Ethical Challenges of a Global Supply Chain, Analysis and Recommendations Paper Example

The bigger a company's supply chain becomes, the bigger the risk. Every supplier brings threat of poor performance. It is therefore very imperative to carry out proper oversight in order to avoid the quality of supplies slipping through the cracks. To ensure that quality is maintained and the set standards are adhered to, our company needs to ensure that it has supplier audit. A supplier audit seeks to establish product quality and to ensure that the delivery standards remain high. Suppliers can cost company money which can extend to harm its customer base. The benefits of supplier audit may include: quality standards adoption by the organization. One thing that as a company we should remember is that the quality of the final product usually depends largely on the quality of suppliers. It is therefore prudent to make sure that there are same set standards across the supply chain and this ensures consistency.

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Something else is that suppler audit will make sure that all documents related to a supplier are well archived. During the audit process important records for inspections and supplier approval are verified. Another importance is identification of areas that pose potential risk. An audit will always identify gaps in the supplier quality process, manufacturing process as well as shipping process. Supplier audit also provides a comprehensive look at the performance of all suppliers. Suppliers usually have a big effect on the cost of quality and therefore it is important to have an audit carried out on the suppliers. Lastly, it improves supplier communication and hence there is an improvement in collaboration between the manufacturer and its suppliers. This usually leads to having quality which translates to an improvement of customer satisfaction.

As a company, we bear responsibility for the conduct with our suppliers. One thing that is for sure is that suppliers indirectly affect marketing and other business aspects like price, quality, and production. This means that it is the responsibility of the company to some extent to make sure that all suppliers are well set and that they do what is ethically right. If a supplier acts unethically then he might affect the business negatively. As much as the suppliers are autonomous, the company has the moral obligation to make sure that they operate in a good environment. A company will be responsible because in case the supplier factory does not work as required then it might affect the company negatively.

To be an ethical company, a company needs to be doing things in a way that it does not affect the environment and that it works in a way that is ethically right. An ethical company does not exploit its workforce as well as not producing any harmful products. Every company should carry its operations like they are in the list so as to be able rid of all aspects of unethical practices. This does not however mean that all companies just act like they are in the list without actually doing what is required of them. All companies should make sure that they carry out their operations in accordance to the ethical standards set. By doing so the companies will be doing their social responsibilities which are required of them.The practice of keeping two sets of books is not illegal as long as it is not used to hide anything in the company. With operations in China I would make sure that the two set of books are kept for the benefit of the company and not to hide from paying taxes. I would use them well to the advantage of getting investors as well as to make sure that they are well kept and all information present. To avoid the mishaps, I will make sure they are handled by the best and most experienced workers in the company to avoid mistakes that might occur. Because in China the practice is widespread then I would make sure that we follow the rules in China and that the company does not flout any set standard. This will mean that the books are well maintained and updated in order to make sure that they follow the set guidelines.

By definition, double books are not illegal and many companies usually keep double books for many reasons. For most companies that are publicly traded they use the practice. Most companies prepare two set of books to prepare financial statements for Securities and Exchange Commission, investors, and also to some extent for Internal Revenue Services. This means that double books are legal but when companies use them to hide under-age workers and workers paid below minimum wage requirement then they become illegal. When a company uses double books to cover up illegal or immoral acts then they are illegal and unacceptable. However, when used for the benefit of the company and follow all set rules then they are not illegal and many publicly traded companies keep double books.