ESR Class Presentation – Week V ( September 12& 13 2011) 1. Cases for Discussion (David J. Fritzsche): * It’s Your Turn (page 109) * Kader Industrial (Thailand) Company- Case 10 (page 182) * Muebles Fino Buenos- Case 11 (page 184) 2. “It’s Your Turn” – Please answer the question in the last line using the following ethical frameworks: (a) Categorical Imperative; (b) Rule Utilitarian; (c) Veil of Ignorance; and (d) Act Utilitarianism. * Categorical Imperative: If you have a contract with another party, fulfill this contract. No matter what.
Especially if the other party is counting on you, because they should go bankrupt. Humanity: Fulfill your contract, moral duty. * Rule Utilitarianism: Follow through with your contract. Don’t abandon people/companies with who you have agreed to help/work with. * Veil of Ignorance: You have limited amount of resources, so you have to make the choice for one of the 2 clients. Keep producing for the old client, but use the rest of your capacity to start producing for the new big one. What if??? The domestic customer only signs the contract if you can produce everything in the first month. hose for domestic one, 2 happy vs. 1 bad * Act Utilitarianism: More positives vs. best negatives. Ok you make one party really unhappy, but still this is the most good for the most peoples. 3. Case 10: Only Questions 4, 5, 7 & 8. * 4: Lock the doors, no safety regulations or fire escapes. Cloth close to electrical transformer. No alarms. If you lock doors, make sure that you can open them really fast at all times. Building disintegrated quickly (poor construction, steel beams) * 7: Business aimed, only profit matters…. Don’t look at the people as humans, but use them as machines.
They even asked their workers to keep working while there was a small fire. Maybe even hostile, locking doors etc. * 5: Legal: Board, managers… should have safety regulations. Government, Safety and health organization in Thailand (from government). Moral: * 8: Only sign contract if you know that the working conditions are ok, that there are safety regulations etc. company should at least follow the country regulations for safety codes, building rules etc. , if you ask more of the company, they won’t be able to give you the cheap labor. ut point in the middle Class… where would you put the line, what are the moral/social obligations for the customers before signing any contracts? 4. Case 11: Only Questions 3, 4, 6, and 7. * 3: They didn’t follow all the environmental rules of the state. Unhealthy for the employees to work there. Just switching countries because they didn’t want to invest in the machines/other processing methods and to evade the fines. So fire a lot of people to get new employees at 1/8 of the costs. Is this even outsourcing? Or really moving your whole company somewhere else. * 4: Pollution vs. working conditions.
A lot of pollution vs. good paid jobs. As long as there are good safety regulations and compensations for health. * 6: Egoism view: YES ;) because you make more profits and you don’t care about the pollution. But… you pay your employees less than in California, so you can invest a bit more in environmental issues. Deontology (don’t do to anybody else what you don’t want them to do to you): Stay in America and fix your pollution problems, because you don’t want to get fined and you don’t want your employees to get ill. * 7: Make sure they follow the standards and make sure that you have quit high environmental standards.
But a lot of corruption in Mexico so make sure the companies follow your standards by controlling them yourself. Because a lot of American companies will go to Mexico (because of rising environmental standards in US) build some parks and green zones to help the people who live there to be able to live healthy, outside all the pollution. 5. Assume that stung by charges re the happenings of Foxcon in China, Apple Inc. has asked you to draft a memo on the subject of an ISO standard to be applied to high-tech contract manufacturers of high-end electronic items.
Restrict yourself to 6 standards and explain your choice. 6. The Medical Council of Singapore has asked you to draft 3 ethics principles relating to the outsourcing of medical work to India. Please identify what, in your opinion, are the three most important principles and explain the purpose behind your choice and the specific content of such principles. Firms Find a Haven From U. S. Environmental Rules : Commerce: Hundreds of companies set up shop in Mexico, where regulation is less strict and wages are low. THE FREE-TRADE DILEMMA: The environmental costs of a U. S. Mexico pact. Third in a four-part series. Next: How will free trade affect El Paso's smoggy skies? November 19, 1991|JUDY PASTERNAK | TIMES STAFF WRITER "We are rewriting history here. It was only recently that anyone here started to care about the environment. It will take time. " The backlog troubles EPA officials who deal regularly with SEDUE. Said one, who spoke on the condition of anonymity: "This is a situation where the economic activity has gotten way ahead of the regulatory activity. " * http://articles. latimes. com/1991-11-19/news/mn-70_1_environmental-rules/4
