Business Ethics and Social Responsibility

Governor Pack Road, Baguio City, Philippines 2600

Tel. Nos.: (+6374) 442-3316, 442-8220; 444-2786;
442-2564; 442-8219; 442-8256; Fax No.: 442-6268 Grade Level/Section: ABM -12
Email: email@uc-bcf.edu.ph; Website: www.uc-bcf.edu.ph

MODULE 10- Ethics Subject Teacher: Kenny Jones A. Amlos

Special Topics and Trends in Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
Learning Objectives:

At the end of this module, the student is expected to:

a) explain the concept and rationale of social entrepreneurship;

b) discuss the definition and nature of privacy and technology issues in the workplace;
c) describe the key concerns of ethical analysis in terms of marketing issues.

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

• Social entrepreneurship – social enterprise models that combine business practices and principles with
the passion and compassion required to create a fair and just world (Schwab and Milligan, 2015). It’s
all about recognizing the social problems of a specific community or region and achieving a social
change by employing entrepreneurial principles, processes, andoperations.

• Social enterprise - defined as a business that has specific social objectives that serve its primary purpose.
Social enterprises seek to maximize profits while maximizing benefits to society and the environment, for
which profits are principally used to fund social programs (Barone, 2020)

Social Enterprises in the Philippines

1. Isang Litrong Liwanag (A Liter of Light) is a sustainable lighting project which aims to bring the eco-
friendly solar bottle bulb to unprivileged communities nationwide. Designed anddeveloped by
students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), The Solar BottleBulb is a device based
on the principles of Appropriate Technologies – a concept that providessimple and easily replicable
technologies that address basic needs in developing communities.The device is simple: it is a
transparent 1.5-2L plastic bottle, as typically used for carbonateddrinks, filled with water plus a little
bleach to inhibit algal growth, fitted through the roof of a house. During daytime the water inside the
bottle refracts sunlight, delivering about as muchlight as a 40- to 60-watt incandescent bulb to the
interior. A properly installed solar bottle can last up to 5 years.

2. Tali ti Amianan, or Rope of the North, is a Filipino, surfer-run social enterprise who are committed stewards
of Mother Nature, eco-friendly and local. They create handmade eco-friendlyaccessories from
scratch providing sustainability for the local surfers, women & elders in surfer-town San Juan, La Union,
Philippines.

Business Ethics & Social Responsibility Page 2 of 6

 Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
Governor Pack Road, Baguio City, Philippines 2600
Tel. Nos.: (+6374) 442-3316, 442-8220; 444-2786;
442-2564; 442-8219; 442-8256; Fax No.: 442-6268 Grade Level/Section: ABM -12
Email: email@uc-bcf.edu.ph; Website: www.uc-bcf.edu.ph

MODULE 10- Ethics Subject Teacher: Kenny Jones A. Amlos

3. Bambike is a socio-ecological enterprise that hand-makes bamboo bicycles with fair-trade labor
and sustainable building practices. Our bamboo bike builders (aka Bambuilders) comefrom Gawad
Kalinga, a Philippine based community development organization for the poor,working to bring an
end to poverty. Bambike is a company that is interested in helping outpeople and the planet,
dedicated to social and environmental stewardship. Our goal is to dobetter business and to make the
greenest bikes on the planet.

4. Taclob manufactures an environmentally friendly & weather-resistant backpack called

COMPASSION. The backpack is made of upcycled jeans and high-grade Japanese tarpaulins.For each
COMPASSION backpack sold, Taclob provides a COURAGE backpack, which doubles as a flotation
device, to a student in need impacted by the Haiyan hurricane in Philippines. TheCOURAGE backpack
is filled with school supplies and made from water resistant fabric &reflective stripe.

5. ANTHILL is a cultural gallery and workshop that features unique hand-woven fabrics and crafts.At the
ANTHILL Fabric Gallery, visitors can buy unique fabrics, accessories, handbags, jewelrypieces, small
gifts, and handmade dolls. The gallery also showcases creative uses of hand-woven fabrics into
modern pieces, enlightening visitors with new perspectives on how traditional fabrics can be integrated
into the everyday Filipino's modern fashion and lifestyle.

Business Ethics & Social Responsibility Page 3 of 6

 Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
Governor Pack Road, Baguio City, Philippines 2600
Tel. Nos.: (+6374) 442-3316, 442-8220; 444-2786;
442-2564; 442-8219; 442-8256; Fax No.: 442-6268 Grade Level/Section: ABM -12
Email: email@uc-bcf.edu.ph; Website: www.uc-bcf.edu.ph

MODULE 10- Ethics Subject Teacher: Kenny Jones A. Amlos

Key Takeaways:

• A social enterprise is a business with social objectives that serve its primary purpose.
• Maximizing profits is not the primary goal of a social enterprise as is with a traditional business.
• Unlike a charity, social enterprises pursue endeavors that generate revenues, which fund theirsocial
causes.
• Regarding employment, preference is given to job-seekers from at-risk communities.

ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING: TECHNOLOGY AND PRIVACY IN THE WORKPLACE

• Defining Privacy. Two general and connect understandings of privacy can be found in the legal and
philosophical literature on this topic: privacy as a right to be “left alone” within a personal zone of
solitude, and privacy as the right to control information about oneself. Certain decisionsthat we make
about how we live our lives, as well as the control of personal information, play acrucial role in defining
our own personal identity. Privacy is important because it serves toestablish the boundary between
individuals and thereby serves to define one’s individuality.

• Ethical Sources of a Right to Privacy. The right to privacy is founded in the individual’s fundamental,
universal right to autonomy, in our right to make decisions about our personalexistence without
restriction. This right is restricted by a social contract in our culture that prevents us from infringing on
someone else’s right to his or her personal autonomy. Philosopher Patricia Werhance describes this
boundary as a “reciprocal obligation”; that is, for an individual has a reciprocal obligation to respect
the autonomy of others.

• Economist Antonio Argandona contends that, if new technology is dependent on and has its
substance information and data, significant moral requirements should be imposed on that
information. He suggests the following as necessary elements:

1. Truthfulness and accuracy. The person providing the information must ensure that it istruthful
and accurate, at least to a reasonable degree.

2. Respect for privacy. The person receiving or accumulating information must take into account
the ethical limits of individuals’ (and organizations’) privacy. This would includeissues relating to
company secrets, espionage, and intelligence gathering.

3. Respect for property and safety rights. Areas of potential vulnerability, including networksecurity,
sabotage, theft of information and impersonation, are enhanced and must therefore be
protected.

4. Accountability. Technology allows for greater anonymity and distance, requiring a

concurrent increased exigency for personal responsibility and accountability.

• Managing Employees through Monitoring. One of the most prevalent forms of information gathering
the workplace, in particular, is monitoring employees’ work, and technology hasafforded employers
enormous abilities to do so effectively at very low costs. According to a2011 survey of 120
multinational companies, three-quarters of firms use social networking for business purposes, and
more than 40 percent of businesses report having dealt with issues ofemployee misuse of social
networks.

Business Ethics & Social Responsibility Page 4 of 6

 Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
Governor Pack Road, Baguio City, Philippines 2600
Tel. Nos.: (+6374) 442-3316, 442-8220; 444-2786;
442-2564; 442-8219; 442-8256; Fax No.: 442-6268 Grade Level/Section: ABM -12
Email: email@uc-bcf.edu.ph; Website: www.uc-bcf.edu.ph

MODULE 10- Ethics Subject Teacher: Kenny Jones A. Amlos

The American Management Association has conducted surveys of U.S. firms that show an increasing trend with
regard to employee e-mail monitoring. Its 2007 survey found that 43 percent of firms monitored e-mail
communications. More recently, a 2011 CareerBuilder.com study found that half of surveyed companies
engaged in surveillance of employee e-mail, an increase of 3 percent from the previous year. With the rise of social
media and social networking use in recent years, Internet use monitoring is evolving. Although a 2012 survey found
that only10 percent of companies currently monitor employee use of Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, andother social
media sites, 60 percent of companies anticipate doing so by 2015.

ETHICS AND MARKETING

• The American Marketing Association defines marketing in a way that also suggests that it is at the heart
of business activity, “an organizational function and a set of processes for creating,communicating,
and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships inways that benefit the
organization and its stakeholders.”

• Product safety is a term used to describe policies designed to protect people from risks associated with
thousands of consumer products they buy and use every day. Due care is theidea that consumers and
sellers do not meet as equals and that the consumer’s interests areparticularly vulnerable to being
harmed by the manufacturer, who has knowledge andexpertise the consumer does not have.

• The doctrine of caveat emptor (“let the buyer beware”) is the principle that states the buyer alone is
responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase is made. The buyer
assumes the risk that a product may fail to meet expectations or have defects. Onthe other hand, the
principle of caveat venditor (“let the seller beware”) cautions thatthe seller is responsible for any
problem that the buyer might encounter with a service orproduct. It is a counter to caveat emptor
and suggests that sellers can also be deceived in amarket transaction.

• Product quality refers to the collection of features and characteristics of a product that contribute to its
ability to meet given requirements. It’s the ability of the product to fulfil andmeet the requirements of
the end user.

• Pricing refers to the method of determining the value a producer will get in the exchange of goods
and services. Simply, the pricing method is used to set the price of producer’s offerings relevant to both
the producer and the customer. Some ethical issues in pricing are indicatedbelow:

1. Manipulative Pricing is defined as a series of transactions designed to raise or lower a price of a

product or service to give the appearance of exchange relationships for the purpose of inducing
others to buy or sell.

2. Price Fixing refers to the act of maintaining of prices at a certain level by agreement between
competing sellers, manufacturers, and retailers. This includes horizontal price fixingand vertical price
fixing.

3. Price Gouging is a term referring to when a seller spikes the prices of goods, services or
commodities to a level much higher than is considered reasonable or fair, and is considered
exploitative, potentially to an unethical extent.

• Ethical Issues in Advertising. One of the major marketing activities that firms manage is advertising. Two
major issues, deceptive and ambiguous advertising. Deceptive advertising, also known as false
advertising, refers to a manufacturer's use of confusing, misleading, orblatantly untrue statements
when promoting a product. Advertising law will protect consumersfrom deceptive advertising through
the enforcement of specific legislation. Ambiguous advertising refers to the use of generalized
statements in the promotion of products and services. These could be unclear or open to various
types of interpretation instead of clear,concise and impacting messages that highlight things that
make your brand and productsstronger than others.

Business Ethics & Social Responsibility Page 5 of 6

 Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
Governor Pack Road, Baguio City, Philippines 2600
Tel. Nos.: (+6374) 442-3316, 442-8220; 444-2786;
442-2564; 442-8219; 442-8256; Fax No.: 442-6268 Grade Level/Section: ABM -12
Email: email@uc-bcf.edu.ph; Website: www.uc-bcf.edu.ph

MODULE 10- Ethics Subject Teacher: Kenny Jones A. Amlos

REFERENCES:

BAL 174.4 Jerusalem, Violeta L. (2017). Business Ethics and Social Responsibility:
J487 2017 Concepts, principles, and practices of ethical standards. Manila,
Philippines: FASTBOOKS Educational Supply, Inc.

E-Book Ariely, D. (2009). Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape our Decisions.
Revised and expanded edition. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

E-book Ferrell, O., Fraedrich, J., and Ferrell, L. (2017). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision
Making and Cases. 11th ed. Boston: Cengage Learning.

BAL 174.4 Camilar-Serrano, A. (2016). Business Ethics and Social Responsibility. Manila:
Se683 2016 Unlimited Books Library Services & Publishing, Inc.

BAL 174.4 Hartman, L., DesJardins, J., and MacDonald, C. (2014). Business Ethics:
H2556 2014 Decision Making for Personal Integrity and Social Responsibility. New York: McGraw-
Hill Irwin.

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