Business Ethics Important Industries of Worldâ€Myassignmenhelp.Com

Question: Discuss About the Business Ethics Important Industries of World? Answer: Introducation The garment industry is one of the most important industries of the world, and it is the worlds biggest and oldest export sector. The garment industry is worth of $450 billion, with an employment of 25 million laborers in more than 100 countries. This industry faces many challenges of the working condition, such as, low wages, sweatshop conditions, flexible contracts etc., globally as well as locally (Reinhard et al. 2013). The foundation of this industry is the misery of the labor, exploitation of the child labor, lowest possible wages, leading to starvation and cramped workplaces. The informal workers face many difficulties such as isolation, lack of power Marketing, invisibility, since they work from their homes. Especially, in the developing countries, these informal workers have to work under strenuous circumstances at a wage, which is much less than the standard living wage (Wiego.org 2015). Other than the exploitation of cheap labor, there are other unethical practices, such a s illegal copy of designs, counterfeiting of labels and trademarks, and high mark-ups of prices. Globally the manufacturers hunt for cheaper labor, and locally, the sweatshops of the industry play the crucial role in unethical practices of the industry. The big fashion houses, which have their own local sweatshops, are Forever 21, The Gap and Wet Seal. Forever and Wet Seal have their sweatshops in downtown L.A. These shops violate the worker welfare regulations. The Gap has their sweatshops in developing countries like India. They hire mostly child labor to cut their costs. Despite being local or global, this industry violates the rules for employee protection (Fastfashion 2016). One of the major unethical concerns is the long operational hours and enforced overtime of the workers at the lowest wage possible. In this sector, the workers have normal working hours of 10 to 12 hours. But in case of any order deadline, the hours stretch to 16 to 18 hours, or sometimes more than that. In China, it has been found that, in peak time, the workers have to work non-stop for 13-14 hours, and until their arms hurt (Butollo 2015). The garment employees in Thailand sometimes work two shifts a day. The management put pressures on the workers to work overtime, without extra money and if they fail to work, they face various penalties, abuses and dismissals (Cox 2015). The corporate garment houses mostly are not concerned with the health and safety of the workers. Due to poor level of ergonomics, the workers suffer from exhaustion, eyestrain, and other injuries, and in most cases, the factory management do not help them to diagnose and treat the illnesses and in spite of that, pressurize them to work. The employees face wage cuts or get fired if they take time off for medical purposes. Other than work pressure, there are work environment pollution such as exposure to harmful chemicals, noise, heat, lack of clean amenities, which bring about health hazards for the workers. However, the companies tend to overlook these factors and force the workers to work overtime (Wiego.org 2015). It has been found, that in Bangladesh, almost 200 garment workers died and many were injured in fires during 2004 to 2006. Same thing happened in 2012 also when 112 workers were killed. The women employees also face discrimination in these factories from the management wh en they get married or become pregnant. All these are unethical practices by the garment producing company (Anisul Huq, Stevenson, and Zorzini 2014). These unethical practices have a bad effect on the culture and demographic condition of the country and on the image and reputation of the company. These practices have claimed lives of many people, which is absolutely undesirable. The companies do not help in improving the working and living conditions of the economy, rather they make it worse by raising the poverty level. References: Anisul Huq, F., Stevenson, M. and Zorzini, M., 2014. Social sustainability in developingMarketing country suppliers: An exploratory study in the ready made garments industry of Bangladesh.International Journal of Operations Production Management,34(5), pp.610-638. Butollo, F., 2015. Growing against the odds: government agency and strategic recoupling as sources of competitiveness in the garment industry of the Pearl River Delta.Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, p.rsv020. Cox, A., 2015. The pressure of wildcat strikes on the transformation of industrial relations in a developing country: The case of the garment and textile industry in Vietnam.Journal of Industrial Relations,57(2), pp.271-290. Fastfashion, 2016. Unethical Production. [online] Available at: https://fastfashion.weebly.com/unethical-production.html [Accessed 9 May 2017]. Reinhard, K., Schmidt, D., Rtzel, F. and Zentgraf, M., 2013. Working conditions in the global fashion industry. [online] The world of labour. Available at: https://laboureconomics.wordpress.com/2013/04/30/working-conditions-in-the-global-fashion-industry/ [Accessed 8 May 2017]. Wiego.org, 2015. Garment workers. [online] Wiego.org. Available at: https://www.wiego.org/informal-economy/occupational-groups/garment-workers [Accessed 8 May 2017].