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: Grade 12 - ABM
Email: email@uc-bcf.edu.ph; Website: www.uc-bcf.edu.ph

MODULE 10 – ETHICS Subject Teacher:

SPECIAL TOPICS AND CURRENT TRENDS IN

BUSINESS ETHICS AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Learning Objectives:
At the end of this module, student must be able 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.

Contents:

a) Introduction to Social Entrepreneurship

b) Ethical Decision Making: Technology and Privacy in the Workplace
c) Ethics and Marketing

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, and
operations.

 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 and
developed by students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), The Solar Bottle
Bulb is a device based on the principles of Appropriate Technologies – a concept that provides
simple 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 carbonated
drinks, 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 much
light as a 40- to 60-watt incandescent bulb to the interior. A properly installed solar bottle can
last up to 5 years.

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 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: Grade 12 - ABM
Email: email@uc-bcf.edu.ph; Website: www.uc-bcf.edu.ph

MODULE 10 – ETHICS Subject Teacher:

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-friendly
accessories from scratch providing sustainability for the local surfers, women & elders in surfer-
town San Juan, La Union, Philippines.

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) come
from 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 out
people and the planet, dedicated to social and environmental stewardship. Our goal is to do
better 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. The
COURAGE backpack is filled with school supplies and made from water resistant fabric &
reflective stripe.

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 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: Grade 12 - ABM
Email: email@uc-bcf.edu.ph; Website: www.uc-bcf.edu.ph

MODULE 10 – ETHICS Subject Teacher:

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, jewelry
pieces, 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.

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 their
social 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 decisions
that we make about how we live our lives, as well as the control of personal information, play a
crucial role in defining our own personal identity. Privacy is important because it serves to
establish 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 personal
existence 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.

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 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: Grade 12 - ABM
Email: email@uc-bcf.edu.ph; Website: www.uc-bcf.edu.ph

MODULE 10 – ETHICS Subject Teacher:

 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 is
truthful 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 include
issues relating to company secrets, espionage, and intelligence gathering.

3. Respect for property and safety rights. Areas of potential vulnerability, including network
security, 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 has
afforded employers enormous abilities to do so effectively at very low costs. According to a
2011 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 of
employee misuse of social networks.

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 only
10 percent of companies currently monitor employee use of Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and
other 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 in
ways 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 the
idea that consumers and sellers do not meet as equals and that the consumer’s interests are
particularly vulnerable to being harmed by the manufacturer, who has knowledge and
expertise 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. On
the other hand, the principle of caveat venditor (“let the seller beware”) cautions that
the seller is responsible for any problem that the buyer might encounter with a service or
product. It is a counter to caveat emptor and suggests that sellers can also be deceived in a
market transaction.

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 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: Grade 12 - ABM
Email: email@uc-bcf.edu.ph; Website: www.uc-bcf.edu.ph

MODULE 10 – ETHICS Subject Teacher:

 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 and
meet 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 indicated
below:

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 fixing
and 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, or
blatantly untrue statements when promoting a product. Advertising law will protect consumers
from 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 products
stronger than others.

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 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: Grade 12 - ABM
Email: email@uc-bcf.edu.ph; Website: www.uc-bcf.edu.ph

MODULE 10 – ETHICS Subject Teacher:

ACTIVITY 10. FINAL PERFORMANCE TASK: CREATING MY OWN SOCIAL ENTERPRISE

This module mentions that 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,
and unlike a charity, social enterprises pursue endeavors that generate revenues which fund their
social causes. As your final performance task for this course, you are tasked to conceptualize a simple
social enterprise that would respond to the changing needs of our society. For this output, you may
also consider the situation that we are facing right now because of COVID-19.

Please consider the following guide questions:

1. What specific social need or problem would you want to address as a social entrepreneur?
Choose one that preferably aligns with your skills and interests.
2. What particular business name is most appropriate for your business? Provide at least three
choices.
3. What are the advantages that you and the society may obtain out of your social enterprise
venture? Provide at least five of them.
4. Who will benefit from the enterprise? Briefly describe your target beneficiary or beneficiaries.
5. How will you run the enterprise? What products or services will you offer? Who will be your target
market? How will you source and/or acquire your manpower and supplies? How will you build
your network for the enterprise?

SCORING SCORE
Specificity and relevance of the social need or problem 30 points
identified
Comprehensiveness of the enterprise’s functional areas 50 points
(human resources, operations, and marketing)
Level of impact to beneficiaries and other stakeholders 20 points
TOTAL SCORE 100 points

References:

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

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

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

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

“It always seems impossible until it's done.”

Nelson Mandela

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