globalization of levi strauss article
The positive effect is a important evil that permits business to generate huge earnings and third-world countries to start creating a free market overall economy. While it appears that globalization could possibly be a solution to the problem of poverty and starvation for a few people, it may also contribute to problems such as child labor, discrimination, exploitation and health and safety issues for people working in developing countries. Since U. S. regulations do not connect with American companies operating in international countries, these companies have an honest responsibility to develop codes of conduct to govern how they treat persons and conduct business offshore.
Levi Strauss & Company. has been a innovator in business and sociable responsibility; the first international company to create a code of conduct for their international establishments, business associates and suppliers (History, 2009).
Levi Strauss & Company. was founded in 1853, by a Levi Strauss, an zugezogener from Bavaria and Jacob Davis, a tailor coming from Reno, The state of nevada. The two guys patented the riveted-pocket operate pants and began the multi-million dollar company that it is today.
LS&Co. originated on Levi Strauss’s substantial morals and values: accord, originality, integrity and courage, and continue to be operate underneath these core values today (History, 2009). The company established fact for its company social responsibility and have been recognized and rewarded for its ethical perform.
In 1965, since demands to get the clothing started to grow world-wide, LS&Co. proven Levi Strauss International and Levi Strauss Far East, letting them manufacture and sell products in Europe and Asia. Four decades ago, the company exposed a facility in The japanese, which started to be the company’s initial official access into Asia. Today, the corporation employs more than 11, 1000 people around the globe, with four, 700 personnel in the Unites states, 4, 400 in European countries and a couple of, 300 in Asia Pacific (History, 2009). While the positive effect increased revenue for the organization, ethical concerns also started to become more apparent. In order to maintain the beliefs that the organization was founded about, the company would haveto create ethical guidelines for worldwide operations.
In 1991, Levi Strauss & Company. was the 1st multi-national firm to develop a code of ethics for its international organization partners and suppliers. The Levi Strauss & Company. Global Finding Guidelines were designed to ensure that all LS&Co. facilities throughout the world, as well as suppliers and business partners, executed business in ethically and socially accountable ways (Solomon, 1996). Needing their organization partners and suppliers to follow along with the company code of perform protected the employees in producing countries who could easily be exploited, and that protected you can actually reputation, which will would also contribute to their particular success.
This kind of code of conduct was created in order to avoid or eliminate probably the most common moral dilemmas connected with globalization. To be able to maintain legal agreements with LS&Co., suppliers decided to provide workers with reasonable wages, a secure and healthful working environment and abide by the laws and regulations that govern the nation and sector. Suppliers will also stop the use of child or forced labor, discrimination and forms of inhumane disciplinary practices (Solomon, 1996).
Whilst globalization will help developing countries to build totally free market financial systems, it also presents many moral dilemmas, while huge companies profit from the desperate dependence on work in poor countries (Dickey, 2002). As ethical problems can be viewed in a different way by diverse cultures, producing global organization ethics could be difficult. For instance , many traditional western cultures may view child labor as being a necessary, and accepted, source of income for many families, but many People in the usa and other traditional western cultures find child labor as mistreatment. When Levi Strauss & Co. found that two of the suppliers were using child labor in Bangladesh, that they had a meaningful dilemma.
The families of the significant children relied heavily on the incomes, and so firing these people might create a major hardship on the children and their families, or even force the children to look for more inhumane sources of income, such as prostitution or perhaps begging (Solomon, 1996). LS&Co. looked for more creative approaches to solve the problem, and came up with a solution that would benefit everybody. Their suppliers agreed to continue paying the children under grow older 14 while they joined school, and LS&Co. covered tuition, literature anduniforms, when the children switched 14, they may be rehired by company (Solomon, 1996). This solution made no economical hardship for the children and families who would otherwise lose their income, and allowed them to receive an education, while children will need to.
Levi Strauss & Company. has also confronted other honest issues international, and taken a responsible way of resolving the challenge. In 1998, for example , they chose to close the factories in Belgium, although worried which the loss of more than 1, 1000 jobs may possibly devastate the Belgian economic system. In order to avoid economical hardship intended for the community, and stimulate employment, LS&Co. chose to pay every employee a farewell benefit of $13, 201, and an additional $4, 950 to all employees who found career within several months. In addition they agreed to pay employees whom decided to acquire training instead of work $320 per month pertaining to six months, and employees who did not function received $90 per month for 3 years. Considering the average gross annual salary to get Belgian personnel was between $2, 1000 and $3, 000, this bonus was more than fair to the personnel who had been laid off.
Levi Strauss & Co. continued to contribute to the Belgian economy to make certain that the market could remain steady and keep the unemployed from going into lower income (Bennett, 2008). That 12 months, they contributed $78, 560 to programs that motivated education, schooling, workforce development, small businesses, lifestyle skills training and economical literacy to the Belgian economic system, in the perception that “economic development expands beyond the workplace¦and in order for an economy to flourish, the community should be able to support it (Bennett, 2008, l. 4).
Levi Strauss & Co. is a huge leader in corporate social responsibility and one of the first multi-national companies to produce a code of carry out for global business values. The company continue to be demonstrate their particular values of empathy, creativity, integrity and courage although operating in every countries, and requires the same of their suppliers and business companions. Their innovative solutions to prevalent ethical issues in expanding countries, just like child labor and layoffs, and their continued efforts to contribute to the financial systems of the expanding countries they operate in, sets a strong example for multinational corporations to follow.
Though globalization can provide an income for individuals that might otherwise starve todeath, it can also cause ethical and moral challenges such as child labor, low wages and hazardous working conditions. While it is definitely not unlawful, or underhanded, for businesses to operate offshore, they do provide an ethical responsibility to deal with moral dilemmas within a responsible and socially satisfactory manner.
Recommendations
Bennett, D. (2008). Globalization and blue denims. Retrieved May 21, 2010, from Associated Content: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/896109/globalization_and_blue_jeans.html?cat=17 Dickey, F. (2002). Levi Strauss as well as the price we pay. Recovered May 22, 2010, coming from Mindfully. org: http://www.mindfully.org/WTO/Levi-Strauss-Globalization1dec02.htm Background. (2009). Gathered May twenty two, 2010, via Levi Strauss & Company.: http://www.levistrauss.co.za/Heritage/History.aspx Solomon, C. Meters. (1996). Place your values to a global test. Personnel Journal, 75(1). Human Resources Abstracts. Retrieved Might 22, 2010 from EBSCOhost.
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