Assignment task:
FashionSavvy is a large, well-known American clothing company with a very recognizable brand. The company is known to value hard work and creativity. It is also known as a premium wage employer, paying employees that demonstrate its values above the market average for their jobs. FashionSavvy's method of expansion has been to purchase small, successful boutique designers, bring them under its brand, and expand them through more extensive marketing and store placement.
BlingCo is an emerging accessories company, which designs and sells handbags and wallets decorated with a shiny, semi-precious, mineral found in South East Asia. BlingCo's handbags and wallets are made in a Vietnamese factory, which has been criticized by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that advocate for employee rights for its labor practices, mainly related to the wages and the working conditions of employees.
In particular, workers at the Vietnamese factory are paid very low wages and work long days with a few breaks. In addition, the workers in the factory are given certain monthly production goals. If these production goals are not reached by a worker, his or her wage is withheld until the goal is reached. This essentially means that a worker that does not reach his or her production goal can stay without a wage for two months at the least, assuming that he or she reaches the production goal by the following month, as the worker will have to wait until the next pay cycle to receive his or her wage. Finally, the polishing of the shiny mineral used in the handbags and wallets creates a dust, which, if inhaled, can lead to lung disease after prolonged exposure.
While BlingCo's owner does not like the factory's practices, the factory is owned and operated by an independent Vietnamese company that she has no control over. In addition, this factory has been making BlingCo's products since BlingCo's inception, and as such, the factory has an irreplaceable expertise in producing the accessories with the quality her customers expect.
Build arguments using the following topics:
- Find all issues with business ethics
- Use theories of duties and rights
- Use theories of consequence ethics
- Use theories responding to the challenges of cultural relativism