Journal Articles Flashcards
(12 cards)
Fairness in Business: Does it matter and What does it mean?
2012, Rubin
- not just about money, about making ethical decisions
- Fairness has more advantages
- Being unfair affects reputation which affects sales and profits
- Public would switch if they were unfair to employees
- Fairness means consistent treatment and actions (no bias)
- Fair to raise prices if costs rise but not to increase profits
- Unfair to raise prices after national disasters
- random allocations, first come/first serve, based on need or contribution
What are examples that you could talk about in Fairness in Business?
Rent could rise due to reasons beyond your control, should loyal tenants be considered.
A business being unfair to its employees could be paying them less than minimum wage or gender wage gaps
What’s a business for? (2002, Handy) (1.)
- people believe company does not employees best interests
- business leaders play the business game (new rules)
- belief businesses are untrustworthy and think of themselves
- business is huge part of society and how it evolves
- Profit often comes from progress
What’s a business for? (2002, Handy) (2.)
- main idea of business has changed, ownership taken over by investment
- important for business to satisfy shareholders
- employees are treated as costs, not assets, by law and employers
- good business treats employees as useful (with respect) & not as if they own them
What’s a business for? (2002, Handy) (3.)
- business should be about community, honesty, commitment & loyalty
- benefits business to think about needs and wants from its employees
- improved behavior and ethics will help Publics view of it
- a company is made by a group of people to accomplish something they couldn’t on their own
Issues in the adoption of IFRS for SMEs (2015, Perera and Chand) (1.)
- IFRS for SMEs introduced as a simplified version of IFRS with less rules n conditions
- before introduction, SMEs had locally accepted accounting principles
- IASB hope this will increase SMEs access to international finance
- More prominent developed countries who adopted full set of IFRS haven’t yet adopted IFRS for SMEs
- Very important to develop appropriate framework and to enable comparable accounting information
Issues in the adoption of IFRS for SMEs (2015, Perera and Chand) (2.)
- Implementation of IFRS by individual countries is difficult whether changes are made or not
- SMEs usually don’t have the accountability to provide high quality comparable information
- SMEs are (generally) exempt from audit requirements and are subject to simplified accounting standards
- SMEs would benefit to having access to loans from multinational lenders if the financial statements between countries were comparable
Issues in the adoption of IFRS for SMEs (2015, Perera and Chand) (3.)
- The IASB board does not represent any members with SME background so SME concerns are not being addressed properly
- The definition of an SME is quite varied which has proven a challenge when making comparisons of businesses around the world
‘Smoke and Mirrors: Corporate social responsibility and tax avoidance’ (2010, Sikka) (1.)
- large firms make big ethical conduct claims but indulge in tax avoidance and evasion which has negative outcomes for reputation pf the business
- avoidance of tax prevent government providing essential rights
- the UK corporate tax rate has reduced massively in recent years
‘Smoke and Mirrors: Corporate social responsibility and tax avoidance’ (2010, Sikka) (2.)
- Company Enron won awards for passionate statement about ethics and social corporate responsibility but fell apart due to tax avoidance schemes
- KPMG (one of the large accounting firms) forced employees to lie to customers to increase profits
- Tax is seen as a huge cost and obstacle
How (un)ethical are you? (2003, Banaji, Bazerman and Chugh) (1.)
Unconscious Bias
- Implicit Prejudice
- In-group Favouritism
- Over-claiming Credit
How to overcome this
- Gather better data
- Rid your workplace of stereotypical cues
- Broaden your mind-set when making decisions
How (un)ethical are you? (2003, Banaji, Bazerman and Chugh) (2.)
Bias that favors ones own group
- people often help out people they know, doing favors to people similar to them
- this seems like a gd thing but could mean someone who needs the opportunity more doesn’t get it
Conflicts of interest
-the decision made benefits you in some way
E.g. attorneys might see settling a case more favorable than going to court and don’t think about what’s best for the client
