Ethical Theories

659 Words2 Pages

Ethical Theories: Part II
Frank P. LoBue III
PHIL101-1402A-01
April 21, 2014
Christopher Hubbard

Ethical Theories: Part II
Social responsibility can be defined as “the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large” (Mallen Baker, 2004). In addition, social responsibility has been defined differently by various corporate leaders that provide guidelines which impacts how one manages the core business. Social responsibility is an essential part of a business. If managed correctly should strengthen the competitive spirit of the company and provide prosperity to society.
The differences between Nike and Patagonia are; Nike provides “footwear, clothing, and equipment and accessory products for sports which are primarily provided by independent contractors. Estimating, 19,000 retail accounts in the U.S. and 140 countries around the world. Patagonia provides outdoor clothing that has been leading the market for over 30 years. Patagonia conducted an assessment on the fibers they were using to find the impact on the environment, which resulted in the largest pollution culprit, was that of cotton. In addition, the cotton showed almost a “30% use in pesticide in the world” (Rachel Holmes, 2009).
Furthermore, Patagonia looked into conventional cotton growing methods with findings that indicate proposed cancer risks, especially in California. Their net sales of 60 % were in cotton; and therefore would have to change the way farmers raise cotton by going organic. This would be a new selling point, customer approval, which resulted in an increase in revenue in ...

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.... In addition, this company has already made adjustments in the way they are making their product by using organic cotton to improve the quality of their product. Furthermore, while Patagonia is making definite changes towards their social responsibility considering the needs of their customers while still increasing the amount of product they are producing.

References
Edge. (1999). Study of Corporate Social Responsibility. Retrieved from stanford.edu: http://www.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/citypoverty/hedge_poverty.html
Mallen Baker. (2004). Corporate social respnsibility - What does it mean? Retrieved from mallenbaker.net: www/mallenbaker.net/csr/definition.php
Rachel Holmes. (2009). Wal-Mart wants to be more like us. Retrieved from theguardian.com: http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/feb/24/patagonia-ethical-outdoor-clothing-interview

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