Stakeholders In Pharmacare: Law, Ethics, And Corporate

PharmaCARE
Bionca Murray
Law, Ethics, & Corp. Governance
Dr. Boneita Campbell
Strayer University
2-19-2015

Stakeholders A stakeholder is a person, group or organization that has interest or concern in an organization (businessdictionary). Generally the common characteristics stakeholders might have are if they stand to gain or lose through the success or failure of the company. “A corporate stakeholder can affect the actions of a business as a whole” (businessdictionary). PharmaCARE is a well-reputed company whose number one goal is to produce quality care products across the world. PhramaCARE’s prime stakeholders include CompCARE, employees and the employers. Any decision PharmaCARE makes can either be a negative or positive
impact on the stakeholders. “An example of a negative impact on stakeholders is when a company needs to cut costs and plans a round of layoffs” (businessdictionary).
Human Rights Although PharmaCARE is well known for the good they do, they also are suffering of ethical and legal issues. Human rights are one of them. “PharmaCARE ethical and corporate responsibility to provide basic employee’s facility and health care services to the Colberia’s population” (Ethics and Corporate Responsibility in the Workplace). Because PharmaCARE employees over 65% of the population they hold the difference between prosperity or poverty for Colberia. Like discussed in the scenario the work conditions are well below poor. Employees are required to walk miles into jungle to harvest plants sometime carrying up to 50lbs for just $1.00 a day. I believe the first thing PrimaCARE should do to improve their human rights is to increase the daily salaries of the “indigenous workers”. By increasing the daily salaries by $1 it would still be well below the average in the U.S. and wouldn’t cause a huge upset in the companies finances. Another recommendation I would address would be to create some form of transportation to get the employees from the jungle area in which they harvest the plants. Walking five miles is not good for the backs of the employees, and slows down the process, Transportation would not only help the workers by not having to carry heavy baskets but also allow them to harvest more plants in a shorter amount of time. The third improvement that PharmaCARE should make to improve there human rights violations would be the conditions of the huts the employees live in. According to the scenario they live in huts with no electricity or running water. If PharmaCare took some of their earning and invested in getting running water, and electricity in the huts of the employees it would create a better rest environment for workers. Another benefit this would create would be the reduction of PharmaCARE’s potential reputation as a human rights violator. Although by US standards PharmaCARE is well below the human rights violations, because their products in harvested in Africa they are not held to US laws. This practice happens amongst many US based companies, like Apple. “In the last decade, Apple has become one of the mightiest, richest and most successful companies in the world, in part by mastering global manufacturing” (Humans Costs are Built into an iPad). However, their work condiation are very harsh and sometimes cause deadly safety problems. Employees who work in these Apple owned plants sometimes work excessive overtime, live in crowded dorms, and are under-age workers. “Two years ago, 137 workers at Apple supplier in eastern China were injured after they were ordered to use poisonous chemicals to clean iPhone screens” (Humans Costs are Built into an iPad). Many believe that this should be illegal and Apple shouldn’t be able to get away with it. Just like PharmaCARE, Apple uses global manufacturing so US laws cannot penalize them.
Environmental Initiative “Environmental initiative builds partnerships with nonprofit, business, and government leaders to work collaboratively to solve environmental problems” (Powerful Partnerships, Effective Solutions). Big companies like PharmaCARE and Apple can make a huge impact on the environment. When they choose to do different campaigns like “Go green” others tend to follow and tend to find more ways to help the environment. According to the scenario PharmaCARE recently launched a new initiative, We CARE about YOUR world. The purpose of the initiative is to educate the consumers that they are not only creating quality goods, but also protecting the environment while doing it. According to the scenario, “PharmaCARE have successfully defeated environmental law and regulations”. However, because of the excessive harvesting and activities in Colberia, PharmaCARE has help destroy endangered native species and the habitat.
Ethical Theories
The conditions in which the employees at PharmaCARE in Colberia, Africa must work under in my opinion are very unfair, and somewhat cruel. However this behavior can be looked under from many different microscopes and ethical theories. Utilitarianism is the belief that a morally good action is one that helps the majority of people. PharamaCARE has good intentions on providing American citizens with quality products, but what about the workers of Colberia? I do believe this would be in ethical accordance to the utilitarianism theory. Although PharmaCARE has a large number of Colberia workers that risk their health for just $1.00/day, PharmaCARE is have been predicted to save millions of lives. Yes their manufacturing process is harsh and unfair but according to utilitarianism as long as the majority of people are happy than it is an ethical practice. On the other side of the company however there is nearly and entire town that lives in poverty to keep this company afloat.
An ethical theory that doesn’t care about the happiness of the people, instead moral obligation is the primary concern is Deontology.
According to the scenario PharmaCARE promises to provide their workers with a better quality of life by providing discounted and sometimes free drugs to low-income consumers, and other benefits like healthcare programs and scholarships. From a deontology perspective PharmaCARE has a moral commitment that they continue to stand by. Another ethical theory that people often mix up with Deontology is Virtue ethics. Virtue Ethics can be identified as the one that emphasizes the virtues, or moral character. Based on the virtue ethics theory PharmaCARE can be considered to be either ethical or unethical. An ethical act of PharmaCARE is that they are looking to enhance the lives of millions with their high-quality products. According to Character based ethics, “virtue ethics is concerned with the whole of a person’s life, rather than particular episodes or actions” (bbc.co.uk). Virtue ethics teaches an action is only right if it is an action that a person would carry out in the same circumstances. In other words according to virtue ethics theory PharmaCARE must be willing to provide the same low-cost drugs even if the manufacture process was more expensive. “Ethics of Care is a theory that is centered around the interdependence of all individuals. It takes into account the fact that certain communities and people are more vulnerable than others, and that you (as the non-vulnerable population) should afford extra consideration to the vulnerable community depending on how they are affected by your choices” (Theoretical Frameworks). It is obviously the workers of PharmaCARE are not created equally. According to the scenario PharmaCARE executives live in luxury compounds, which is high above the average Colberian. Based on the ethics of care theory PharmaCARE actions are
unethical. My own ethical compass believes that PharmaCARE has full obligation ensuring that they are not only doing things right but also doing the right thing. The consumers who use their products are not the ones suffering; it’s the workers in Colberia who are getting the unethical treatment. In my opinion PharmaCARE believes they are doing the right thing because they are offering the citizens of the nation of Colberia employment. Although the workers are living in huts with no electrics or water, PharmaCARE see it as they are helping hundreds of people on a daily bases. Large companies like PharmaCARE and Apple care more about the profit the company brings in and not the labor the employees endure. I am a firm believer that if Americans knew about the harsh work conditions the employees go through in global manufacturing, the sales would decline. This could force many companies who use global manufacturing to treat their customers with care. Although they are not breaking any laws in other countries according to U.S laws their manufacturing process is unethical and I agree. In conclusion PharmaCARE is an organization with a great purpose to serve quality products, but has settled with violating many laws and unethical acts for money. I believe for a business to have continued success it must start within the company’s core, the management. When management cares about the employees and their wellbeing they choose to do the right thing regardless of the money it would bring it.

References http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/stakeholder.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/business/ieconomy-apples-ipad-and-the-human-costs-for-workers-in-china.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://www.environmental-initiative.org http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/introduction/virtue.shtml http://ethicsofisl.ubc.ca/?page_id=170