Running head: BUSINESS ETHICS – WEEK 5 ASSIGNMENT 1

Class: Business Ethics (ETH560)

Name: Billeto R. McGee
Institution: Grantham University
Title: Further Discussion Analysis
Date: August 11, 2020
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Corporate Social Responsibility and The Firms in The Extractive Industries

Throughout this class, we have discussed the need for ethical practices in the

corporate world and even seen cases where failure to observe ethical practices cost businesses

brand reputation and profitability. In this discussion, Erin Greene has become my inspiration

with this assignment. So, I can expand my knowledge and ethical awareness through article

analysis.

In the article Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility of Firms in the Mining

and Oil and Gas Industries: Current Status Quo of Reporting Following GRI Guidelines,

Guenther, Hoppe, and Pose (2007) explore the current environmental reporting as a means of

corporate social responsibility among firms in the extractive industry. Corporate social

responsibility is an ethical practice that organizations should be willing to integrate as one of

the fundamental aspects of their practices. Yet, firms in the extractive industry had been less

considerate of that notion. Not until recently, firms in the oil mining, gas, and petroleum

industry had considered environmentally sustainable development, which can be defined as

development that meets the current needs without interfering with the possibility of future

generations achieving their own. Organizations in the extractive industry, forced by the

regulatory pressure to preserve the environment, now provide environmental reports and are

more concise of their activities as they impact the environment.

Reading through this article, one aspect of ethical practices in the corporate world

seems prevalent. There is a general trend that businesses, especially whose actions negatively

affect the environment, are least concerned with the ethics of their actions. Regardless of the

paramount need to preserve the environment and act ethically, CSR has become more of a

regulatory obligation and compliance than an ethical practice to give back to the community.

To a more considerable extent, this should not be the case. As the name suggests, corporate
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social responsibility should a business’ way of thanking the environment, and the

communities for which it bases its activities.

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Reference

Guenther, E., Hoppe, H., & Poser, C. (2007). Environmental Corporate Social Responsibility

of Firms in the Mining and Oil and Gas Industries: Current Status Quo of Reporting

Following GRI Guidelines. Greener Management International, 53, 7–25.