Critical Discussion of Business Ethics and the Internet - Coursework Example

Critical Discussion of Business Ethics and Internet Student’s Name Subject Professor University/Institution Location 1. Critical evaluation on how ethical /CSR models can relate to business use of SNS The notion of a stakeholder approach and the concept Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are key concepts when evaluating the task of a business in the society, with their relationship been researched and debated for long. Despite this, it is possible to draw frameworks of relationships between the CSR and the stakeholder’s theories are intertwined (Harrison, Wicks, Parmar, & De Colle 2010). These two approaches have been evaluated and formulated in theory and practice. The greater perspective of their underlying principles is applied in the context of society and business. As it is demonstrated, leaders especially in the corporate world have a significant task to undertake in enhancing the environmental and social performance of their organisations. For there to be enhancement in the responsibilities by various stakeholders, the fundamentals of reflection on the value-system, behaviour, position and expectations within the society and the organisations need to be illuminated. Stakeholder theory is a theory of business ethics and organization management. It addresses values and morals in the management of an organisation. It models and identifies the stakeholders groups in a corporation. Both recommends and describes methods by which the management should give due regard to the interest of the groups. Traditionally, the shareholder view, the stockholders or the shareholders are the owners of the company, and there is a fiduciary duty by the firm to put their needs first, to have their value increase (Garvare & Johansson 2010, pp. 741). The stakeholder theory argues that there exist other parties that are involved. These parties include trade associations, governmental bodies, communities, financiers, suppliers, customers, employees, political groups, and trade unions. The competitors, to some degree, are also sometimes referred to as stakeholders. The nature of the stakeholder entails, however, is highly contested (Miles 2012). There are very many definitions that exist in the academic literature (Miles 2011). The corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a form of corporate self-regulation that has been integrated into a model of a business. The process of CSR aims at embracing the responsibility for the company in its activities on the communities, employees, consumers, stakeholders, environment and all the people of the in the public sphere who may be considered stakeholders. The policy of CSR operates as a built-in, self-regulating system of a business monitoring band ensuring that there is emphasis on compliance with the international norms, ethical standards and the spirit of the law. Some models of CSR entails going beyond mere compliance and involves in operations designed to further social enhancement, beyond the firm’s concerns and the requirements by the law. (Bhattacharya, Sen & Korschun 2012, pp. 49) Many models have been constructed in the definition of CSR. According to Seshadri (2013), one of the models of CSR is the constituency model which views the corporation to be an organization that consists of a various groups of people. The members of each group share almost similar interests. In this view, the CSR requires a balance between non-shareholders and the shareholders’ interests. The sustainability model of CSR has the basis of its operation in the fact that the corporate entity should remain economically viable throughout the entire period of existence. The relationship that is there between the sustainability and CSR is the argument that the prosperity of the corporation, in the long-run, will depend on the well-being of the involved stakeholders, including the customers, suppliers and the workers. The proponent that exists in a Stakeholder Model posits that the company should be guided by their Stakeholder’s interest, rather than merely the interest of the Stock holder (as it is explained in the Classical Model). Narrowly, the stakeholders may be considered to be those that are in a contractual agreement or a kind of a contract with a particular company and who are affected by the company’s decision. The classical model is in support of the ethical responsibility of a business on the basis of earning profit so as to earn profit and be in obedience to the law. The stakeholder model, on the other hand, has its framework on of the impact on the major stakeholders in decision making. The social networking by the use of social media has become so popular with the young people, comprising sixty four per cent of the total time that they spend online by 2008 (ACMA 2008). The reason for spending this much time is to have them a sense of connectedness. With more businesses joining these social networking sites, there should be more caution that is employed in helping the children to be safe as they navigate their way through. The avenues of these networking include the use of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. Other avenues that the business need to address includes the wiki sites, video sharing sites like the YouTube and Vimeo, Photo sharing sites like Flicker and Instagram, and the online game sites like the World of Warcraft and Skyrim. The businesses need to be careful following the sensitivity involved with the children engagement with the SNS. Children and the young people, for example, may be unaware of the privacy issues that are tied to disclosure of confidential information online. NetAlert is a body that was established by the Australian Government, as a non-profit organization to provide education and advice on internet safety issues. It continues its existence under the ACMA management and Broadband Department, Communication and digital Economy (DBCDE). ACMA is responsible for conducting the NetAlert Outreach and Research program, which gives information on the prevailing trends in the internet safety. It has targeted activities and campaigns that raise awareness. The DBCDE is involved with the management of the NetAlert. It has an initiative- Protecting Australian Families Online- that focuses on the safety of the child in the online environment (Cradduck 2012). In conclusion the business society, has a great responsibility in this age of globalization dynamism to ensure that it acts right or ethically especially when the involving in the social networking sites. There should not be an ignorant operation generally assuming that the children can be excluded. An increasing number of children are being exposed to the usage of the internet. Also, increasingly, businesses are making use of these networking sites. There need to be a strike of balance therefore in areas like the advertisement engagements to ensure optimality is achieved both for the business and for the society sake. 2. Facebook brand marketing targeting the children Due to the vulnerability of children, the idea of Facebook’s business model on children becomes a tool for marketing. Research demonstrates in a consistent way that the younger children are especially susceptible to advertising (Hebden, King, Grunseit, Kelly & Chapman 2011). Even the straightforward forms of the exposure like the television commercial have greater effect on the children. There are detrimental effects that are involved in these targets of sophisticated marketing to the wellbeing and the health of a child in general. This is because these young children have not been able to develop a mature analysing power and judgement to handle the issues of Facebook use or realized the effects that sharing information online can cause. Many brands are continually targeting fast food marketing for the children. Every year, the world’s food and beverage companies spend billions on advertising and marketing their brands to the teenagers and companies (Ramrayka 2014, feb. 25). Much of these products are very high in calories, sodium, saturated fat and added sugar which includes chocolate, sweets, fizzy drinks and fast food. The Us fast food advertisement spent $4.6bn on advertising to the teens and the children (Orciari 2013, November 4). Following the Fast Food Facts 2013, 12-17-years old saw almost five adverts a day while those under six saw about three adverts for fast foods daily (Harris J. 2013, November 5). The report author was very concerned by this companies shift seeking to increase their scope into the markets that are not yet covered by the prevailing system of voluntary self-regulation. The marketers target the kids on the Facebook through brand posts. Due to the high rate of the usage of the usage of Facebook, the marketers are sure that the kids will use much of their time pursuing Facebook and interacting with the page content. Times and seasons for doing these promotional advertisement are well calculated to capture the widest range possible (Cradduck 2012). Careful attention is given by the business to factors like the limit of brand posts and brevity of the posts just like in Twitter. To bring about engagements, there is the tactic of asking questions where the posts with questions generates, by far, more comments that the non-question posts. There is also use of emoticons to bring about a very high interaction rate especially in the contexts of health, beauty, food and beverage brands (Sixsmith & Furnham 2010, pp. 26). The tactics that are employed by these businesses in the soft drink, snack food and fast food companies in targeting the adolescents and the children can therefore fall under various broad categories (Hebden, King, Grunseit, Kelly & Chapman 2011). These are creating immersive environments, collecting personal data, location-based and mobile marketing, studying and triggering the subconscious, and most importantly infiltrating the social network. In the latter category, Facebook is among the most popular of the platforms of the media for the teens. There is therefore easy access for the marketers to infiltrate, using a host of new techniques and ways, and influence a conversation. There are a variety of incentives that marketers use in the Facebook. These include free products, prizes and contests for participation in viral market campaigns through circulating the brand-related contents which are commonly a result of the users themselves. To the strong market appeal, through the Facebook posts, the element of peer influence is incorporated. This results from the adolescent’s view of their friends as role models. (Cradduck 2012) Following some of these unethical practices by the businesses, there are some recommendations that can be derived. There should be introduction of new and implementation of existing new rules that govern the exposure that children are offered in the social networking sites by the government. There should be utter control of the marketing gimmicks like the on-packet puzzles, free toys and cartoon characters that targets children involvement. this follows the high susceptibility that children are associated with. Another measure that can be employed is that of the advocates who can assist in galvanizing the support of the public for change by bringing about awareness about the marketing practices using the SNS. Having the attention of the media on the underlying issues, enlightening representatives of various sectors and even having openings for the young to educate each other can build a momentum for change. A lot of research has already been done on the ethical operations of the businesses when these matters are concerned. However, more academical research on the ethical operations needs to be effected. Gaps in the research that have already been done needs to be identified and thoroughly perused from an informed point of view. Also, the policies that have been tested and p-roved through proper research need to be given more attention. Finally, the business themselves need to be at their forefront in enhancing that they act ethically. There should be a clear guideline that is closely followed to ensure that there is no breaching of duty in any case as far as these matters are concerned in as society. References ACMA. (2008). Internet use and social networking by young people, No.1. Media and Communications in Australian Families Series. Retrieved from: http://www.acma.gov.au/ on 30 November 2011. Bhattacharya, C. B., Sen, S., & Korschun, D. (2012). Using corporate social responsibility to win the war for talent. MIT Sloan management review, 49. Cradduck, L. M. (2012). Life in the internet economy and the changing face of property use. Australia and New Zealand Property Journal, 3(6). Garvare, R., & Johansson, P. (2010). Management for sustainability–a stakeholder theory. Total quality management, 21(7), 737-744. Harris J. (2013). Fast Food FACTS: Fast food companies Still Target Kids with Marketing for Unhealthy Products: Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity. Retrieved: http://www.yaleruddcenter.org/fast-food-facts-2013-fast-food-companies-still-target-kids-with-marketing-for-unhealthy-products (November 5 2013) Harrison, J. S., Wicks, A. C., Parmar, B. L., & De Colle, S. (2010). Stakeholder theory: The state of the art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hebden, L. A., King, L., Grunseit, A., Kelly, B., & Chapman, K. (2011). Advertising of fast food to children on Australian television: the impact of industry self-regulation. Med J Aust, 195(1), 20-4. Miles, S. (2011). "Stakeholder Definitions: Profusion and Confusion". EIASM 1st interdisciplinary conference on stakeholder, resources and value creation, IESE Business School, University of Navarra, Barcelona. Miles, S. (2012). "Stakeholders: essentially contested or just confused?". Journal of Business Ethics 108 (3): 285–298. O'Keeffe, G. S., & Clarke-Pearson, K. (2011). The impact of social media on children, adolescents, and families. Pediatrics, 127(4), 800-804. Orciari M. (2013). Fast foods companies still target kids with marketing for unhealthy products. YaleNEWS Retrieved: http://news.yale.edu/2013/11/04/fast-food-companies-still-target-kids-marketing-unhealthy-products (November 4, 2013) Ramayka L. (2014). Children rights in marketing and advertising: Guardian Sustainable Business Retreived: http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/brands-increase-fast-food-marketing-kids Tuesday 25 February 2014 07.00 GMT Seshadri, S. (2013). The sustainability syndicate: Shared responsibility in a trans-organizational business model. Industrial Marketing Management, 42(5), 765-772. Sixsmith, R., & Furnham, A. (2010). A content analysis of British food advertisements aimed at children and adults. Health promotion international, 25(1), 24-32. Read More