Slavery In The Chocolate Industry Summary

796 Words4 Pages
The case study Slavery in the Chocolate Industry raises systemic, corporate, and individual ethical issues with all the parties involved in the chocolate industry. Systemic issues in business ethics are ethical questions raised about the economic, political, legal, and other institutions within which business operate. Corporate issues in business ethics are ethical questions raised about a particular organization. These include questions about the morality of the activities, policies, practices, or organizational structure of an individual company taken as a whole. Individual issues in business ethics are ethical questions raised about a particular individual or particular individuals within a company and their behaviors and discussions. These include questions about the morality of the decisions, actions, or character of an individual.
The farmers who are kidnapping or buying children on a “black market” type situation are displaying their individual ethical issues. They have no concern for the boy’s welfare, their only concern is to make a profit off the cocoa beans they farm. The systemic ethical issues raised in this case study are the public officials in the neighboring communities of the cocoa farmers who allow the sale of children and who take bribes from the farmers enslaving these children. The corporate ethics issue present in the case is with the large manufactures in the chocolate industry fighting the certification process of the cocoa farmers to ensure child