Business ethics of McDonald's Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business ethics of McDonald's - Dissertation Example Ethical business practices and corporate social responsibility are continually becoming more important in society today; therefore, research has begun to explore whether ethics and corporate responsibility have an effect on consumer behaviour and what the effect(s) might be. This research will focus specifically on if the business ethics McDonald’s Corporation. The aims of this study are (1) measuring consumer knowledge of McDonald’s business ethics (if any); (2) determining if consumers cared about ethics when deciding to go to McDonald’s; and, (3) whether McDonald’s responded to the ethical views of consumers. Data will be collected from 5,000 survey questionnaires, and analyses will be done using SPSS. Key Words: business ethics, corporate social responsibility, consumer behavior, SA 8000, SPSS. Introduction and Background Business ethics holds the central position in my research. Obviously, business is to make money but it is required that companies be in charge of their activities. Some businesses avoid responsibility and continue trying to make profits even when it is a public wrong. Today, business ethics is a topical and well-defined problem. However, as we get in touch with the problem we can see that it is controversial and needs to be analyzed more deeply. According to Beauchamp (2001), corporate ethics started to gain attention in 1970s. The situation has changed gradually by developing new ethical practices and implementing the ideas into society. In the 1990s, the idea of corporate social responsibility (CSR) was introduced as a tool for self-regulation according to ethical norms and international standards. Also, ethics committees (often non-profit organisations) were established to keep an eye on improper practices used by companies. Despite all of these measures to decrease the number of cases of unethical behaviour, there are still plenty of companies which prefer money over values. The following are some examples: terrible working conditions (cheap labour costs), oil spill (low safety investments) or harmful but highly demanded products (high profits). The customer has a main position in business ethics and can play a passive or active role in the case. A passive customer feels that he has no power over the situation and is easily manipulated by companies. An active, socially conscious consumer realizes that he is more powerful simply because he makes final decision whether to buy or not a company’s product. Objectives and Research Questions Today ethical business is not a fashionable trend in the market. As a result, an overwhelming majority of consumers interact with unethical corporations. This research is designed to find out if awareness of business ethics affects customer behavior, or whether they set their consumer preferences according to knowledge of ethics. In other words, I will try to find out how important ethical issues are for customers, specifically with regard to McDon ald’s restaurants. I will try to answer to the following questions: ? Do customers have information about McDonald’s business ethics in general and in detail (policy, production)? ? Do customers care about ethical issue when they buy something at McDonald’s? ? Does McDonald’s respond to the ethical views of their customers? Justification of the Project Most countries in the world have its fast food industry. Media sources represent this â€Å"mainstream† food as unhealthy and calorie-excessive. Fast food is blamed for a variety of medical problems. But is it result of negative PR or the fact which has scientific basis? On the other hand there is ethic policy of a company (McDonald’s in our case). Assuming that there is part of those who know the actual effects of eating of fast food and the guided policy, do they correct their daily visits? In other words do they use their right to choose? Review of the Literature In the late years, because business ethics have become