Case Study - American Apparel: Ethical Dilemmas
This week, our assignment will ask you to apply what you have learned about business ethics to an actual business situation.
You will need to complete a number of activities for this assignment, please be sure to read each step carefully and check your work prior to submission. You should expect to spend between 1 and 2 hours to complete the research and write your paper.
Preparation
1. Review the chapter 3 study materials.
2. Review the AA advertisements provided in the assignment dropbox.
3. Go on line to to your own research and learn as much as you can about American Apparel and it's founder Dov Charney. While you will likely find many great research sources, a few sources to check out include NPR, Newsweek and MSNBC's Dateline.
4. Review the case study grading criteria and example case study before preparing your assignment.
5. Deliverable
1. Based on your review of the textbook, study materials, Power Point, the advertisements, and the results of your research, answer the following questions:
a) Objective research findings: Begin your paper with a brief, but objective summary of the findings of your research. In other words, for this first question you need to identify and describe the ethical conflicts identified during your research. Do not state your own opinion about these findings. Just provide your findings.
2. Your view of the American Apparel ethics: Next, based on your understanding of business ethics plus the outcome of your research, discuss your views on the each of the following:
a) How do you think American Apparel's conflicting ethical stances relates to the power of "ethical" marketing vs standard marketing practice?
b) To what extent do you believe the benefits of working for higher wages and a better environment makes people close their eyes to other types of unethical behavior?
c) What should be done with Mr. Charney? Do his high moral standards in one area outweigh his less than ethical behavior in another?
d) If sex sells, is it okay to use the most provocatively sexy ads a business can?
e) Is there a line that should not be crossed in advertising, and if so, where should it be? Why do you think so?
3. How would you relate American Apparel's ethical stance to the 5 CSR pillars we've covered this week? Your answer should address each area below individually.
Human rights and employment standards in the workplace
Ethical sourcing and procurement
Marketing and consumer issues
Environmental, health, and safety concerns
Community and "good neighbor" policies
4. Applying personal values to company ethics: Finally, apply your own personal values to the outcome of your research and this week's study of business ethics to answer the following two questions:
a) Assuming you were to purchase from American Apparel, identify which of the AA ads would be most likely to entice you to do so, and explain why. Please be specific.
b) Based on the outcome of your research of American Apparel, Dov Charney, and in context of your studies of business ethics, discuss whether or not you would purchase American Apparel products.
Explain the reasoning for your answer based on your own personal values and moral standards.
Your submission should be a single spaced, block format Word document with numbers to indicate each question you are answering. You should include and cite at least one external research source in addition to the material provided here and your textbook. At the conclusion of your submission make sure to include a MLA Works Cited to list each of the references used to support your answers.
Attachment:- Assignment.rar