Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics

Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics Order Description Question 1 - Ethics and Testin" rel="nofollow">ing of Medicin" rel="nofollow">ines Case Animal experiments are widely used to develop new medicin" rel="nofollow">ines and to test the safety of other products. Many of these experiments cause pain" rel="nofollow">in to the animals in" rel="nofollow">involved or reduce their quality of life in" rel="nofollow">in other ways. Usin" rel="nofollow">ing this case and theory taught in" rel="nofollow">in the module, identify two contrastin" rel="nofollow">ing ethical theories. Critically analyse how these two theories could be used to argue the case both for and again" rel="nofollow">inst testin" rel="nofollow">ing of medicin" rel="nofollow">ines on animals. You should ensure that you use a range of relevant sources to support your work, in" rel="nofollow">includin" rel="nofollow">ing at least two peer-reviewed journal articles. Question 2 – CSR Theories and Amazon Case Study Amazon is a successful global onlin" rel="nofollow">ine company that sells a huge range of goods. However it has been criticised for avoidin" rel="nofollow">ing payin" rel="nofollow">ing taxes on a worldwide scale. In Europe it uses a company base in" rel="nofollow">in Luxembourg to reduce the amount of tax paid in" rel="nofollow">in other European countries and in" rel="nofollow">in the US it uses loopholes around havin" rel="nofollow">ing a physical presence in" rel="nofollow">in certain" rel="nofollow">in states to avoid payin" rel="nofollow">ing tax there. In 2013 it was reported that in" rel="nofollow">in the UK, Amazon paid £2.4m in" rel="nofollow">in tax on a total bill of £3.2m for 2012, but received £2.5m in" rel="nofollow">in government grants. This was on a reported sales figure of £4.2billion and a turnover of £230m. Amazon’s boss would argue that they are followin" rel="nofollow">ing the legal rules and have therefore done nothin" rel="nofollow">ing wrong. In 2015 their sales were £5.3billion, with a profit of £34.4m and paid tax of £11.9m. Additionally there have been recent accusations again" rel="nofollow">inst Amazon regardin" rel="nofollow">ing their treatment of staff and their employment practices; they have been accused of over-packagin" rel="nofollow">ing, which is a wider environmental issue; they have been accused of treatin" rel="nofollow">ing some of their suppliers poorly (see weblin" rel="nofollow">inks below for further details). Usin" rel="nofollow">ing this case, identify two theories/models of CSR. Then analyse the level of CSR development that is evidenced by a) Amazon’s policies and statements about ethical and CSR issues and b) Amazon’s activities in" rel="nofollow">in regard to payin" rel="nofollow">ing tax and other busin" rel="nofollow">iness practices such as employment practices, treatment of suppliers and so on. You should use the websites listed below, a range of text books and at least two peer-reviewed journal articles to support your analysis. Sources for CSR in" rel="nofollow">information https://www.csrhub.com/CSR_and_sustain" rel="nofollow">inability_in" rel="nofollow">information/Amazoncom-Inc https://www.salon.com/2014/02/23/worse_than_wal_mart_amazons_sick_brutality_and_secret_history_of_ruthlessly_in" rel="nofollow">intimidatin" rel="nofollow">ing_workers/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/busin" rel="nofollow">iness-25034598 https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/dec/01/week-amazon-in" rel="nofollow">insider-feature-treatment-employees-work https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/02/amazon-pay-self-published-authors-per-page-read-kin" rel="nofollow">indle Sources for Amazon Articles on Tax Avoidance used above: https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/commentanalysis/corporatewatch/isittimetoboycottamazon.aspx https://www.theweek.co.uk/busin" rel="nofollow">iness/tax-avoidance/53052/amazon-tax-avoidance-%C2%A33m-tax-%C2%A34bn-uk-sales https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/busin" rel="nofollow">iness-29519631 https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3139123/Amazon-pays-just-11-9m-tax-5-3bn-worth-UK-sales.html Question 3 – Stakeholder Issues in" rel="nofollow">in The Red Cross and Red Crescent Case Study The Red Cross and the Red Crescent organisations provide humanitarian support to people in" rel="nofollow">in vulnerable situations due to war and natural disasters. The organisations also help in" rel="nofollow">in providin" rel="nofollow">ing support to lonely people in" rel="nofollow">in European countries not subject to the more publicised stresses from war or natural disaster. You should begin" rel="nofollow">in by readin" rel="nofollow">ing thoroughly the material presented at the websites www.redcross.org.uk and www.icrc.org/en The Red Cross and Red Crescent organisations operate with respect for a number of unchangin" rel="nofollow">ing prin" rel="nofollow">inciples. These prin" rel="nofollow">inciples are • Humanity • Impartiality • Neutrality • Independence • Voluntary Service • Unity • Universality Consider how these prin" rel="nofollow">inciples might work or fail to work in" rel="nofollow">in practice. To help you, consider the two developments below:- 1. At a national level, the Fin" rel="nofollow">innish Red Cross has been appealin" rel="nofollow">ing for student volunteers to come forward to help reduce the social isolation of lonely and disadvantaged people. Whilst this is a good in" rel="nofollow">intention, it raises the question of the connection between government and voluntary agencies. This role and these activities were previously admin" rel="nofollow">inistered by government usin" rel="nofollow">ing national taxation which is now bein" rel="nofollow">ing taken on by the voluntary sector. We should consider the implications of this change. 2. You can see within" rel="nofollow">in the Red Cross website that the John Lewis partnership, a large retailin" rel="nofollow">ing group in" rel="nofollow">in the UK and the in" rel="nofollow">insurance company Aviva have join" rel="nofollow">ined the Disaster Relief Alliance. This raises a question regardin" rel="nofollow">ing the role of the private sector in" rel="nofollow">in this area and whether there are any moral conflicts present here. Usin" rel="nofollow">ing this example, identify a range of in" rel="nofollow">internal and external stakeholders in" rel="nofollow">involved in" rel="nofollow">in the organisation and use a stakeholder map to plot their relative importance. Justify your decisions usin" rel="nofollow">ing relevant theory. Evaluate the different expectations four key stakeholders might have in" rel="nofollow">in relation to CSR practices, usin" rel="nofollow">ing the in" rel="nofollow">information provided in" rel="nofollow">in the case study above. Your discussion should in" rel="nofollow">include Milton Friedman’s viewpoin" rel="nofollow">int and a range of other sources in" rel="nofollow">includin" rel="nofollow">ing two peer-reviewed journal articles to support your work. Question 4 – Personal Case Study Identify a range of future trends in" rel="nofollow">in CSR, justifyin" rel="nofollow">ing why you feel these are significant. Then reflect on how these trends will affect organisations in" rel="nofollow">in future, and in" rel="nofollow">in particular how they might impact on your future in" rel="nofollow">in the workplace. You should clearly outlin" rel="nofollow">ine what kin" rel="nofollow">ind of organisation you would like to work in" rel="nofollow">in, and use this as a case to specifically discuss how this would affect you. Remember that as well as workin" rel="nofollow">ing for a multi-national organisation, you could work in" rel="nofollow">in the public sector, for a small or medium-sized organisation, for a charity, or set up your own busin" rel="nofollow">iness. PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING POINTS: You will NOT gain" rel="nofollow">in marks for simply explain" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing what an organisation or sector has done. You should ensure that the majority of your answer is used to analyse the in" rel="nofollow">information usin" rel="nofollow">ing relevant theories. Each answer is worth 25% of the fin" rel="nofollow">inal mark and should be approximately 875 words in" rel="nofollow">in length. You may fail one question (i.e. a mark below 40%) and still pass the whole assignment IF the overall total achieved a mark of 40% or more.