According to Milton Friedman, there is one and only one social responsibility of business - to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud. He advanced this view in 1962. With the increased process of globalization changed this public view apparently. Business nowadays is seen in a more widely context and have to account for its affection on stakeholders. In the Global Compact of the United Nations the importance of corporate social responsibility is pointed out. The objective is to encourage businesses to commit themselves on the "ten universally accepted principles", according to the United Nations. The ten principles contain corporate challenges as the Human Rights, Labor Standards, Environment and Anti-Corruption. An instrument for Multinational Companies to establish and articulate their corporate values, responsibilities and ethical ambitions is the code of ethics. In this report we present four real cases concerning global challenges as Human Rights, Corruption, Environment and Genetically Modified Food in order to examine the importance for MNEs to take social responsibility and develop codes of ethics.
[...] Although TOTAL recognized the bad consequences of the militarization of the Yadana, they justified their reticence by having no responsibilities for these abuses. Actually, TOTAL compensates the victim of forced labour. Thus, there exists proof that TOTAL has a link with the human rights abuses of the Burma's army. We have lawsuits for TOTAL in France and In Belgium. In August 2002, Burmese citizens started a judicial action, in France, against Thierry Desmaret, President Director General of TOTAL, and Hervé Madeo for illegal confinement. [...]
[...] The described likely impacts of such a food contamination point out the importance for Multinational Companies as Bayer to commit themselves to codes of ethics concerning the developing, testing, monitoring, information providing and tracing of their genetically modified products. Conclusion These different cases show how important it is for MNEs to develop ethical codes and show responsibility for organisations. We can find some solutions in order to organisations respect their social responsibilities. - To give subsidy to enterprises which answer to a - The state working with only companies which answer to state regulations incentives and benefits - Penalize companies who pollute the environment on a percentage of their profits or oblige companies which pollute the environment to pay more than the average emission cost - To handle the development and introduction to the market more careful and responsible These ideas oblige companies to sell competitive products but fairly traded and environmentally friendly disposable products for the interest of the environment and the consumer. [...]
[...] Most of us used plastic sheets or sacks for our bed so many got malaria, colds and coughs We had about 10 people who were 60 to 70 years old if you had headache, coughing, cold and a little fever they did not let us take a rest” (Earth Rights International 2000). Moreover, to secure the region of the pipeline for TOTAL and the other companies, villages had to move. They were resettled near to the military camps to create a labour pool and to remove rebellion of the armed ethnics groups. [...]
[...] Bribes can take the form of money, other pecuniary advantages, such as membership in an exclusive club, a promise of a scholarship for a child, or non-pecuniary advantages, such as favourable publicity.”(Risky Business: Corruption, Fraud, Terrorism & Other Threats to Global Business, De Stuart Poole-Robb, Alan Bailey). Many companies use this system in order to get contracts. Bribes paid in international business represent $80 billion a year. All countries are concerned by corruption and we have chosen the example of Siemens, a German engineering company and of its telecom unit. [...]
[...] For these reasons, Siemens is now stocking up with money to pay futures fines. Furthermore, this case shows the limits of laws to fight corruption. Multinational companies have much power and it is very difficult to check their activities and to take sanctions against them. This case shows how important the codes of ethics and the public feedback for avoiding such drawbacks. IV. Genetically modified food Genetically modified food appears as a highly controversial topic nowadays which demands a closer examination. [...]
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