business. Transparency has always been an important aspect of corporate responsibility, and a growing number of companies are struggling with the challenge of reporting on social, environmental and economic issues, encouraged by governments and regulatory authorities. The Netherlands, Denmark and Norway have required environmental disclosures for several years.

A growing number of companies are voluntarily producing CSR or sustainability reports about non-financial issues and impacts that could significantly affect the business. But there are many multinationals which say nothing about issues such as carbon-dioxide emissions, suppliers’ labour conditions or community relations.

The nature and standard of CSR reports varies widely. Sustainability experts say that companies should integrate financial and non-financial reporting and that many reports are too vague to provide useful information, but that is beginning to change.

Certain companies, such as Andersen, Enron and Worldcom, have suffered from allegations of unethical corporate governance or financial irregularities at management level, demonstrating that business ethics play a role on both the macro and micro level.

Extra info

CSR (Corporate social responsibility) (also called corporate conscience, corporate citizenship, social performance, or sustainable responsible business/ Responsible Business) is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. CSR policy functions as a built-in, self-regulating mechanism whereby a business monitors and ensures its active compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards, and international norms. The goal of CSR is to embrace responsibility for the company's actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere who may also be considered as stakeholders.

Business ethics (also corporate ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and entire organizations. Business ethics has both normative and descriptive dimensions. As a corporate practice and a career specialization, the field is primarily normative. Academics attempting to understand business behavior employ descriptive methods.

Commercial viability is a company's ability to succeed and be profitable. If a company's reputation is severely damaged by bad press or poor products then their image is tarnished and they will lose customers. If a company is not commercially viable then they will not be successful or profitable and ultimately may not survive.

Ethical Fashion is an umbrella term to describe ethical fashion design, production, retail, and purchasing. It covers a range of issues such as working conditions, exploitation, fair trade, sustainable production, the environment, and animal welfare. The meaning of ethical goes beyond doing no harm, representing an approach which strives to take an active role in poverty reduction, sustainable livelihood creation, minimising and counteracting environmental concerns.

The meaning of an ethical stance can be best described as a set of morals towards a specific topic or issue. New paper Ltd has planned to state their ethical stance towards the environment. The proposed stance will involve preparing a full review of the current impact the company has on the environment. As a company they will produce a written policy outlining new procedures.

A sustainability report is an organizational report that gives information about economic, environmental, social and governance performance. Corporate sustainability reporting has a long history going back to environmental reporting. The first environmental reports were published in the late 1980s by companies in the chemical industry which had serious image problems. The other group of early reporters was a group of committed small and medium-sized businesses with very advanced environmental management systems. Non-financial reporting, such as sustainability and CSR reporting, is a fairly recent trend which has expanded over the last twenty years. Many companies now produce an annual sustainability report and there are a wide array of ratings and standards around. There are a variety of reasons that companies choose to produce these reports, but at their core they are intended to be "vessels of transparency and accountability". Often they also intended to improve internal processes, engage stakeholders and persuade investors.

Community relations refers to the various methods companies use to establish and maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with the communities in which they operate. The underlying principal of community relations is that when a company accepts its civic responsibility and takes an active interest in the well-being of its community, then it gains a number of long-term benefits in terms of community support, loyalty, and good will. Community involvement builds public image and employee morale, and fosters a sense of teamwork that is essential in long-term success.

Financial and non-financial reporting A quiet revolution has taken place in sustainability reporting. These days most management teams acknowledge the importance of collecting and reporting nonfinancial data, but companies vary in how they deploy this information as a tool for strategic growth. No one standard exists for nonfinancial reporting. Just as it took decades for financial reporting to evolve to where it is today, nonfinancial reporting will take some time to standardise as well. In the meantime, companies differ in their views on how much time and how many resources should be budgeted for gathering sustainability data, or where exactly sustainability professionals should reside in an organisation.