本文是留学生入学coursework范例，题目是“Example Business Coursework（案例商业课程）”，近年来，一些企业因侵犯人权而受到批评。阿斯达(Asda)的美国所有者沃尔玛(Wal-Mart)，因在中国工厂生产玩具而受到抨击。在中国，童工现象普遍存在。人权观察(Human rights Watch)的报告指出，西方工厂也存在侵犯人权的现象，美国肉禽工厂的移民工人工资低、工作条件差。为了追求更低的运营成本来增加利润，这些公司或他们的供应商为了降低成本而牺牲了人权。这篇文章探讨了在商业环境下的人权概念，看了各种例子，并认为承认人权不仅仅是一种道德义务，而且是基于经济基础上的良好商业实践。
In the global pursuit of lower costs do human rights matter? Argue against this statement.在全球追求低成本的过程中，人权问题重要吗?反驳这一说法。
In recent years, a number of businesses have been criticised over human rights abuses. Wal-Mart, US owners of Asda, have come under attack for using Chinese factories where child labour is rife for toy production . Human rights abuses exist in factories in the West too, as identified by Human Rights Watch’s report on low wages and poor working conditions of immigrant workers in US meat and poultry factories. In pursuit of lower operating costs in order to increase profits, these companies or their suppliers have compromised human rights in order to drive down costs. This essay explores the concept of human rights in a business context, looking at various examples, and argues that recognition of human rights is not merely a moral obligation but good business practice on economic grounds.
Overview概述
Human rights have been defined as“those basic standards without which people cannot live in dignity. To violate someone’s human rights is to treat that person as though she or he were not a human being. To advocate human rights is to demand that the human dignity of all people be respected” .
人权被定义为:没有这些基本的标准，人们就无法有尊严地生活。侵犯某人的人权就是把那个人当作非人类来对待。倡导人权就是要求尊重所有人的人格尊严”。
Extensive human rights principles are codified in UN documents. Pressure is put on countries not adhering to the principles, especially for practices perceived as particularly abhorrent (e.g. torture, murder, imprisonment without charge or trial), but they are not all enshrined in law . Following principles that are not legally binding but are seen as morally desirable is a matter of ethics, and this leads to business dilemmas: there is a perceived higher cost of ethical behaviour and hence reduced profits and potentially decreased competitiveness if rival organisations continue to drive costs down by unethical means.
The case for and against ethical business practices支持和反对道德商业行为的案例
Arguments exist both for and against ethical business practices. Child labour and human rights abuses against workers have two main causes: (1) pressure to deliver cheaper goods and (2) local circumstances.
有赞成和反对道德商业行为的争论。童工和对工人的人权侵犯有两个主要原因:(1)生产廉价商品的压力(2)当地环境。
The Ethical Trade Initiative (2005) recognise several suppliers who are working to improve the situation regarding driving prices down: Gap, Nike, Tesco and Otto, all of whom have been accused of exploiting foreign suppliers. As one supplier explained:
“The only ham left in the sandwich is our labour costs. If the supermarkets squeeze us, it’s the only place were we can squeeze” .
The second situation is rather more challenging for businesses to address, and involves issues such as local poverty. China has legislation outlawing the employment of children under 16, but this is not always adhered to by factories . This is partly due to demand for work for under 16s:
“The poorest families are often left with no option but to send their children out to earn money” .
In a situation such as this, it could be considered more important to address the poverty than the child labour, as if the law is rigorously enforced, families could face increased hardship.
There is an argument that Western demand for cheap goods has driven the situation. However, consumers are increasingly aware of human rights issues in the supply of goods to Western markets and in some cases, campaigns have sought to force businesses to change their approach. This happened in the case of Nike, where a boycott campaign encouraged the organisation to address labour practices among its suppliers . This was in part due to youth activism reducing the desirability of Nike products. The power of the consumer was articulated by a 13 year old boy from New York’s Bronx:
有一种观点认为，西方对廉价商品的需求推动了这一局面。然而，消费者越来越意识到向西方市场供应商品的人权问题，在某些情况下，运动试图迫使企业改变他们的做法。在耐克(Nike)的案例中，一场抵制运动鼓励该组织解决其供应商的劳工问题。这在一定程度上是由于青年运动减少了耐克产品的受欢迎程度。一个来自纽约布朗克斯区的13岁男孩表达了消费者的力量:
“Nike, we made you. We can break you” .
Business Case for Ethical Practices商业案例伦理实践
Implementation of human rights recognition can be challenging. Changing suppliers could mean workers face redundancy. Action Aid’s report advises Tesco customers against a boycott of Tesco’s South African fruit for this reason . It is far more beneficial for the buyer to continue using the same suppliers while simultaneously supporting CSR initiatives to help remove the causes.
落实对人权的承认可能具有挑战性。更换供应商可能意味着工人面临裁员。行动援助组织的报告建议乐购的顾客不要因为这个原因而抵制乐购的南非水果。对于买方来说，继续使用相同的供应商，同时支持企业社会责任倡议，帮助消除问题的根源，会更加有益。
Addressing supply chain management can involve considerable amounts of work. For example, Gap found that many of its buyers had little perception of how their actions impacted on individuals working in government factories. They are now developing a buyer training programme to address this. This may sound an expensive and complicated approach to address the issue, but there is a sound business case, outlined by Gap’s Vice President of Global Compliance, Dan Henkle:
解决供应链管理可能涉及相当多的工作。例如，Gap发现，许多买家几乎没有意识到他们的行为会对在政府工厂工作的个人产生怎样的影响。他们现在正在开发一个买方培训项目来解决这个问题。这听起来可能是一个昂贵而复杂的解决问题的方法，但Gap的全球合规副总裁丹·亨克尔(Dan Henkle)概述了一个合理的商业案例:
“In examining our overall supply strategy, we realised that some of our [purchasing] decisions were not only impacting working conditions, but were also impacting quality, on-time delivery and cost” .
Ethical Responsibilities道德责任
When looking at supply chains and business operations, it becomes clear that a number of parties have duty to ensure human rights are not abused. Governments are able not only to legislate, but ensure legislation is adhered to – although many are concerned this may drive businesses to suppliers in other countries were legislation is less restrictive.
当观察供应链和商业运作时，很明显，许多方面都有义务确保人权不受侵犯。政府不仅能够立法，而且能够确保立法得到遵守——尽管许多人担心，如果立法不那么严格，这可能会促使企业转向其他国家的供应商。
This shows the importance of international standards. Otto Group demand the same ethical trade standards from all its suppliers, whatever their price. Suppliers are regularly audited to ensure labour standards are met. The power of individual businesses must not be underestimated: large corporations may generate profits that give them resources far exceeding that of governments. For example, Shell’s recently announced profits of $22.9bn vastly exceed the 2004 GDP of $15.6bn of Kenya (NB: the US figure of 1,000,000,000=1 billion is used here: a UK billion has 12 ‘0’s, but the American billion is normally used in financial data).
这说明了国际标准的重要性。奥托集团要求其所有供应商无论价格如何，都要遵守同样的道德标准。供应商定期接受审计，以确保符合劳动标准。个体企业的力量不可低估:大公司可能产生的利润，使它们获得的资源远远超过政府。例如，壳牌最近宣布的229亿美元的利润远远超过了肯尼亚2004年156亿美元的国内生产总值(注:这里使用的是美国的10亿= 10亿:英国的10亿有12个0，但美国的10亿通常用在金融数据中)。
There must also be pressure from consumers to provide an ethically-sourced product by being willing to accept higher prices, perhaps implementing changes in their own buying habits e.g. accepting longer lead times for clothes replicating catwalk styles to appear in high street stores.
Not only does ethical sourcing make business sensing in helping avoid quality issues and bad press, but a business can also use its practices as a USP (unique selling point) to differentiate itself from less ethically-aware competitors. The Body Shop have used this position from their outset and the Co-operative Bank have attributed a 16% increase in profit to a policy of only investing in businesses with good records on recognising human rights and other ethical concerns .
有道德的采购不仅能让企业感觉到，有助于避免质量问题和负面报道，而且企业还可以将其实践作为独特卖点(独特卖点)，将自己与缺乏道德意识的竞争对手区分开来。美体小铺从一开始就采取了这一立场，合作银行则将16%的利润增长归功于一项政策，即只投资那些承认人权和其他道德问题的良好记录的企业。
Conclusion结论
The trend is an increase in ethical practices among businesses. In1988,18% of UK businesses had implemented an ethical code of practice, rising to over 50% in 1998 . For many businesses, this includes human rights recognition, so an already strong business case can only grow in the coming years. This reinforces the case for human rights and other ethical concerns to be addressed and upheld within any contemporary business strategy.
这一趋势是企业道德行为的增加。1988年，18%的英国企业实施了道德行为准则，到1998年上升到50%以上。对许多企业来说，这包括对人权的承认，因此，一个本已强大的商业案例在未来几年只会越来越多。这加强了在任何当代商业战略中解决和维护人权和其他伦理问题的理由。
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