Assignment: (Supply Chain Management)

Individual Research Project:

Ethics Issues Are at the Heart of Supply-Chain Management

In business, financial necessities have been prioritized over certain values such as
ethical behavior and social responsibility. In spite of advances in technology, supply
chain, even at a global level is based on the interaction between people which gives rise
to ethical issues at several stages of the process. The reason for such ambiguity in
prioritizing values is due to the fact that corporations are focused on containing cost.
Cost has been the single driving force behind the unethical behavior of certain
corporations.
Few companies set out deliberately to commit unethical practices. But the quest for
competitive advantage can have a serious impact on the way products are made, and
how workers are treated.
The problem of unethical behavior is common to global supply chains, in good times
and bad. Companies don't always understand the impact of their actions, and if
consumers are unaware of how products get to market, there won't be a price to pay for
cutting corners.
Nike was famous for outsourcing manufacturing operations to a cheaper
destination and became a trendsetter with this practice as they could get the
business done at a fraction of the cost that they would incur at any plant in the
US. An agreement with the contract manufacturer consisted of no liabilities
towards labor conditions at the manufacturing site. This would prove to be an
image buster for the company later as the company founder Phil Knight admitted
that his products have become synonymous with labor exploitation after facing
backlash in U.S. Nike felt that the code of conduct that it laid down for its
suppliers/contract manufacturers needed to be more stringent after this case.
Laying the code of conduct is only the initial step. Monitoring whether the codes
are put into practice makes the process more effective. Acting ethically
responsible is a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity by itself, for a
company.

Using the last 10 years as timeframe, research for 1 unethical practice of a global
supply chain company that has damaged the reputation of the company or have
resulted to its closure.
Report should have a minimum of 6 pages printed on short bond paper contained in a
folder. Submission should be a week after this assignment is given.