Principle of Responsible Commerce

2017 Words9 Pages
Bring the True Happiness to People ----Reflective Journal of COMM101 I think for most of the last century, it was widely accepted that technology could solve all the world’s problems, and that the world’s resource would last forever. Economic growth was believed to be infinitely sustainable, and was certainly seen as the key to the “happiness” of all peoples. Everyone knows Increasing reductions in trade barriers, lower transport costs, increased competition across national borders, legal multinational corporations, unrestricted capita flows and faster information transfers, all of them had a significant positive impact on organizations. On the other hand, the so-called “globalization” impact also leads to several important moral issues for business ethics, such as democracy, cultural homogeneity, equality and distributive justice all around the world (Shaw 2009). Therefore, the dilemma in pursuing financial profit and maintaining moral standards responsible evokes a broader definition of today’s business: responsible commerce. How to understand the answer of how to balance the moral responsibility of companies to the society and the conflict of interest encountered by the individual directors concerned? That reminds me about a case I read month ago. It is one of the most famous ethical business cases “Shell settles Nigeria case”, stated as following: Background story: The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (Shell Nigeria) has been involved in oil exploration and production activities in the Niger Delta for several decades. The execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists by the Nigerian government in 1995 led to international condemnation of it and heightened concerns that Shell was actively supporting the persecution of ethnic group, the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), who opposed Shell’s operations in the Niger Delta.

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