Business ethics and social responsibility do you agree with this policy why or why not i agree with this policy

THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE UNIVERSITY OF FINANCE – MARKETING  ESSAY ENDING SECTION INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS 1st Semester, 2022 Lecturer To Anh Tho Course name Business Ethics and Social Responsibility[.]

THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE

UNIVERSITY OF FINANCE – MARKETING



ESSAY ENDING SECTION INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

1st Semester, 2022

Lecturer: To Anh Tho Course name: Business Ethics and Social Responsibility

Topic number: 1 Course section: 2231910006301

Class: IP_20DKQ Due date: 08/12/2022 Format: Group of 3 members Documents are allowed Lengths allowed: 3000 – 4000 words

1 Nguyễn Thị Diểm – 2021009197

2 Quách Gia Hân – 2021009199 (Leader)

3 Phạm Đình Tường Vân – 2021009221

You are the purchasing manager of a large manufacturing company Your

company values integrity and business integrity To develop relationships with suppliers, you often contact and have lunches with sales representatives of these companies In response to your goodwill, Mr Hung - who is the director of a

company that supplies the main materials for your company (accounting for 30%

of your company's purchases) - invited you and your wife to a year-end party and they would bring a car to pick you up You happily agreed, but you realized that this was an intimate dinner at a top-class restaurant when you arrived Mr Hung explained that his company's year-end party had been postponed to the following week but he still invited you to come here because of his promise At dinner, Mr Hung asked your wife to join a champagne-opening program at the restaurant Two weeks later, your wife received a high-quality diamond-studded set of gold jewelry from the restaurant's program With intuition and social experience, you know this

is no coincidence You are thinking very hard because the company's policy

requires employees not to use the company's work for personal gain

Discussion questions

1 Do you agree with this policy? Why or why not?

I agree with this policy

For acts of embezzlement, corruption, and taking advantage of their jobs, positions, and powers to appropriate the employer's property, for personal gain; This

behavior not only affects the production and business activities of the enterprise, the interests of the employer, but also disturbs the labor discipline order, workplace rules, and affects the community of workers around, causing panic among

employees at the workplace Employees must treat each other fairly, with

customers, suppliers, business partners, and the company A conflict of interest arises when someone has a personal, financial, or other relationship that could interfere with that person's responsibility to treat each other fairly, or when

someone uses their official position for personal gain and at the company's

expense It is strictly forbidden to misuse company resources or influence through your position in the Company Even the superficial form of a conflict of interest must be avoided because this can have negative effects

2 Would it be against corporate policy to accept such a gift? Give your

explanation

- There are 3 solutions to this situation:

Firstly, if the purchasing manager accepts that gift, he will be considered a person

who takes advantage of the company's work for his own gain

Mr Hung, who gave the high-quality diamond-studded set of gold jewelry, will use this opportunity to push things further; he can give more gifts to benefit

himself Maybe Mr Hung will propagate to outsiders and other businesses bad things about him The fact that Mr Hung goes around spreading the word about him receiving that gift will more or less affect his career in particular and the

reputation of the company in general

Egoism is a philosophy concerned with the role of the self, or ego, as the

motivation and goal of one's own action Different theories of egoism encompass a range of disparate ideas and can generally be categorized into descriptive or

normative forms That is, they may be interested in either describing that people act in self-interest or prescribing that they should Other definitions of egoism may instead emphasize action according to one's will rather than one's self-interest, and furthermore, posit that this is a truer sense of egoism The act of receiving Mr Hung's gift from the purchasing manager is against the company's policy and will cause many internal controversies The act of receiving such a valuable gift partly shows that he is a person who only thinks about personal interests and does not care about business interests

Secondly, if the purchasing manager refuses to accept the gift, he is not violating

company policy

The company values integrity and business integrity, and he did so by not being tempted by a gift of great value Since the purchasing manager is in regular contact and lunch with the company's raw material reps, he is likely to have a better

understanding of the personalities and intentions of each agent There are

representatives who will take advantage of this business opportunity to boost sales and build strong relationships with the other party, and there are other agents who will have high desires by bribing the company with luxurious and expensive gifts for profit Because of such integrity, the sales manager can immediately realize that Mr Hung's actions are not random, is a job that goes against the company's policy, and needs to be stopped right away We also do not know whether Mr Hung has bad intentions or not, so the best solution is to politely and skillfully refuse the gift to avoid future risks

Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that advocates actions that promote happiness or pleasure and oppose actions that cause unhappiness or harm When it comes to making social, economic, or political decisions, utilitarianism works for the

betterment of society as a whole According to this philosophy, the right action is the action that brings happiness to the greatest number of people in a group or a society The objective, obviously, is to create the greatest degree of benefits for the largest number of people while incurring the least amount of damage or harm The act of refusing Mr Hung's gift from the purchasing manager is a correct and safe

action He has put the company's interests above his own, realizing Mr Hung's

"unusual" actions

Thirdly, the purchasing manager can also receive that gift and give Mr Hung

another gift as two big business houses together

The gift received by the purchasing manager and the gift used to give it to Mr Hung must be reported to his superiors for financial clarity and to prove that this mutual gift-giving has the nature of tightening the relationship between the two companies Doing so will make the two sides more goodwill towards each other and long-term cooperation This action means "reciprocity", showing sincerity to the other party

After all, as mentioned above, it is the wife of the purchasing manager who

receives the gift He can refuse or accept the gift on his wife's behalf, but the

decision is still up to the wife If the wife is smart enough, she will politely decline the gift to protect her husband's reputation and her husband's company However,

if the wife is blinded by the great value of the gift and immediately accepts the gift, she will plunge the company into the abyss and her relationship with her husband will become even more acrimonious The fact that she accepts that gift will greatly affect her husband, her husband will be said to be a pragmatist who only knows how to take advantage of work to gain profit

Regarding employees receiving gifts from suppliers or customers of the Company, this will make employees unfair or biased in dealing with and handling problems with suppliers or customers affecting the interests of the Company However, the current law only regulates the receipt of gifts from State agencies, organizations and units, and State officials, public servants, and employees according to the provisions of the Law on Anti-Corruption, but not has regulations for other objects Moreover, receiving gifts is not an act that directly causes conflicts of interest in labor, but only affects employees, causing conflicts of interest in labor indirectly,

so it is difficult to be considered as a direct violation from the point of view of current Vietnamese law

3 Put yourself in the position of Mr Hung

Is his conduct is unethical? Why or why not?

Business ethics is a set of principles and standards that regulate, evaluate, guide, and control the behavior of business entities Business ethics is the ethics applied

in business activities Business ethics is a form of professional ethics

Business ethics is specific to business activities – because business is an activity associated with economic benefits, the aspect expressed in ethical behavior is not quite the same as other activities: Pragmatism and the importance of economic efficiency are good virtues of the business world, but if applied to other fields such

as education, health or to other social relations such as husband and wife,

parents, children, those are bad habits that are criticized by society However, it should be noted that ethics and business are always governed by a common value system and social ethical standards

- Principles and standards of business ethics:

First, honesty

Do not use deceitful and deceitful tricks to make a profit Keeping promises,

keeping credibility in business, being consistent in saying and doing, being honest

in obeying the laws of the state, not doing illegal business such as tax evasion, tax smuggling, and not producing and trading goods prohibited by the country,

performing services harmful to fine customs and traditions, being honest in

communication with customers (transactions, negotiations, signing), and

consumers do not make fake goods, fake promotions, untruthful advertisement, illegally using famous trademarks, infringing copyrights, pirating dumping, being honest with oneself, not bribery, embezzlement, fraud, "occupying public-private affairs"

Second, respect for people

For associates and subordinates, respect for dignity, legitimate rights, happiness, respect for employees' development potential, due care, respect for freedoms, and other legal rights For customers: respect the needs, preferences, and psychology of customers For competitors, respect the interests of competitors

Third, associate the interests of the business with the interests of customers and

society, and attach importance to efficiency associated with social responsibility

Finally, confidentiality and loyalty to special responsibilities

- The subject of regulation of business ethics is the subject of business activities In

a broad sense, the subject of business activities includes all those who are the

subject of business relations and acts

First, business class

Business ethics govern the ethical behavior of all members of business

organizations (households, companies, enterprises, corporations) such as the board

of directors, members of the Board of Directors, and employees This adjustment is mainly through leadership and management in each of those organizations

Business ethics are referred to as professional ethics

Second, business customers

When they are shoppers, their actions come from their own economic interests, and they all have the mentality of wanting to buy cheaply and be served thoughtfully This mentality is no different from the "buy cheap, sell high" mentality of business people, so it is also necessary to have an orientation of business ethics, to avoid the situation that customers take advantage of the position of "God" to violate the honor and dignity of executives, and erode ethical standards The slogan "sell what the market needs, not what you have" is not necessarily true!

Third, the scope of application of business ethics

It is all social institutions, organizations, and people involved in and affecting business activities: Political institutions, governments, trade unions, suppliers, shareholders, business owners, employees…

Gifts are given to create goodwill with those we do business with and as a way to promote the company or its brand Gifts need to be of negligible market value, permitted by law (and recipient company policy), not claimed by the recipient, appropriate, related to a proper business's purpose, and not often given Gifts of cash or cash equivalents (e.g gift cards, travel vouchers, etc.) are never

appropriate As always, gifts of this nature should not be given for influencing the recipient's judgment

- The act of bribery:

First, giving bribes is usually to business people or individuals Bribery is one of

the ways to use money and material to seduce decision-makers, people with

positions of power to get businesses to receive lucrative contracts, or individuals to perform a favor for themselves (which may be legal or illegal) When the business

is getting more and more difficult, the competition is getting fiercer; bribery is a way to get a contract or certain permission from the person holding a position of authority in the public agency, from which to earn money unrighteous

Second, the benefits that bribe givers achieve are also quite diverse: it may be a

legitimate and legal benefit, but because they face procedural difficulties or are harassed, causing difficulties, they should seek "lubrication" There are also times when the person giving a bribe aims at an illegal benefit, after accounting for the costs and benefits obtained, they decide to "invest" in the official by bribing to gain benefits for its illegality

If I were Mr Hung in the above case, I would have been caught in unethical

business behavior

Because I want to give gifts to partners and customers that I regularly meet and do business with, but before doing that, I did not understand the partner company's policy in giving and receiving gifts outside the company Because the partner side

is not allowed to give or receive any gifts worth more than a certain amount from outside to avoid trouble All gifts, entertainment and meals must be casual, market-appropriate but not extravagant, and related to an market-appropriate business purpose

- I have made 2 mistakes in my actions above:

The first mistake: Invite a partner to the company's year-end party, but when it

arrives, it is an intimate dinner at a high-class restaurant, with only my wife and

me

The second mistake: The partner's wife received a set of high-class

diamond-encrusted gold jewelry from the restaurant's event; this is definitely my

arrangement because I wanted to give gifts to the partner to build and expand the relationship between both companies

 This arranged dinner puts the partner in a passive situation and is forced to participate The gift that I give is a gift of great value, if the partner receives

it, it will be against the company's policy and if not, it will cause a loss of sympathy between the two companies

 My behavior is considered bribery and unethical

- I should consider some of the issues when giving gifts to partners as follows:

Firstly, learn about the gift-giving culture of the partner company

With a dynamic and open economy like today, the entry of foreign businesses has posed more problems and caused us more headaches than before in choosing gifts for partners Knowing the corporate culture in general and the gift-giving culture,

in particular, will bring many advantages to you

Secondly, choose the right gift for the event

Besides learning the above essential information, it is advisable to choose a gift for

a partner to suit the nature of the event that the company and its partner are

participating in It is necessary to consider choosing gifts based on criteria such as what kind of gift is appropriate, how valuable the gift is to be worthy of a partner, and also show the company's level, where to buy gifts of good quality at an

affordable price…

Thirdly, good budgeting

When it comes to the price of a partner's gift, we must also consider it very

carefully and should not take this criterion lightly Not every gift of high value is the best, if it is not a gift that meets the criteria of beautiful and eye-catching

appearance, other criteria can be ignored Whether it is at any event, or gifting to any partner, we should also consider spending the appropriate budget, avoiding the situation of heavy and light parties, overspending, or being too economical when buying gifts

Finally, do not give gifts before negotiating because this can be seen as a method

of bribery, which can lead to unnecessary misunderstandings, causing discord between the two parties

4 Imagine that you are the president and CEO It means that you are both the largest owner and decision-maker for business activities

Would it be unethical to accept this gift? Why or why not?

Accepting this gift is unethical

From the very beginning, Mr Hung's act of inviting me to a fancy restaurant was unethical Mr Hung invited a sophisticated and lavish meal We may offer our customers and business partners moderate meals and entertainment as a way to foster business relationships and create goodwill, but Mr Hung has exceeded that limit He should have had better judgment when it comes to the company's money

In addition, even if Mr Hung pays for the meal himself (using his own money), this is still not appropriate

Our customers and business partners may be offered reasonable meals and drinks during the normal course of business Inviting the person we are doing business with can be a good way to establish or improve a business relationship and conduct

a business meeting However, we must be cautious, observing the following:

 Reasonable and tied to a business meeting (refreshing snacks such as tea, coffee, fruit, and cakes, are good options)

 Match the regions or markets where the invite and the recipient's business policy are located

 Irregular in nature

 Not extravagant and luxury

Next up is about the gift of a high-end diamond jewelry set If your relative (wife) receives such a big gift from the restaurant, you should also consider whether the program is real or not and how many customers actually participate and win If