Cheaper imports affecting local trade

But why should the richer countries be able to take advantage of the poorer countries in this way? Shouldn't they be trying to help them and not be making it worse? Unfortunately it's a case of looking after yourself in the world of international business trading. If you can make the money then you do, no matter what the consequences are for everyone else.
Local rice farmers in Ghana are facing tough competition from overseas producers of rice, seeing their own profits drop dramatically and leaving with them with hardly enough money to feed their families.
Recent agricultural subsidies from the US and EU has meant that farmers can produce far more crops and sell them for far cheaper than they used to be able to. This has left local farmers completely left behind as sales of rice from Texas. The IMF (International Monetary Fund) blocked attempts by the Ghanaian government to increase the tariffs on imported goods in an attempt to protect their local farmers.


Read these articles for the full stories and to discover the impacts this is having
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3372305.stm  
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/apr/11/hearafrica05.development

Ethical issues in the international business world

Ethics are the moral standards and principles that govern a persons or groups behaviours.
This blog looks at how international businesses often forget or ignore ethics in order to make themselves money. The ethical issues I have investigated are child labour, pollution, exploitation of third world countries and finally business politics, using a wide range of examples to demonstrate how some of the biggest business names are violating these ethics for their own success.

Sanctions in place to deter from nuclear program

The US and the EU have put in place new restrictions to limit the oil exported by Iran. however for the sanction to actually put Iran off pursuing its nuclear program, it relies a lot on the Asian countries such as China and India. China has already halved its number of imports from Iranian countries. But will the sanction actually been affective? Countries such as Bejing are seeing this as an opportunity to get cheaper deals on oil from Iran instead of cutting them off.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/13/us-iran-sanctions-asia-idUSTRE81C1C320120213?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Toyota, the worldwide leader of Eco-friendly cars has been accused by the National Labour Committee (NLC) of human trafficking and exploiting their workers. temporary staff that Toyota either employ or subcontract are paid very low wages, earning less than 60% of what full time staff earn. they have also been accused of working employees to the death with estimated figures of 200-300 Toyota employees being clinically depressed due to stress from over working.
For the official report produced by the NLC follow the pdf link below:
http://www.globallabourrights.org/admin/reports/files/TOYOTA_web.pdf

Apple's exploitation of workers

Nearly every family in Europe and America now has some sort of product created by apple whether it be the original iPod or the new iPad Mini. But whilst we just enjoy the gadgets, we forget about how they are made. 

Apple have been accused of exploiting workers in China where one of Apples factories is based. The workers, most of them only 18-20 years old, are made to live in dormitories at the factory, which due to the high suicide numbers as a result of the poor conditions, have meant that they have had to put 'anti-suicide netting' around the dormitories. the workers are clock up ridiculously high numbers of over time and they rarely take their days off. 

in the statement given by Apple in response to this issue they said "Apple is committed to ensuring the highest standards of social responsibility throughout our supply base. Apple requires suppliers to commit to our comprehensive supplier" 

for the rest of the details about this case follow the link below to read the report:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/apr/30/apple-chinese-factory-workers-suicides-humiliation

Pollution cause by oil industries

The oil industry is one of the richest industries around the world. They operate all over the world, drilling out oil from the ground and underseas. Because they are so rich they hold a lot of power which can sometimes over rule the governments of the countries they are drilling in. An example of this is in Nigeria where the oil industry has caused pollution and environmental damage. this has compromised the locals standard of living and has ruined the lands which they rely on to grow their crops and farm their animals.

These types of industries have not only caused devasting levels of pollution and ruined the landscape but also exploited the people that live in these countries. The picture below shows the impact the oil industry can have, the effectos of which be sometimes be irreversable.
For further information about the poverty and the pollution the oil industry has caused to Nigeria follow this link:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/oil-industry-has-brought-poverty-and-pollution-to-niger-delta-20090630

Pollution

Coca Cola is a global business. It has bottling factories all over the world so that they can be close to their markets. Coca Cola has 52 bottling factories just in India which has resulted in a dramatic environmental impact. The bottling factories all use a lot of India's water supplies, which for the villages that they are built in, has meant they are suffering a drought. Coca Cola's continuous use of their water supplies means that there is not enough water for the locals. In one village in India, Plachimada, the lack of groundwater had became so serious that the villagers had to rely on a water delivery sent in trucks by the government. After several large scale protests, the government ordered the company to shut down its $25 million factory.
As well as the issue of using up water around the villages, Coca Cola has also been accused by the Central Pollution Control Board of India of giving away 'sludge' containing high levels of cadmium, lead and chromium to local farmers and free fertiliser.


For the full details of this case and to see Coca Cola's response to these accusations, see the link below:
http://environment.about.com/od/waterpollution/a/groundwater_ind.htm

Primark

How does Primark sell clothes so cheap? 

Ever since the opening of Primark, people have been asking how they manage to sell their clothes so cheap and still make a profit. Whilst rumours circulated that it in fact due to the fact that they employed child labour to produce the clothes, it wasn't until 2008 in a BBC Panorama report when the rumours were confirmed. The report revealed that children as young as 11 were being made to work in sweatshops, getting paid on 60p for a full days work in places such as India.
However, like Nike, Primark is only subcontracting these factories and probably didn't even realise the horrible conditions in which these children had to work in. With all due respect to Primark, as soon as they found out about the 3 factories that were found to be using child labour, they dropped the contracts immediately in order to up-hold their values of being an ethical organisation.
For news reports about Primark's involvement with child labour follow the links:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/primark-child-labour-is-ethical-shopping-314574
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1028449/Exposed-Primarks-sweatshops-pay-children-just-60p-day.html



(Activists supporting War on Want outside Primark on Oxford Street, 23rd June 2008)

However, despite Primark's efforts to cut out all child labour, a year later the BBC investigated the sweatshops they were using in the UK. Although these factories are not using children, they are still breaking the law and treating employees unethically, paying them only £3.50 an hour which is much lower than minimum wage.
For more information on sweatshops in the UK follow this link:
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7824291.stm

It is these types of secretive, unlawful practises that mean Primark is able to sell its products so cheaply, however it has a high price for the people on the other end of the line.

Child labour

Child Labour

The chances are at least one item of clothing you are wearing right now has been made by a small child working long days to earn whatever money they can to support their families. in 2008 it was estimated that around 153 million children aged 5-14 were a part of the child labour industry, excluding all those that only do light work.  
Nike, the world wide producer of sportswear and footwear and with a revenue of 24,128,000, has factories all over the world. There have been many allegations of Nike using child labour and sweatshops to produce their products in countries where the governments have less power over international businesses such as China, Mexico and Vietnam.
Whilst Nike is not directly employing these children, the companies they are subcontracting to create the products are. The children are working in horrible conditions, being beaten and abused for very little pay. The issue of Nike using child labour has been a big issue for activists for about 20 years now but has anything really changed?

For further reading see the links below;
http://www1.american.edu/ted/nike.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike_sweatshops