BUS2108 - GLOBAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Individual Project – International Business Ethics
Semester 2, 2023/24 – All Sections
Deadline: The assignment must be submitted via Turnitin before 5 p.m. (17:00) on Friday March 15th.
Project Title:
Ethical issues and global supply chains: An Analysis of Corporate Policies and Disclosure
Alignment with Learning Goals:
This assignment is intended to contribute to the business Programme Learning Goal 7, “Students are able to demonstrate effective consideration of ethical issues in business situations”.
An issue:
Cambridge Dictionary: a problem that people are thinking and talking about
Oxford Dictionary: a problem or worry that somebody has with something
Important Recommendation: You are required to write a critique paper, not a report, so you are required to choose a product that at least has an ethical problem or ethical problems. It would be much appropriate if you choose a product has been facing negative criticism and crises. Reliable news reports may help you to make a choice on the right track.
Required:
You are required to research, evaluate, and reflect upon the ethical dimensions of the global supply chain of something you own (e.g., laptop,t-shirt, food product). In your answer, you should consider and discuss the following questions:
The following is your individual work’s structure:
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Research I. Consider the product you bought – what is it made of and where do the components of the product typically originate from? II. How easily does the firm make it to find information related to the brand's suppliers? How does the brand monitor and assess components of its supply chain? III. Identify issues related to the firm’s supply chain which may raise ethical concerns on the part of the firm or its consumers. Evaluate IV. Does the company have its own code of conduct or adhere to any initiatives regarding supply chain management? Does this satisfactorily cover the ethical issues raised? |
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V. Do the policies of the firm reflect a ‘universal’ or a ‘relativist’ ethical approach by the firm? VI. What recommendations would you make or what other actions could the firm take to improve its ethical behaviour? Reflect VII. With the information you were able to find, would you consider the brand to be ethical? VIII. Did you consider ethical issues before you purchased the product? Would you continue to purchase from this same firm/brand in future? |
Sources of information and choice of product
You can utilise and judge information provided by the firm (e.g., websites/ annual reports, etc.) in your answers; however, you should NOT RELY ONLY on information from the firm, which only provides one- sided and positive information to the general public.
Try to make use of your internet and reliable search skills to review accreditation bodies, uncover any criticisms of the firm, or look for issues related to suppliers / countries / industries involved in their supply chains.
You can pick absolutely any product that you have bought from any company. The only exceptions to this are (1) you CANNOT pick products made by either STARBUCKS, UNIQLO, NIKE, SAMSUNG, or APPLE (there is too much,too easily available, information and published resources available on these firms), as well as (2) you CANNOT pick products and cases discussed in Section 4 and 5, for avoiding copy and paste of our discussion points in classes.
Length and format of Report
Your report should be approximately 1,500 – 2,000 words in length excluding References and Appendices. Please attach copies of relevant news clippings, ethical codes of conduct etc. as necessary. Please also attach a photo of yourself together with
the product you have chosen for the project. As far as possible the report should be written in the format of a conventional business report, rather than that of an essay. This means dividing the report into sections with appropriate section titles and numbering.
Date and Place of Submission - before 5 p.m. (17:00) on Friday March 15th.
Submit a Turnitin version of your report You are required to write an essay of 1,500-2,000 words on a project topic related to International Business Ethics. Please pay attention to the notes on referencing and plagiarism. Penalties will be assigned for late submission. No e-mailed submissions will be accepted.
Marking and Return of Reports
The projects will be marked in accordance with the marking rubric attached to this assignment. Check your finished report against the marking rubric to make sure that you have fulfilled all the criteria of the assignment. Reports will be marked and returned to you as promptly as possible.
Plagiarism and referencing issues
This is an individual assignment. You should not discuss it with your classmates and the work submitted must be all your own. Selected assignments maybe analyzed using the Turnitin anti-plagiarism software.
When making reference to external sources, please make use of in-text references or use of appropriate footnotes, instead of just a listing of sources at the end of your submission.
Please refer to a file relating to “APA Referencing Skills” under “Group Work Details” on Moodle. You will get more basic information about APA style.
Important: NO Generative AI-tools are allowed for any individual and group work!
Questions
Your lecturer will be pleased to answer any specific questions you may have about this assignment. By e-mail, please make an appointment to speak with your lecturer during his/her assigned office hours, providing an indication of when you would like to meet with the lecturer and a summary of the questions you would like to ask.
Alternatively, emailing your questions to your lecturer is welcome.
Note: This project was originally developed by the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. It has been adapted from that source for use in this course.