Introduction

The corporate social responsibility is the sustaining commitment by business to devote to the economic development and improve the quality of the workforce’s life, and the like. As to the companies, it is of great significance for them to attach importance to the business ethics as well as the corporate social responsibility, and so on.

Recently, the reemergence of the poisonous milk Scandal has gained much attention. The poisonous milk power has great harm on the human body, especially on the health of the babies. Therefore, the national institutions should deal with this problem in order to safeguard the safety of the citizens.

Since ethics is often regarded as a vital constituent of the human dignity, each company has the responsibility to adhere to the business ethics and take the corporate social responsibility. This essay aims to give some recommendations for the ethical or corporate social responsibility issues by analyzing the case, and talking about the ethical or corporate social responsibility, the reasons for the corporate social responsibility issues, and the like.

The Case study

Recently, the reemergence of the substandard milk power has attracted the attention of many people. The national institutions of China have sounded the melamine issue again since Sanlu poisonous milk Scandal in 2008. Many countries have stopped the imports of the Chinese dairy products because of the concern on the food safety, and some other reasons. It is of great importance to take the firm and decisive measures to highlight the risks in the food safety and take the initiative to solve the problem.

As to the raw materials of the milk power, some senior analysts predict that there are about 1000 000 tons of the poisonous milk power has not been destroyed for various kinds of reasons. The existence of the poisonous milk power in the dairy industry has very bad influence on the safety of the babies. What’s worse, some dairy limited liability companies which produce the poisonous milk power are still engaged in the production by changing the names of the companies. The contaminated milk has led to the great panic of the consumers and cut down the demand for the dairy products. Therefore, a large number of the Chinese farmers have no means of selling their milk, and they can only pour away the milk. The Chinese milk scandal has brought about a lot of losses and disasters which should be reflected profoundly.

Some companies are involved in the production of the poisonous milk power by using the raw materials which has not been destroyed in 2008, such as Shanghai Panda Dairy Limited Liability Company, and Shanxi Jinqiao Dairy Limited Liability Company, and so on. The illegal sellers add the chemical to the milk so that the milk will appear to have more protein. The appearance of the poisonous milk power has led to the serious result. For example, the Sanlu poisonous milk has resulted in the serious consequences. In addition, the adulteration with melamine has also been found in eggs and some other kinds of food. Because of the poisonous milk power, a large number of the babies around one year old suffered from the rare diseases, such as the multiple kidney stones, as well as the ureteral stones, and the like.

As to the producer of the contaminated Chinese milk products, it refers to Shanghai Panda Dairy, the Sanlu Group, Meng Niu Group, Qingdao Shengyuan Dairy, and the like. After Sanlu poisonous milk Scandal, the products of Yili Group are also found of containing melamine. The food and products which are made in China have bad effects on the reputation of the Chinese products in the world market. The Chinese milk scandal has brought the anger at the milk producers.

The Chinese milk scandal, which refers to the incident of the food safety, has negative effects throughout the world. As the poisonous milk power scandal becomes more and more serious, the Chinese government begins to pay more and more attention on the control of the illegal production of the poisonous milk power in order to ensure the safety of the babies, etc.

The Ethical/Corporate Social Responsibility

Business ethics refers to the standards of behavior that tell how the companies ought to act in many situations. It is a form of the professional ethics which inspects the moral problems, the ethical problems as well as the ethical principles which appear in the business activities. The business ethics, which can be applied to many dimensions of the business behaviors, consists of the ethics of accounting as well as the financial information, the ethics of the human resource management, the ethics of sales as well as marketing, the ethics of production, as well as the ethics of the intellectual property, skills and knowledge, and the like.

Nowadays, the corporate social responsibility has gained great attention all over the world. It consists of the management of the potential conflicts of the interest between the stakeholders of the company in regard to many kinds of issues, such as the economic issues, the ethical issues, the social issues, as well as the environmental issues, and the like(Yan et al 2010). The corporate social responsibility advocates the business accountability of the stakeholders, including the shareholders as well as the investors, and the like. The ethical aspects of the business performances have great influence on the purchasing decisions of the customers.

The actions of the corporate social responsibility consist of, but go beyond, the company itself, and are of the voluntary nature (Nussbaum 2009). The corporate social responsibility refers to the commitment to improve the community well-being by the contributions of the corporate resources as well as the discretionary business practices (Kotler & Lee 2005). The competition between the companies will lead to the unethical behaviours of the companies. Therefore, it is of great significance for the companies have drawn up the corporate ethics policies which are related to the ethical behaviours of the employees.

The corporate social responsibility is related to the relationship with the relevant stakeholders within the company. Therefore, the company should take the interests of all the stakeholders into consideration when it is going to make the business decisions, and then balance the priorities of all the stakeholders. It is necessary for the company to think all the aspects of performance over, including the financial performance, the business decisions, and the investment project, the ethical aspects of the business decisions, as well as the corporate social responsibility, and the like.

The companies will benefit a lot from taking the corporate social responsibility, such as the improvement of the financial performance, the access to capital, the diversity of the workforce, the promotion of the reputation as well as the brand image of the company, as well as the increase of the sales of the company, and so on.

The Reasons for the Ethical/Corporate Social Responsibility issues

As to the cause for the ethical corporate social responsibility issues, it consists of many aspects, such as the ignorance of the ethics and the corporate social responsibility, and the like. In the poisonous milk scandal, since some companies neglect or pay no attention to the business ethics and the corporate social responsibility, a large number of the babies around one year old have suffered from the rare diseases, such as the multiple kidney stones, as well as the ureteral stones, and the like.

When the companies are making some business decisions, they often think about how to make money as much as possible and neglect the ethical aspects of the business decisions. For example, some of the companies try their best to make money by any means, such as the Sanlu poisonous milk has resulted in the severe consequences.

Meanwhile, some of the leaders of the companies cannot act as the roles of the companies which stand for the corporate images, but only attach great importance to the interests of their companies. For instance, some dairy limited liability companies which produce the poisonous milk power are still engaged in the production by changing the names of their companies. As a result, the contaminated milk has led to the great panic of the consumers and decreased the demand for the dairy products.

The Implications and Recommendations on the Ethical/Corporate Social Responsibility from the Current Business Issue

The current business issue indicates that the corporate social responsibility and the business ethics are of great importance to the development of the company in the long run. The reemergence of the poisonous milk power shows that some companies pay no attention to the safety of the citizens, especially the safety of the babies. In order to make money, they neglect the business ethics and the corporate social responsibility, and finally lead to the serious consequences. Therefore, it is of great significance for the company to attach the great importance to the ethical social responsibility, but not only pay attention to make money by any means.

In the poisonous milk scandal, some companies neglect the ethical aspects of the business decisions, and the poisonous milk powder has led to the severe consequences. From the above case study, it shows that when a company is making some business decisions, it is of great importance to take the ethical aspects of the business decisions into considerations. It is also necessary for the company to take all the aspects of performance into account, including the financial performance, the business decisions, the investment project, as well as the corporate social responsibility, and the like.

There are also many factors which have great effect on the corporate social responsibility, including the shrinking role of the national institutions, the supplier relations, the great demands for the disclosure, the raise of the customer interest, the increase of the investor pressure, as well as the competitive labour markets, and so on. The policy of the corporate social responsibility is beneficial to the companies, environment, the community as well as the general public, and the like. In the above case, the poisonous milk scandal shows that it is necessary for the company to make the policy of the corporate social responsibility. In this case, it is very significant for the company to take the corporate social responsibility.

The business decisions of the company are related to the interests of all the stakeholders, including the employers, the employees, the community, the stockholders, as well as the customers, and so on. Among them, the interests of the customers are the most important. As to the managers of the companies, they should act as the models of what their companies stand for. In the poisonous milk scandal, some leaders of the companies have made the wrong business decisions of producing the poisonous milk in order to make money as much as possible. They violate the business ethics which have resulted in the severe impair. Thus, the company has to behave in the ethical manner which is considered to be the responsibility of the company and take the interests of the customers into consideration.

Conclusion

The corporate social responsibility and the business ethics are of great importance and significance to a company. Since the unethical behaviors of the companies have great influence on the interests of the employees, the shareholders, the viability of the company, as well as the reputation of the companies, the companies should take the corporate social responsibility and adhere to the business ethics. From the case study, it indicates that the leaders of the companies which produce the poisonous milk power have made the wrong business decisions. Some of the companies neglect the business ethics as well as the corporate social responsibility which lead to the severe harm on the safety of the citizens, especially on the health of the babies. By analyzing the case and the reasons for the corporate social responsibility issue, the writer offers some implications and recommendations on the corporate social responsibility in order to attract the attention of the relevant institutions to solve this problem.