Business Academic Skills Essay

Question: Evaluation of the business conduct in the clothing, textile and footwear industries. Answer: Introduction With the universal recognition of the clothing, textile and footwear (CTF) industries and the globalization of the economy playing as the driving force for development and growth, ethical principles are important for the well-being of the workers and the organization. The industries with a strong sense of ethical responsibilities are in a constant process to improve the employee condition through strategic measures and innovative policies customized for their employees (Fibre2fashion.com 2016). However, there are incidences where especially the international labors are exploited and the domestic workers are mistreated. This assignment will determine that business ethics are essential in the clothing, textile and footwear industries and the principles of Global Business Standards Codex are crucial for evaluation of the business conduct. Fair business policies will promote the ethical virtues in the organization that will bring justice to the workers. Fast fashion is the trend at the moment with reinvented supply chains that promotes globalization (Tokatli 2008). Globalization promotes the economic development of the country which in turn improves the material welfare of the workers. This can be maintained with fairness in the labor laws and standards. With globalization, the problem of exploitation has aggravated and although several preventive procedures have been adopted, they are not sufficient to protect the international workers in the foreign lands (Keiser and Garner 2012). The dignity of the workers and transparency in business can be maintained with proper protection of labor rights (Pc.gov.au 2016). It is the ethical responsibility of the CTF organizations to protect their workers and conduct a healthy business without exploitation and injustice. This includes providing the workers with reasonable wages, appropriate living and working conditions (Hoang and Jones 2012. This will also improve the output of the labors and therefore, the productivity will also be high. Sociopolitical reforms aids to play a critical role in reducing violations of the labor laws and sound inter-business agreements prevents exertion of pressure on the workers with longer deadlines (Life-Cycle 2012). Workers rights and safety are thus protected with these ethical measures. Justified pricing of the products even in the era of fast fashion can generate revenues to maintain the ethical standards of the organization for employee welfare. Distribution of benefits is a broad term that applies to the CTF industry as well since globalization is in progress with global sourcing. Equal benefits should be offered to the workers of an organization with international and domestic workers and judgment should be impartial (Hw.ac.uk 2016). Promotion of fair trade principles also helps to reduce the economic burden on the supplying firms and this, in turn, helps to reduce deception and cheating of the workers along with over burdening with work. Corporate social responsibilities and designated labor standards are very much effective in maintaining the dignity of the workers and transparency and fairness in the business (Hoang and Jones 2012). Evidence does not support these ethical statements as there are incidences that expose the sweatshop labor and exploitation of labors in the CTF industries. Fast fashion has drastically increased the demand for CTF products and this has, in turn, made the supplying firms break the ethical chains for supplying the demands (Crinis 2010). In addition, the foreign workers hailing from poorer countries are made to work harder in the developed countries that violate their rights and dignity and even challenge the safety measures. Factory audits are falsified and labor standards are developed to exhibit fairness and transparency, however, they are never applied in the interest of the poor labors and workers. Long working hours and lower wages are associated with sweatshop labor and exploitation (Snyder 2010). From the essay, it can be deduced that although there are several measures undertaken by various countries to protect the rights and dignity of the workers, they are either not followed or violated. These results in breaching of the ethical guidelines and increase in the misery of the workers in the CTF industries. Reformed supply chain ethics can solve this issue to a greater extent (Gwilt and Rissanen 2011). Foreign labor laws can be beneficial in protecting the foreign workers in foreign lands. Corporate codes of conduct and their appropriate implementation are also important for the reduction of exploitation of labor. Overall, it can be stated that the ethical principles of Global Business Standards Codex can be beneficial in the evaluation and fair maintenance of the business conduct. References Crinis, V., 2010, Sweat or no sweat: Foreign workers in the garment industry in Malaysia,Journal of contemporary Asia,vol.40, no.4, pp.589-611, viewed 28 September 2016, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00472336.2010.507046. Fibre2fashion.com 2016,Ethical issues in fashion - the what, when, why, how and who - Free Fashion Industry Articles - Fibre2fashion.com, viewed 28 September 2016, https://www.fibre2fashion.com/industry-article/2537/ethical-issues-in-fashion?page=1. Gwilt, A. and Rissanen, T., 2011.Shaping sustainable fashion: Changing the way we make and use clothes. Routledge, London. Hoang, D. and Jones, B., 2012, Why do corporate codes of conduct fail? 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