Business ethics considers ethical and moral principles in the context of the business environment and governs the actions and behavior of individuals in an organization. Sometimes the companies face with a difficult choice – a moral dilemma, which is complicated by the factor of social responsibility and the contradictory nature of the interaction between the economy and traditional morality. Considering the dilemma of a business’s relationship with the environment, an organization faces a choice: to pollute the planet in order to make a profit or to change the company’s strategies aimed at improving the state of the environment.
Adidas promotes a healthy lifestyle, which is hardly possible in a polluted environment. However, the production of clothing, footwear, and accessories is still noticeably harmful to nature. These are pesticides and chemicals that get into the water when growing cotton and then when dyeing fabrics and the release of poisonous gases during the production of synthetics and transportation of finished products. The share of the light industry in CO2 emissions is higher than that of aviation and shipping combined. The statistics are still disappointing, any production somehow harms the surrounding world, and in general, this leads to the rapidly approaching global warming, pollution of the world’s ocean, destruction of the ozone layer.
The moral dilemma of the company is based on the relationship with the environment, they cannot stop polluting the planet ultimately, but the dilemma is resolved constantly. The organization is introducing a strategy of social responsibility, which is aimed at minimizing environmental pollution, numerous projects confirm this. Adidas is actively pursuing a recycling campaign. Also, recycled plastic waste from the coastal zone is becoming a vital component of the upper material of the shoe. They are trying to solve the problem of plastic in the ocean, reduce the use of primary plastic raw materials and change people’s minds in favor of protecting the environment.
To conclude, environmental issues are still perceived acutely by the society, but it is essential to understand that this moral dilemma has ways of resolving that the company can and should provide.