Assessment 1 – Critical Essay (Individual)

The theme of this critical essay is about globalisation. The article ; Samsung
accused of exploiting younger workers in China ( Charles 2012 ) discusses the role of
multinational companies and the manufacture factory plays in the exploitation of
younger workers in China.Globalisation indicates the global integration of investment,
cultures, information technology and inernational trade. Due to raise the standards
living for people in poor countries and improve their development , government
policies is created to open economies domestically as well as internationally and this
drive globalization ( Investinganswers n.d. ) .The theme of globalisation will be
assessed alongside theories of duty of care, kant, utilitarianism and egoism.Through
globalisation , corporations enable to gain competitive advantages such as operating
costs, additional markets and multinational corporations enable to manufacture , sell
and buy several parts in developing countries for example, Bangladesh, India, and
China ,after that sell it to any nation ( Investopedia n.d. ) . In 21 st Century , the main
key to growing businesses is globalsation.

Samsung accused of exploiting younger workers in China ( Charles 2012 )

discusses the findings of China Labor Watch report released in September 2000. The
investigations report on 8 of Samsung ‘s directly- operated and supplier factories
throughout China , including factories in Weihai , Tianjin , Suzhou, Huizhou and
Shenzhen. These factories employ over 20,000 workers to manufacture cell phones ,
mobile displays , and other related part of Samsung. CIW reveals that the employees
were verbally and physically abused in these 8 factories, including forced to overtime
work more than 100 hours per month, standing for long hours while working, unpaid
work , abuse of students and labor dispatch workers , underage workers , a lack of
worker safety and verbal and physical abuse. Moreover, workers lack of any effective
internal grievance channel by which to rectify these transgressions.One of the worst
issue is a supplier factory called Tianjin Inops Co.Ltd hires about 1200 workers whom
are female dispatch workers. A worker suicides at Foxconn Technology Group ,
Apple’s largest supplier ,has drew attention to conditions faced by workers in China
( Charles 2012 ).
 As seeking for higher profits or competitive advantage, MNC (multinational
companies shifted their operations to nations with low wages (Pines & Meyer 2005) .
Globalisation cause wages inequality is commonly , foreign workers pay lesser wages
than local workers (Cuyvers, De Lombaerde & Rayp 2011). They were even
physically and verbally abused , and forced to work for more than 100hours per
month of overtime. Low- wage become commonplace , consumers faces a dilemma.
Respect to the human right is the responsibility of corporation (Delaney, Montesano
& Burchielli 2013). If the corporation ignore the human rights and violates it , it
means workers have been exploited. Goods which were manufactured in developing
nations under poor working conditions should led to a call for corporations to be
responsible for the employment pratices of their global supplier (Barrientos &
Smith2007). Workers have their own human rights, thus employees cannot exploit
them with lower wages, poor conditions, health problem. Giovanola (2009) indicated
that human being is the most important components in every corporation yet it does
not change the position of employees. Employers concerned about the benefits and
profit of corporation more than other. Thus, employees is always the victim although
the fairness and moral courage for the competive business world and high demand , it
is very difficult to do in fair. Utilirianism can be applied here as it is for the greater
good , it is justified.

The workers usually be exploited is caused by the ignorance of corporation. In the

report, CLN alleges that the employers does not follow the safety measures such as
providing mask as well as protective clothing and even does not provide any training
for workers. Moreover , employees lack of any effective channel to express internal
grievance to management. Trade unions and non- governmental organization (NGOs)
concerned regarding to the poor employment conditions and labor standards withing
global production worldwide. Therefore, according theory of duty of care , corporate
codes of practices must to be introduced to make sure the minimum labor standard in
global production (Barrientos & Smith 2007). If the association of the labor or the
government does not solve this problem , the life of the workers does not have
guarantee.In case study Catastrophe in Bangladesh , 129 garment workers being
killed and around 2,500 workers injured. MNC company should have a moral
responsibility to ensure their workers in a safe and humane working conditions. Kant
would assert as it is wrong to exploit employees , expose them to a unhealthy and
unsafe environment , conditions similar to a slavery. When the pursuit of long-term
benefit significantly harms a group of people, where does the moral responsibility fit.

Despite of globalisation, child labor in China continues to be a significant problem

that needs to be taken into consideration. The extent of child labor is not easy to asses
due to lack of official reporting on these cases as well as lack of transparency in
statistics in China. On the other hand, due to lack of monitoring, in majority of cases ,
the existence of child labor is not discovered (Child Labor in China 2003). If
guidelines are not enforced, they are no more than ‘ moral smokescreens’.Other than
that, there are also numerous ways employers can avoid penalties, for example, the
management even hire underage young workers by changing the name on the person
‘s ID card in order to create a facade of age legality, which have been revealed earlier
in CLW report. To overcome this situation, MNCs may set guidelines when awarding
contracts with the host country manufacturer. Besides, the MNCs should share capital ,
skills , expertise and technology to host country manufacturer instead of making
profits. However, majority of the employers in China do not contract child labor and
yet the increased stress on competitive production combined with a poorly regulated
labor market as well as widespread corruption has resulted in some employers turning
to child labor as a choice of reducing unit expenses of production (Child Labor in
China 2003). Younger worker are both easier to exploit , cheaper than adults and can
regularly do repetitive work which requires agility and smallness. The ethical theory
can be applied here will be egoism. In the position of employers , it is not a wrong
decision as a corporation is set up for profit purpose.

To conclude, globalisation have impacted so much in developing countries and

encouraged a huge expansion of manufacture industry. All stakeholder have the moral
obligation to make sure employees work in the condition of healthy , safety and fair.
It bought a lots of pron and cons to every country although not every issue can be
solved entirely.Compromise each parties seems is the only way to resolve the
dilemma of globalisation. MNCs should adapt both the host country’s ethical values
and also follow MNCs ‘s guidelines as morality differs in different cultures . In
addition, government and consumers may give pressure to the management for the
issue of exploitation workers. It is better than do nothing.
Reference List:

dBarrientos, S & Smith, S 2007, "Do workers benefit from ethical

trade? Assessing codes of labour practice in global production systems",
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2018.

Charles Arthur 2012, "Samsung accused of exploiting younger workers in China",

in , The Guardian, viewed 24 August 2018,
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workers-china>.

Cuyvers, L, De Lombaerde, P & Rayp, G 2011, "The labour market consequences of

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Child Labour in China: Causes and solutions 2003, viewed 23 August 2018,
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Catastrophe in Banladesh , lecture notes , Business Ethics BMO 2004 Victoria

University, delivered 9 August 2018.

Delaney, A, Montesano, M & Burchielli, R 2013, "Regulatory challenges in the

Australian garment industry: human rights in a post-Ruggie environment", in , Labour
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Giovanola, B 2009, "Re-Thinking the Anthropological and Ethical Foundation of

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<https://investinganswers.com/financial-dictionary/economics/globalization-494>

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<https://investopedia.com/dictionary/globalization.asp>
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the Effective Application of Consumer or Socio-Political Pressure", in , Journal of
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