Ethical Issues in Supply Chain Management

Abstract A supply chain is a system of organizations, people, activities, information, and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer. In the wake of globalization and liberalization policy, business ethics phenomenon in globalised business environment has become a critical issue that has attracted business and management research scholars to engage on crucial debates and discussion at both local as well as international forums. This is because globalization policy has brought about business uncertainties, changing demographics, and a push for diversity that has resulted into corporate business cultures that are less homogeneous and increasingly competitive. Consumers, investors, business partners, regulators, and media organizations now expect a company and its entire supply chain to be ethical. Ethical issues in the supply chain are coming under much scrutiny and poor performing international businesses are being named and shamed. The charity Oxfam says “Ethical trade means that retailers, brands, and their suppliers take responsibility for improving the working conditions of the people who make the products they sell”. Most of these workers are employed by supplier companies around the world, many of them based in poor countries where laws designed to protect workers' rights are inadequate or not enforced. They believe that, it is the responsibility of any business to ensure the integrity of their supply chain in regard to this. The term ‘ethics’ has generally been used to refer to the rules and principles of right and wrong conduct. It therefore boils down to morality and good or bad conduct. This dissertation study emphasizes on the challenges that businesses face while implementing good business ethics and the trade-offs that are made when being ethically “good” and the impact of practicing good business ethics on supply chain. Also, to elucidate what kind of reasons and aims companies have for using codes of ethics and whether these reasons and aims support the suggestions of business ethics literature, based on a review of several research articles and case studies from different industries, published in which elements of Corporate Social Responsibility and Supply Chain processes are included