Business Ethics

As we are learning Business Ethics in the class, I would like to share a stroy.

Yukijirushi is one of the best known milk and dairy companies in Japan. I love their products, and so do my friends.
However, in the 90’s, one employee of a company which did a lot of business with Yukijirushi informed the Health Department that Yukijirushi was recycling milk that had not been sold in stores. Investigating this claim, the Health Department found that Yukijirushi was reselling leftover milk after heat-treating it once again. Moreover, the Health Department discovered that Yukijirushi’s hygienic procedures were so sloppy that bacteria clumps the size of ping-pong balls had built up in the milk tubes in its processing plants. In the eyes of costumers, these findings shed a very bad light on Yukijirushi, and its sales numbers dropped significantly.

5 or 6 months after these problems had been made public, many people were still refusing to buy Yukijirushi products. I saw a TV documentary about the man who initially had informed the Health Department about Yukijirushi practices. His own company had not been able to pay salaries since the affair because Yukijirushi was its biggest business partner, and Youkijisushi's problems were about to push his own company into bankruptcy. He had also received many letters and phone calls that were blaming him for his report since many people, not even Yukijirushi employee but also Yykijirushi's business partner, had lost their jobs, especially older and weaker employees.
He said, “I do not regret what I did, but it is hard not to regret it. I know it was not my fault that so many people lost their jobs, but it is hard not to think that way.”

From this story, one can see how difficult ethical behavior can become for regular workers. I am sure that many workers had noticed that what they were doing was unethical and potentially illegal. However nobody took action for a long time. Who knows, maybe Yukijirushi would have stopped its practices long before they were made public, if only its own employees would have spoken up? But this would have been a difficult thing to do for people working in a business culture that demands that employees stick with their company – or are forced to leave.

I believe that in order to establish an ethical work environment in a company, it is very important that already top management acts ethically and treats its employees, collaborators and customers with respect.