Business Ethics - Failing to Pay Taxes Is Immoral - Assignment Example

Business Ethics 14-Sep-16 Questions 5 It was unethical for Trevor to continue producing products that contained salmonella and releasing them to the market. Besides maximizing profits and making sales, Trevor has a corporate social responsibility of considering the implications the products and activities have on the society and the consumers (Shaw, 96). Trevor, as a company, has various responsibilities to their consumers with one of them being product safety. According to the theory of morality, the business must not cause harm to anyone including customers.

Trevor, however, violated this regulation since their products contained salmonella, which was harmful to the consumers. It was also unethical since Trevor violated the law that requires companies to be open and honest about products they sell (Shaw, 103). The consumers have the right to know and be informed about the products they consume as well as the ingredients. The law requires that product manufacturers such as Trevor provide consumers with whatever they pay for as well as provide products that are safe for ordinary use.

The law recognizes that consumers are vulnerable to exploitation by manufacturers who have the expertise that the consumers do not have. Therefore, the law maintains that the manufacturer is responsible for due care where they are supposed to ensure protection of the consumers (Shaw, 104). To ensure ethical practices, Trevor should instead follow the following six steps to assure consumers that they maintain high safety standards. 1. First ensure the safety standards of the products by ensuring that it cannot harm the consumers.

This should be done before releasing the products to the market. 2. Take responsibility of the incidents that occur as a result of use of their products. Trevor should educate their consumers. 3. Monitor the manufacturing process by experts to ensure that the ingredients are safe. Testing is important at this stage. 4. Conduct proper advertisement of the product and educate the consumers on the use to ensure their safety. 5. Ensure that the products have a label containing information about the product as well as the proper ways to use the product. 6. Investigate all complaints from the consumers to ensure that all safety standards are maintained.

Question 5-2 Despite the fact that it is legitimate for a Zoidle to avoid paying taxes, it is not ethical according to business ethics (Shaw, 109). Tax is a social responsibility for a company thus it has a major impact on daily lives of the society; it is therefore unethical for Zoidle to avoid paying taxes. Ziodle avoidance to pay taxes is seen as greed, selfishness and avoidance of social obligation. While failing to pay taxes, Zoidle damages its reputation to the public and destroys public trust.

A company paying taxes is seen to be socially responsible and its plays a role in providing public services such as education, healthcare and infrastructure development. In addition Zoidle failing to pay taxes is branded as immoral and undermining the country’s tax system. Besides paring corporation taxes companies should also contribute to the economy for instance through the national insurance contributions in USA, while in other countries companies agree to develop the infrastructure of the area (Shaw, 115).

Works cited Shaw, William. Business Ethics: Boston, Cengage Learning. 2007. Print.