Acme, Inc. is a clothing manufacturer that employees 1,500 people in the state of New York. Unfortunately, it has experienced two straight years of business losses and must increase profits in order to stay in business. Acme is bidding on a contract with a major retail chain, and must come in as the lowest bidder in order to win the contract. In order to cut costs, Acme is considering purchasing T-shirts from China from a company that is known for cheap labor and sweatshop conditions.
Please provide your thoughts about the below paragraph:
The two schools of social responsibility in my opinion that relate to Acme Inc.’s ethical dilemma would be Managerial school and Institutional school. Managerial school “argues that business entities have a number of groups they must deal with, they include not only stockholders but also employees, customers, activist groups, and government regulators, all of whom may make claims on entities’ resources” (Kubasek, Brennan, Browne, 2017) and Institutional school states that “business entities have a responsibility to act in a manner that benefits all society” (Kubasek, Brennan, Browne, 2017). Therefore, going by those two schools of social responsibility Acme should not procure T-shirts manufactured by the Chinese company that is known for cheap labor and sweatshop conditions. In doing so people will be perceived as a company that supports cheap labor and sweatshop conditions which will put their morals and ethics. What Acme needs to focus on is creating value for their customers and consumers while also do what is morally correct and good for society.