GDS104 Global Business and Sustainable Development
Group Project – Corporate Ethics and Sustainability Assessment
Semester 2, 2023/24
Project Title:
Corporate Ethics and Sustainability Assessment: An Analysis of Corporate Policies and Disclosure
Alignment with Learning Goals:
This assignment is intended to contribute to course learning goals numbers 02, 04 and 05 (please refer to course outline for details)
Required:
You required to research, evaluate, and reflect upon the ethical policies and behaviour of any multinational company (MNC) of your choice. In your answer you should consider and discuss the following questions:
Initial Research
I. Consider the range of products produced by the firm (if the firm produces many, choose their best-selling products) – where are these products made? What are the major components or raw materials of these products and where does these typically originate from?
II. How transparent does the firm make it to find information related to the firm’s own production locations and activities and how easy do they make it to find information concerning their suppliers?
III. Identify the major ethical issues related to the firm’s operations in international markets. which have been previously identified by the media, NGO’s, governments, consumers or others.
Evaluate
IV. Evaluate the company’s code of conduct or annual report on sustainability. Does it provide clear and specific guidance on the issues raised in your research? Does it satisfactorily cover the ethical issues raised?
V. Do the policies of the firm reflect a ‘universal’ or a ‘relativist’ ethical approach by the firm?
VI. What actions or initiatives is the firm actively taking in terms of production, sourcing, marketing or human resources to increase the sustainability of their global operations? How does the firm monitor and assess the sustainability of members of its supply chain?
Reflect
VII. What recommendations would you make or what other actions could the firm take to improve its ethical behaviour?
VII. With the information you were able to find, would you consider the firm to be ethical and to what extent do you think it is behaving in a sustainable manner?
Sources of information and choice of company
You can utilise information provided by the firm (websites/ annual reports etc.) in your answers; however, you should NOT RELY ONLY on information from the firm. Try to make use of your internet search skills to review accreditation bodies, uncover any criticisms of the firm, or look for issues related to suppliers / countries / industries involved in their supply chains.
You can pick absolutely any MNC that operates in multiple markets. The only exceptions to this are you CANNOT pick the following firms NIKE, McDONALDS or APPLE (there is too much, too easily available, information and published resources available on these firms).
Length and format of Report
Your presentation should 20 minutes or so in duration; your report should be approximately 3,000 – 4,000 words in length excluding Appendices. Please attach copies of relevant news clippings, ethical codes of conduct etc. as necessary. As far as possible the report should be written in the format of a conventional business report, rather than that of an essay. This means dividing the report into sections with appropriate section titles and numbering.
Date and Place of Submission
Submit a Turnitin version of your report before noon on Monday April 15th. Penalties will be assigned for late submission. No e-mailed submissions will be accepted.
Marking and Return of Reports
The projects will be marked in accordance with the marking rubric attached to this assignment. Check your finished report against the marking rubric to make sure that you have fulfilled all the criteria of the assignment. Reports will be marked and returned to you as promptly as possible.
Plagiarism and referencing issues
All sourcing from external sources must be referenced. When making reference to external sources, please make use of in-text references or use of appropriate footnotes, instead of just a listing of sources at the end of your submission. AI tools such as Chat GPT are not allowed to be used for this assignment.
Questions
Your lecturer will be pleased to answer any specific questions you may have about this assignment. By e-mail, please make an appointment to speak with your lecturer during his/her assigned office hours, providing an indication of when you would like to meet with the lecturer and a summary of the questions you would like to ask.