Ethical Dilemas When Outsourcing and Csr
Outsourcing Production or Moving Away The Locus of Ethical Accountability? Some Findings about Product Safety
Francesca Magno
PH.d. candidate
University of Bergamo
Faculty of Economics
Department of Business Administration
Via dei Caniana, 2
24127 Bergamo
ITALY
e-mail: francesca.magno@unibg.it
Outsourcing Production or Moving Away The Locus of Ethical Accountability? Some Findings about Product Safety
ABSTRACT
The first structured debate about the application of ethics principles to business decisions dates back to the 1960s (Sele, 2006). Anyway the notions of Corporate Social Responsibility developed in that period differ substantially from our modern perspective (Smith, 2001). As a matter of fact today academicians and practitioners recognize that business has an obligation to society that goes beyond obedience to the law when producing and distributing goods and services at a profit (Buchholz, 1991).
Due to its role of gateway between the corporate environment and the company itself, marketing is probably the most important area within the firm to be affected by ethical choices (Tsalikis & Fritzsche, 1989). Therefore ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility have become central topics for marketing decisions (Hunt & Vitell, 2006): they are considered instruments to achieve competitive advantages (Cheah et al., 2007; Hart, 1995) and they therefore represent a clever investment (McWilliams and Siegel, 2001).
According to most advanced theories, companies should not only respect contractual obligations but should also prevent customers from any potential damage deriving from their products (Velasquez, 1988). In order to make it possible, firms should have a complete control over the entire production process in order to be sure that their decisions and declarations about product ethics are then really incorporated in final products.
At the same time, as production
Francesca Magno
PH.d. candidate
University of Bergamo
Faculty of Economics
Department of Business Administration
Via dei Caniana, 2
24127 Bergamo
ITALY
e-mail: francesca.magno@unibg.it
Outsourcing Production or Moving Away The Locus of Ethical Accountability? Some Findings about Product Safety
ABSTRACT
The first structured debate about the application of ethics principles to business decisions dates back to the 1960s (Sele, 2006). Anyway the notions of Corporate Social Responsibility developed in that period differ substantially from our modern perspective (Smith, 2001). As a matter of fact today academicians and practitioners recognize that business has an obligation to society that goes beyond obedience to the law when producing and distributing goods and services at a profit (Buchholz, 1991).
Due to its role of gateway between the corporate environment and the company itself, marketing is probably the most important area within the firm to be affected by ethical choices (Tsalikis & Fritzsche, 1989). Therefore ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility have become central topics for marketing decisions (Hunt & Vitell, 2006): they are considered instruments to achieve competitive advantages (Cheah et al., 2007; Hart, 1995) and they therefore represent a clever investment (McWilliams and Siegel, 2001).
According to most advanced theories, companies should not only respect contractual obligations but should also prevent customers from any potential damage deriving from their products (Velasquez, 1988). In order to make it possible, firms should have a complete control over the entire production process in order to be sure that their decisions and declarations about product ethics are then really incorporated in final products.
At the same time, as production