Ethical issues faced by companies in different industries. Corporate and social responsibility – positive steps taken by the companies to address the issue

Ethics is defined as a moral philosophy or code of morals practiced by a person or group of people. An example of ethics is the code of conduct set by a business.

Many companies in different industries face such ethical issues as: corruption, bribes, discrimination on the grounds of race or gender, unequal opportunities, using child labor, production of environmentally harmful products and ext.

Financial institutions try to prevent insider trading by erecting notional barriers between different departments: to prevent someone in share trading, from discovering secret information about future share rise. Manufacturers are always blamed for environmental harmful production. So, they claim that their products are green. In many companies women feel discriminated.

Few companies have already noticed that providing corporate responsibility gives them good competitive advantage (corporate responsibility is the sense of responsibility the a company considers towards things such as the environment), as a result higher trust of shareholders creates higher loyalty and as a result good productivity of organization of all.

There are some measures that can save some of the issues mentioned above.

The first, company should comply with ethical standards, which include rules and values of the organization.

The next, ask external independent organization for publishing reports about company’s social, environmentally responsibility and their affirmative action program.

And the last, company should also keep in touch with its customers and clients and make promises based on their views and consultations.

In conclusion it is important to say that companies should constantly improve their approach to social, ethical and environmental issues.

TRADE

GLOBALIZATION AND FREE TRADE. PROS AND CONS.

Trade involves the transfer of the ownership of goods or services from one person or entity to another in exchange for other goods or services or for money.

Nowadays, globalization, the opening up of economies to flows of goods, services, capital and business from other nations, gathers pace. This means free trade not only between manufacturers but also between countries. So, globalization is the tendency for the world economy to work as one unit.

As any process globalization has both advantages and disadvantages. On one hand, globalization increases competition. Companies have to be careful so that they compete in a global market. Globalisation has given many countries the opportunity to realize their advantages in production and trade. I mean the climate, natural resources, geographical location, qualified or unqualified estate, but a large labor force. The Scottish economist, Adam Smith, theorized that in a free market countries produce what is most profitable for them.

But it damage the local government’s ability to deal with issues like welfare benefits, wages and taxes and to control country’s economy. More and more in last years the companies have started to rule the governments dictating that it must do. Similarly, globalization can damage local industries if they are not competitive enough and are not protected properly.

Another problem is the problem of unemployment in the western world. As companies want to improve their profitability, they are looking for low-cost, low-wage centers, which they can find in China and India, for example. So we are going to see a capital outflow from the West.

Taking everything into consideration I am inclined to believe, that globalization is a complex and contradictory process that should be treated with particular care and attention.