MAJOR ETHICAL
ISSUES
ENTREPRENEURS
IN
HIP
CONTENT
F UNFAIR COMMUNICATION
G NON-RESPECT OF AGREEMENTS
H ENVIRONMENTAL
DEGRADATION
I CONTRACTUALIZATION
J INTERNATIONAL ETHICAL ISSUES
F. UNFAIR
COMMUNICATION
Unethical communications are interactions that involve
deceit, manipulation, misinformation, or any form of
dishonesty. These practices can occur in various forms,
such as spreading false information, withholding important
facts, or using manipulative language to influence others
unfairly.
HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF UNFAIR
COMMUNICATION IN BUSINESS PRACTICES.
1. MATTHIAS
RATH
Matthias Rath is a vitamin entrepreneur who used to be a doct or and is
cunsidered to be the most powerful of all "crackpots." He recommends
vitamin pills to cure even serious ailments. In UK ads, he claimed that
90% of cancer pat ient s di e within several months of starting chemo,
arguing that corporations let them die for profit. Yet, he uses his lies to
sell an HIV/AIDS "miracle cure", saying that HIV doesn't cause AIDS and
antiretroviral drugs wan't work, leading to the spread af intections in
Sauth Africa.
2. AUSTRALIA AND 3. PARM ALAT (ITALY, 24
NEW ZEALAND DEC 2003, BUSINESS
BANKING GROUP TYPE: FOOD)
Australia and New Zealand
Banking Group scandal involves The company's finance directors
misleading file notes in the concealed large debts ("List of
Financial Ombudsman Service Corporate Collapses and
(Australia) presented to the Scandals," 2016).
Victorian Supreme Court (*List
of Corporate Collapses and
Scandals," 2016).
4. Arthur Andersen (The United 5. ENRON (THE UNITED
States, 15 June 2002, STATES, 28 NOVEM BER
Accounting) 2001, ENERGY)
A US court convicted Andersen Energy Directors and executives
of obstruction of justice by fraudulently concealed large
shredding documents relating to losses in Eron's projects at $63.4
Enron scandal (*List of billion. A number were sentenced
Corporate Collapses and to prison ("List of Corporate
Scandals," 2016). Collapses and Scandals,"2016).
6. BRE-X (CANADA, 7. FANNIE M AE 8.
1997, MINING) COM M ONWEALTH
BANK OF
After widespread AUSTRALIA
Provision of unsuitable
reports that Bre-X had Fannie Mae, financial advice to a large
found a gold mine in underreporting of profits amount of customers
Indonesia, the stories ("List of Corporate between 2013 and 2012 and
were found to be Collapses and Scandals, continuous delay in
fraudulent ("List of 2016). providing compensation to
Corporate Collapses and victims ("List of Corporate
Scandals, "2016) Collapses and Scandals,
2016).
9. PHAR-M OR 10. RADIOSHACK
COM PANY
Phar-Mor Company lied to RadioShack CEO David
shareholders. CEO eventually Edmondson lied about attaining a
sentenced to prison for fraud and B. A. degree from Pacific Coast
company eventually became Baptist College in California
bankrupt ("List of Corporate ("List of Corporate Collapses and
Collapses and Scandals, 2016). Scandals, 2016).
G. NON-RESPECT OF
AGREEMENTS
• is a breach of contract.
BREACH OF CONTRACT
- legal cause of action in which a binding agreement
or bargained for exchange is not honored by one or
more of the parties to the contract by non-
performance or interference with the other party's
performance. If the party does not fulfill his
contractual promise or has given information to the
other party that he will not perform his duty as
mentioned in the contract or if by his action and
conduct he seems to be unable to perform the
contract, he is said to breach the contract.
(Chisholm & Shuttie, 2016) Breach of contract is a
type of civilwrong. (Williams, 1982)
HERE ARE SOME CLASSIC
EXAMPLES OF NON-
RESPECT OF AGREEMENTS
BY BUSINESSES:
Case Story: Revelations Perfume and Cosmetics Inc. vs.
Prince Rogers Nelson
In 2008, the R eve lations Pe rfume a nd Cosmetics Company sued the
famous musicia n "Prince " and his music la bel, seeking $100,000 in dama ges for
reneging on an agree ment to he lp ma rket their perfume s. The flamboya nt pop
star had promise d to persona lly promote the company's new perfume named
after his 2006 album "3121," and to allow his name a nd likeness to be used in
the perfume's pa cka ging. Prince then refuse d to grant interviews related to the
project, and re fused to provide a current photograph for a press rele ase.
In its brea ch of contract c omplaint, Re velations asked the court to awa rd
more than 53 million in lost profits, as well as punitive damages. The judge
found no evide nce , howeve r, that the pop star ac ted with ma lic ious inte nt, and
ordered him to pa y nearly $4 million for the cosmetics company's out-of-pocket
expenses, Reve lations' request for punitive and loss-of-profits dama ges was
denied.
CASE STORY: MACY'S V. MARTHA
STEWART LIVING
Macy's department stores filed a breach of contract complaint against
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia for making an agreement with J.C. Penney for
the creation of Martha Steward retail stores within their retail stores beginning
February 2013. Prior to the deal, J.C. Penney had purchased a minority stake in
Steward's company for 538,5 million. The mini-retail stores were to carry
Martha Stewart home goods, however, Macy's argued they had been granted an
exclusive right to make and sell certain Martha Steward Living products in an
agreement signed in 2006.
Macy's asked the court to grand a preliminary injunction to stop Steward
from breaching the contract while the court considered the matter. Twelve years
later, in June 2014, a New York Judge ruled that 1.C. Penney had indeed stepped
over Macy's contract with the domestic diva in its attempt to sell products
bearing her name. While the J.C. Penney contract has been nullified, monetary
H. ENVIRONMENTAL
DEGRADATION
• is the deterioration of the environment through depletion
of resources such as air, water and soil; the destruction of
ecosystem and the extinction of wildlife.
• It is define as any change or disturbance to the
environment perceived to be deleterious or undesirable
( Johnson D.L, S.H Ambrose, T.J Bassett, M.L Bowen, D.E
Crummey, J.S Isaacson, D.N Johnson, P Lamb, M Saul and
A.E Winternelson 1997)
• refers to the decl i ne i n t he qual i t y of t he natural
environment, caused by vari ous factors such as
pol lution, overexpl oi tat ion of resources, habitat
destruction, and cl i mate change.
HERE ARE CLASSIC
EXAMPLES OF BUSINESSES
WHOSE UNETHICAL
BEHAVIORS AND PRACTICES
RESULTED IN
ENVIRONMENTAL
CASE STORY: CHEVRON (HASTLEY,
2013)
Chevron attempted to undermine the Ecuadorian court when a lawsuit
was brought against them for deliberately dumping billions of gallons of toxic
waste into the South American rainforest, creating the "Amazon Chernobyl."
Amazingly, they went on to try and hide behind US courts and deny any
involvement despite overwhelming scientific evidence of their responsibility for
this atrocity.
Chevron is also accused of faking a letter from the Ecuadorian
ambassador which falsely dismissed the lawsuit, of attempting to destroy all
documents relating to the spill, blocking the gathering of scientific evidence,
and refusing to pay court experts. They even went so far as to hire a drug dealer
to try and create an unlawful sting operation against the judge presiding over
the case in an attempt to discredit him. It didn't work, but the trial was delayed
an extra two years because of it. Chevron has been caught trying to evade
paying millions in taxes and has been accused of 18 years of unethical practices
Case Story: Barrick Gold Corporation
(Hastley, 2013; www.enkivillage.com)
Barrick Corporation, a Toronto-based gold-mining company,
has been voted as Covalence's 12th most unethical company in the
world. It was accused of torching up to 300 homes in Papua New
Guinea in order to make room for their mining operation. Landowners
were given no time to gather possessions and were reportedly
physically attacked by armed guards if they attempted to protest the
impromptu and violent eviction.
Barrick Corporation is also accused of manipulating land titles
in Australia and Chile, and of dumping toxic waste with high levels of
arsenic in Tanzania.
I. CONTRACTUALIZATION
(CONTRACTUALIZATION,
"2016)
Contractualization or labor contractualization is the replacing of
regular workers with temporary workers who receive lower wages
with no or less benefits. These temporary workers are also known as
sometimes called contractuals, trainees, apprentices, helpers, casual,
piece raters, agency-hired, and project employees, am ong others.
They do the work of regular workers for a specified and lim ited
period of time, usually less than six months. The work they do is
"desirable and necessary" for the company's survival , but they never
become regular employees even if they get rehired repeatedly under
new contracts.
While contractual employment is allowed under Article 106 of
the Labor Code of the Philippines, this clause has been used
and abused over time and led to the contractualization of labor.
Contractualization is not a unique case in the Philippines. It is
also prevalent in other countries. Contractualization has
evolved and assumed different names but the bottomline
remains the same: Workers find no security in terms of tenure
and benefits, among others, in the job.
Case Story: "Endo" in the Philippines
"Endo" is short for "end of contract," which is the stage when a
contractual employee is severed from his employment.
According to the Asia-Pacific Research Network, in 2000, 20 branches
of SM, the biggest retail trade store in the country, 92 percent of the
workers are either direct hired or concessionaire hired contractuals.
This has been the practice in the retail business such as SM, Robinsons
and Rustan's, and companies engaged in semiconductors and
electronics, garments, retail/mall and manufacturing in general.
The case of Philippine Airlines is also a case of contactualization
where the regular pilots were offered an early retirement package and
would then be rehired with lower salaries and less benefits as pilots of
AirPhil Express, which is a sister company of PAL.
To date, this trend on contractualization has spread to business process
outsourcing with 208,316 non-regular workers or close to one-third of the
total 731, 548 workers in all industries. In 2008, DOLE through the Bureau of
Employment Labor and Statistics conducted a survey. The survey indicated
that some 25 percent of the total workers fall under the non-regular worker
category such as probationary worker, casual worker, contractual/project-
based workers, seasonal worker, and apprentice/learner.
CONTRACTUALIZATION OF
LABOR IS FAVORABLE TO THE
1. Union and strikes are 2. Contractual workers 3. Contractual workers do
prevented as workers as EMPLOYERS:
replaced retrenched not have benefits such as
Ceo Of Ingoude
strictly they are not regular workers.
Company PhilHealth and SSS.
employees of the
employer or principal. A
five-month or less
contract also does not
give the employees a
chance to organize.
INTERNATIONAL ETHICAL
ISSUES (ETHICAL ISSUES
WITHIN BUSINESS, 2016)
While business ethics emerged as a field in the 1970s,
international business ethics did not emerge until the late
1990s, looking back on the international developments of
that decade. Many new, practical issues arose out of the
international context of business. Theoretical issues,
such as cultural relativity of ethical values receive more
emphasis in this field. Other, older issues can be
grouped here as well.
ISSUES AND SUB FIELDS
INCLUDE:
01 The search for universal values as a basis for international
commercial behavior.
02 Comparison of business ethical traditions in different
countries, with comparisons made on the basis of their
respective GDP and corruption rankings.
03 Comparison of business ethical traditions from various
religious perspectives
Ethical issues arising out of international business
04
transactions (e.g., bioprospecting and biopiracy in the
pharmaceutical industry, the fair trade movement, transfer
pricing.)
05 Issues, such as globalization and cultural imperialism.
06 Varying global standards (e.g., the use of child labor)
The way in which multinationals take advantage of
07
international differences, such as outsourcing production
(e.g., clothes) and services (e.g., call centers) to low-wage
countries.
08 The permissibility of international commerce with
embargoed states. ("Ethical Issues Within a Business, "
2016)
Case study: Bernie Madoff
Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for
running the biggest fraudulent scheme in U.S history. Even now, only
a few of his victims have since regained all of their losses.
A well respect financier, Madoff convince thousand of investor
to hand over their savings, falsely promising consistent profit in
return. He was caught in December 2008 and charged with 11 counts
of fraud, money laundering, perjury and theft (Yang, 2014)
Case study: FIFA
Som e 14 people, comprising FIFA officials and m arketing
executive, were arrested in May 2015 as part of an investigation by the
FBI and IRS Crim inal Investigation Division, following suspicion of
corruption within the sporting organization.
Som e $150m in brides were said to have changed hands to decide
where broadcasting rights would land, alongside other racketeering and
money laundering claims. The South African Football Association is
reported to have paid $10m to the FA as a sweetener to win the right to
host the World Cup in 2010.
Following this, investigation into the FIFA World Cup 2018 and
2022, which are bound for Russia and Qatar, have commenced in order to
determine the legitimacy of the bidding process.
There have been calls for FIFA President Sepp Blatter to
stand down, but he is set to remain in power until as early as
February 2016, at which time the football organization will elect a
successor.
Comedian Lee Nelson took advantage of the chaos recently
and "bribed" Blatter at a press conference, showering him in money
to host the World Cup 2016 in North Korea. (Terrelonged, 2015)
THANK YOU
GROUP 2:
• Alarcon, Meisey Loraine
• Bernacer, Samuel Jay
• Bisnar, Emilia
• Del Carmen, Jennifer
• Diaz, Kenneth
• Pandes, Ashley Nicole
• Portez, Tiffany
• Sta. Clara, Roberto III
• Streeter, Sophia
