Ethics in Business: Amazon Inc. (ANSWERED)

QUESTION

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Textbook: Chapter 2
Lesson
Minimum of 1 newspaper article

Instructions

Find a newspaper article that discusses one of the unethical business practices listed on pages 62 – 63 of the OpenStax book.
Summarize the unethical business practices discussed in the article you chose
Discuss at least two changes you would make to this company’s practice to follow more ethical business practices.
Discuss how your policy change would align with one of the following concepts: justice, utilitarianism, deontology, or individual rights.

Writing Requirements (APA format)

Length: 1.5-2 pages (not including title page or references page)
1-inch margins
Double spaced
12-point Times New Roman font
Title page
References page (minimum of 1 source)

ANSWER

Ethics in Business: Amazon Inc. and Ethical Practices

Unethical business practices often manifest in companies trying to amass profits and stay on top of the competition. The premises of business practice are only justifiable from the competition point of view, but keen businesses notice how the activities of their competitors are plainly unethical. One of these companies is Amazon, the e-commerce giant founded by Jeff Bezos. In 2020, there were reports that Amazon was reaping big from the pandemic-enabled opportunity, where deliveries hit an all-time peak. A reputed Newspaper, the Wall Street Journal, details how Amazon is caught between unethical business practices.

Mattioli (2020) reported that Amazon’s unethical business practices have allowed it to gain large profits at the expense of other businesses. Although seen as tactical, most of Amazon’s practices come of as unethical because of the steamrolling tendency of the multimillion-dollar company. For instance, Mattioli explains, “No competitor is too small to draw Amazon’s sights. It cloned a line of camera tripods that a small outside company sold on Amazon’s site, hurting the vendor’s sales so badly it is now a fraction of its original size, the little firm’s owner said. Amazon said it didn’t violate the company’s intellectual property rights.”

From the newspaper, major unethical practices witnessed include; the replication of ethical brands with unethical substitutes to gain profits, acute harm to employees because of the notion passed on by the CEO that the company should be treated as a start-up and unhealthy competition caused by the entrapment of the small businesses within the company’s system.

Changes to Amazon to Practice Ethical Business

Since Amazon’s practices are reinforced in the competition culture, it would be difficult to approach change from a legal perspective. Therefore, it is crucial to approach Amazon as a corporate citizen devoted to ensuring its operations are ethical and up for everyone’s good. One way of proposing change is to create a culture whereby the organization practices what it preaches: ethical competition (Purwanto et al., 2019). This way, it will be easier to foster ethical behavior from top management to the lower level. At the same time, on matters of acute harm to employees, the subjects should be encouraged to be vocal about unethical behavior within the company. As a start, it would be crucial to establish clear and straightforward guidelines with regard to the codes of conduct that will enhance the already existing expectations for ethical practices. Otherwise, allow other businesses to operate freely without making them feel hostage to the company’s operations.

Policy Change: Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is based on the “greatest amount of good for the greatest number” belief first put forward by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. As you enjoy the happiness of your venture, you should consider maximizing the good such that everyone’s happiness counts (Lahdesmaki, 2005). Change of policy with regard to utilitarianism can apply to Amazon’s case as morals are involved. If Amazon wants to act within the ethical practices, they have to be taking the right action deemed to be producing the most good.

For effective policy change, the assumption that the current policies are inadequate in dealing with unethical practices applies. Moreover, regulation can replace competition policy to create an environment where some businesses do not benefit from others. If Amazon has to maximize profits, it has to ensure that other businesses thrive from its strategies, unlike suffer. The businesses surviving in a hostage situation may be forced to go against Amazon, but they may not survive because of the power Amazon yield. In the spirit of utilitarianism, regulations to ensure that the business advantages do not favor one side are called for. Otherwise, decision-making should influence the policy change process as what is morally right thrives.

References

Lahdesmaki, M. (2005). When Ethics Matters–Interpreting The Ethical Discourse Of Small Nature-Based Entrepreneurs. Journal Of Business Ethics, 61(1), 55-68. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-005-5333-4

Mattioli, D. (2020). How Amazon Wins: By Steamrolling Rivals and Partners. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-competition-shopify-wayfair-allbirds-antitrust-11608235127

Purwanto, R. M., Mukharrom, T., Zhilyakov, D. I., Pamuji, E., & Shankar, K. (2019). Study The Importance Of Business Ethics And Ethical Marketing In Digital Era. Journal of Critical Reviews, 6(5), 150-154. https://doi.org/10.22159/jcr.06.05.26