Unit IV Journal
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Unit IV Journal
Christina M. Jones
Columbia Southern University
PHI 6301: Business Ethics
Todd Hughes
August 30, 2023
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The belief that businesses should be required to protect the environment is subjective. There are several questions that need to be considered before taking a stand. Why should businesses help protect the environment? What should they protect? How will they protect it? Why does the environment need to be protected? Does the business’s area of the environment they are protecting affect me? Depending on an individual’s answer to these questions, their answer may go either way. Someone who believes that environmental protection is important may think that businesses should be required to partake. Others who have no knowledge or concern on the changes in the environment may not care if businesses are required to protect the environment. When a business makes sustainability a part of their culture, they are making a commitment to the people who support their business. Sustainability considers the social and environmental considerations that a business develops themselves around (Bonini & Swartz, 2014). These considerations impact internal and external stakeholders for the business in the present and future. Even if unbeknownst to the consumer, these sustainable business decisions directly impact the world the consumer lives in. For loyal consumers, these sustainable business decisions not only impact the consumer in the present, but also their future generations that may share their love for a product or brand (DesJardins, 2020). In contrast, businesses who fail to incorporate sustainability are likely fostering a utilitarian view and focusing on profit, rather than
long term effects (DesJardins, 2020). There are several negative impacts that can result from sustainability neglect by any business. For example, using cost-cutting methods may save the business money, but have a negative impact on the environment in which their consumers use their product. A prime example of this would Volkswagen’s violation of EPA guidelines in order to save money, where the end result was increased emissions into the environment (DesJardins,
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2020). Instead of Volkswagen spending a little extra for each vehicle they manufactured, they instead needed to dish out a large dollar amount in lawsuit fees (DesJardins, 2020). For Volkswagen, their ends did not meet their means. In order to establish or improve their sustainability efforts, businesses should determine which actions they need to take to fully live out that mission. First, businesses should do extensive research on where they are obtaining their resources from. These resources include parts, power and water, fuel, and more. Businesses should ensure they are getting their resources from places that will not cause a deficit in those resources to others. For instance, water, if a business is using an excessive amount of water for production or manufacturing, they must ensure they are not depleting local resources. In addition, if neither the business nor the consumer has access to these local necessary resources, there could potentially be a delay in production (Bonini & Swartz, 2014).
From a global sustainability perspective, businesses should consider their resource consumption, as well as their emissions into the environment. Environmental emissions are detrimental to global warming, a similar issue that was addressed in the Volkswagen case (DesJardins, 2020). The business needs to place global sustainability at the head of their priority list in order to ensure that they are able to deliver their product or service to consumer now and in the future. If these businesses run on significant amounts of power or gas, they should consider alternative solutions to minimize this resource consumption, improving their environmental impact. Each business should evaluate the three pillars of sustainable practices, and their role in executing them; ensuring they are socially, economically, and environmentally adequate (DesJardins, 2020).
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References
Bonini, S., & Swartz, S. (2014, July 1). Profits with Purpose: How Organizing for Sustainability Can Benefit the Bottom Line
. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/sustainability/our-insights/profits-with-purpose-
how-organizing-for-sustainability-can-benefit-the-bottom-line DesJardins, J. (2020). An Introduction to Business Ethics [VitalSource Bookshelf version] (6th ed.). Retrieved from https://onlin.vitalsource.com/#books/9781260687354