Ethical Principles of the Global Business Standards Codex Footwear Bu

Question: Evaluate Business Conduct in the Clothing, Textile and Footwear Industries using three Ethical Principles of the Global Business Standards Codex. Answer: Introduction The textile and footwear business environment has become competitive making many businesses to develop new strategies to match competition from other. Many companies in this field are diversifying their business activities to developing countries to take advantage of business opportunities like low labour costs (Chan, 2004, p. 630). Anika Bardeki Cory (2012, P. 11) state that the fashion industry through global expansions and international penetration presents ethical challenges in the industry that casues many firms to neglect the principles. The industry presents sweatshops that are being delocalised to developing countries since they offer low-cost labour and less stringent standards. These multinational corporations are abusing the ethical rights that the populations and workers of these regions have. The business world has undergone transformation with organizations being forced to adhere to ethical principles of the Global Business Standards Codex. The rise of human rights and civil society groups has forced many industries to find ways of observing the standard Codex (Clarke, 2006, p. 350). This paper examines the conduct in the clothing, textile and footwear industries using the three ethical principles standard codex. The paper further analyses how business strategies like global and international expansion of business operations may compromise the standard codex. The principles that will be discuss the dignity principle, fairness and the principle of transparency (Snyder 2010, P. 194). The principles will be discussed starting with the dignity principle, transparency principle and lastly the fairness principle. The principle of dignity emphasizes the need to respect the individual through upholding high dignity levels and treating employees like any other human being. It requires individuals to be treated equally and through being given freedom to associate the way they want and express themselves in any manner that is deemed appropriate. Jones Dong (2012, P.11) argues that the ILO and WHO have established standards that the industry should observe in their day to day activities. The textile and footwear industry is not supposed to employ minors while at the same time minimum work conditions should be in place to ensure that employees working conditions are good. Employees are also required to join unions that will champion for the protection of their rights. Many companies within the textile and footwear industry have embraced dignity through observing the required conditions like allowing employees to join unions, not employing minors and respecting all employees. Many companies have emb raced standard conditions like giving maternity leave to female employees, sick leave and other conditions. However, Crinis, (2010, P. 562) states that failure by some countries like Malaysia to enforce minimum wage and strong worker-protection laws have made companies fail to uphold employee dignity. Anti-sweatshop is one of the movements in history of workers that have shown that garment and footwear industries have humiliated some workers. Clarke ( 2006, P. 351) furthers adds that many companies in the industry violate the dignity code through worker discrimination and subjecting employees to overtime without pay. The transparency principle requires truthfulness, disclosure, and objectivity. For a very long time we have seen in news companies being forced to be transparent in all their activities. It has been argued that corporate social responsibility is a way that ensures the workers and retailers in the business are not exploited (Chan, 2004, P. 632). Many companies within the footwear and clothing industry have embraced transparency through a transparent corporate responsibility. Many have disclosed the corporate responsibility areas that they engage in. The footwear and clothing value chain has been hijacked by cartels that have compromised business. On the other hand, Crinis (2010, p. 596) argues that managers have developed strategies that can be used to evade audit queries through running parallel records, one which is fake and another one is original. The fake list is used to exploit workers and is never publicized. Institutionalization of system weaknesses extends to trade unions whe re cartels have been formed for individual benefits. These cartels exist in corporations, trade unions and even government institutions. They have ways of violating codes and ensuring that the system of justice cannot prevail. Jones (2012, P. 21), further argue that factories use numbers rather than company names in their audit reports. Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) and Social Accountability, SA8000 suggest that factory names are not disclosed thus the pubic fails to understand the particular company that has ethical issues. The fairness principle is based on all processes being fair; the industry should, therefore, be far when handling customers, workers and other competitors. Fairness and unfairness are defined by proper benefits or exploitation. Valdman (2008, P.556) argues that the clothing and footwear industry has exploited the worker and the farmer supplier through unbalanced relationships. Famers and workers are cheaply paid for expensive end products while the amount that they benefit from the project cannot be measured. Relationships are defined as unfair if the benefits in the industry are not equally distributed. Sweatshops are the best definition of exploitation and unfairness. Others argue that natural justice cannot allow all groups to be advantaged, a justification that makes sweatshops real. Fairness is thus applied in different levels of exploitation that include; exploitation of communities, exploitation of suppliers, exploitation of customers exploitation of employees (Crinis 2010, P. 601). These exploitations reveal the limits of corporate social responsibility and how it has failed to achieve fairness for all players in the system. Benefits keep increasing up the value chain while the people who play bigger roles in the value chain are exploited. This means that fairness principle can be achieved through cooperation by all players at both the macro and micro levels (Clarke, 2006, P. 345). Exploitation takes many forms and can be achieved at different levels. Therefore the need to define exploitation through determining the counts that can be used to determine it is the best way to achieve fairness. Many companies have been rushing to establish companies in developing countries due to the availability of cheap labour. Indeed the labour is not cheap but rather cheapness is a capitalistic definition of the labour cost in developing countries. Many clothing production suppliers are not integrated with brand retailers thus this makes suppliers in countries that fall in the South vulnerable to the retailers (Chan 2004, P. 632). This means that middle tier suppliers hinder fairness since they exploit the farmer and at the same time swindle MNCs. The supply chains that form the relationships that exist in industry are not simplified to the level that every party knows the rights that they have and is thus able to judge whether fairness has been achieved or not. Strikes by workers in different countries like Malaysia and Vietnam indicate that the codes have been compromised in one way or the other to exploit the worker in the value chain (Clarke 2006, P. 349). The ethical principles of the Global Business Standards Codex are used o regulate and set standards within the textile and footwear industry to ensure fair play. The rise of sweatshops was to criticise the abuse and violation of standard conditions within the clothing and textile industry. According to Anika, Bardeki Cory Seacy (2012, p. 19) there are many violations within the footwear and clothing industries that do not comply with the ethical principles of the Global Business Standards Codex. From the analysis in the previous chapters many companies in the clothing and footwear industry are violating the ethical principles of the Global Business Standards Codex. However through relevant bodies like Unions and respective government labour departments. The ethical principles of the Global Business Standards Codex have been enforced within the industry and thus improve the conditions within the value chain. References Anika K., Bardeki. M. . Cory S., 2012. Envirnmetal impacts in the fashion industry. s.l.:Ryerson University. Chan, A. a. W. h., 2004. The impact of the state on workers conditions: comparing Taiwanese factories in China and Vietnam.. Pacific Affairs, p. 77(4): 629646.. Clarke, S., 2006. The changing character of strikes in Vietnam.. Post-Communist Economies, p. 18(3):345361.. Crinis, V., 2010.. Sweat or No Sweat: Foreign Workers in the Garment Industry in Malaysia. Journal of Contemporary Asia, p. 40(4)589611. Jones B. Dong H., 2012. Why do corporate codes of conduct fail? Women workers and clothing supply chains in Vietnam. Global Social Policy, p. 12: 67. Snyder, J., 2010. Exploitation and Sweatshop Labor:Perspectives and Issues. Business Ethics Quarterly, pp. 20:2,187-213. Valdman, M., 2008. Exploitation and Injustice. Social Theory and Practice, pp. 34(4): 551-72.