Ethical behaviour in business Essay Example for Free

Ethical behaviour in business EssayIn this task I willing be explaining how my business (Ben and Jerrys) could change or qualify some of its practices and showing how these changes would contribute to improved ethical behaviour. The ethical issues I will be working(a) on argon CSR and craft handsomely.Corporate social righteousness Businesses do non exist in isolation nor is it simply erect to make bills a lot of factors come into play. Customers, suppliers and the local community ar totally affected by the business and its operations. Ben and Jerrys products, and the way they produce them all cause an impact on the environment. CSR is all about businesses understanding the effects that they have on the community/wider worldly concern. Businesses will use this impact in a autocratic way to benefit both their business and the wider world. CSR means that business such as Ben and Jerrys will have to take trusty attitude, going beyond the minimum legal requirements ( as being ethical is strictly something you dont have to do by law) and following basic principles that apply. How Ben and Jerrys are responsible to society?Ben and Jerrys take on corporate social responsibilities, taking action to achieve more desired goals to expand their business growth and as well as maintaining open line communication with employees to gain a better outcome. Ben and Jerrys conduct various CSR activities, some of these include Use of Fair job ingredients- Ben and Jerrys first started conditionment Fairtrade certified ingredients in 2005 they pledged in 2010 that by the end of 2013 they will go fully Fairtrade. Ben and Jerrys work with dairy farmers and other farmers from third world countries, they source ingredients like cocoa, vanilla pods and various other ingredients. Fair Trade standards check off that employees in these countries have good and safe working conditions, work commonsensible hours and paid a fair amount for their work. Corporate Philanthr opy- Corporate philanthropy in simple terms means a businesss electric charge/love of humanity.Ben and Jerrys a portion of its pre-tax profits to corporate philanthropy in attempts to become more socially responsible. Corporate philanthropy is led by employees through the BJs foundation and community action teams. Ben and Jerrys award 1.8 million dollars to a philanthropy (an organisation that helps communities and the welfare of others) every year in and around Vermont, where Ben and Jerryswas initially set up. Engaging the Community through Community-based Projects- Another way in which Ben and Jerrys is engaging in corporate responsibility to society is by setting up community based development projects. The Vermont Dairy Farm Sustainability Project, which was launched by Ben Jerrys in 1999, set out to develop practical methods that could be used on day-to-day dairy operations to keep the water quality safe from nitrogen and phosphorus sequence not sacrificing the economic via bility of the farm and making the farm a sustainable business.How can Ben and Jerrys change/alter corporate social responsibilities (listed above) to contribute even more to improved business ethical behaviour? Ben and Jerrys do all they can to make sure that they are socially responsible to stakeholders. They have booked in a wide variety of activities/projects to insure that they do what they claim to do and that is to be as responsible to the wider community as much as they can, this includes Fairtrade, good working conditions, humanitarian concerns and other key factors in making sure that the community is affected in a positive manner. There is no denying that Ben and Jerrys are very successful in their business operations and also their responsibility toward the society. But there are instances where they can improve on certain things. First of all the business follow all ethical procedures from Sourcing ingredients evenhandedly to protecting the environment to the best of t heir abilitys, but if you were to be grouchy Ben and Jerrys are unethical in the sense that they are promoting unhealthy food.Now to most people this will not seem like a huge deal, but because obesity levels are on the increase and campaigns have been set up to tackle obesity and unhealthy eating, it seems somewhat of a conflicting move by Ben and Jerrys to promote and sell Ice cream. This is being very, very picky however as they, like menti mavind earlier, they ensure various factors are done ethically. You can argue that their advertisements and marketing techniques do not in any way state the products are healthy, so its not that they are misleading people. Some people may say that all Ben and Jerrys do is sell unhealthy, fattening, chocolate rich ice creams, which can be considered a bit unethical.So in order to tackle this issue and make the company an even more ethically operating organisation, they can introduce fitter ice-cream or produce something alongside their standa rd ice-creams which is significantly healthier. They can use ingredients thatare healthier/low fat and implement a recipe that is just as good if not better than the original. This would contribute to better ethical behaviour by Ben and Jerrys because it allows them to give people concerned an option of get healthy (healthier) ice-cream. This will also mean that they are somewhat promoting healthier eating as people will look at them and think highly of them as they are taking these obesity concerns into consideration and doing something about it.Trading fairlyTrading fairly is a movement which strives for fair treatment for farmers. In a fair trade agreement, farmers will negotiate with the purchasers in order to receive a fair price for their products. Farmers who engage in fair trade also aim to pay their workers a fair price, and engage in environmentally-friendly practices.How Ben and Jerrys trade fairly?Ben and Jerrys have multiple tasks/missions they conduct to ensure that t heir operations are done fairly. First of all they are using fair trade. Using the Fairtrade method means that farmers who supply the ingredients get a fair pay, working and living environment. Another way in which they trade fairly is that they give back to society. This may seem like it is not directly trading fairly but Ben and Jerrys do give something back to society. What they do is that they operate the company in a way that actively recognizes the central billet that business plays in society by initiating innovative ways to improve the quality of life locally, nationally and internationally ( Source Ben and Jerrys website). So while they are producing high quality ingredients at the same time they are giving back to society locally, nationally and internationally. How can Ben and Jerrys change/alter trading fairly (listed above) to contribute even more to improved business ethical behaviour? Like with the previous point I struggled to really find an area within Ben and Jerry s that they need improving on so I had to be picky, the same goes for trading fairly.Ben and Jerrys seem to tick all the boxes when it comes to trading fairly I mean they do everything from Fairtrade to providing the community that little something back. But If I were to be picky I think there is one thing that they might have to improve on ever so slightly and that is the marketing ofthe products. The criticism that I have for their marketing is that they have allegedly a couple of times offended customers with the name calling of their ice creams. Now this may not seem like it has nothing to do with trading fairly but it is. The reason as to why it is because customers are ultimately the ones keeping your business going, now if they were offended with the marketing techniques such as naming thus they will be put off in the future. Although Ben and Jerrys have admitted to using cheeky call on their ice creams they do not do this with the intention of offending people although the y have mislead/offended a few.Although they have now changed the label of those products and it was a one off incident theyll be keen to make sure that this does not happen in the future. (The source where I found out about the names of products offending customers- http//www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/19/hazed-and-confused_n_5845650.html) So in order to alter the trading of products Ben and Jerrys can make sure that in future releases of new Ice cream they choose names carefully and make sure that they do not refer to anything in a bad light . Ben and Jerrys are known for their innovative names but in order to prevent people from getting offended they can make sure they choose names that are simple in the sense that people wont get offended. They will have to take into consideration various factors that could offend people and make sure that names that are obvious to offend people are not used and well away from the products they make.