Environmental and ethical issues
- Social responsibility is when a business decision benefits stakeholders other than shareholders, for example, a decision to protect the environment by reducing pollution by using the latest and ‘greenest’ production equipment.
- Environment is our natural world including, for example, pure air, clean water and undeveloped countryside.
- Global warming is a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere, generally thought to be caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, CFCs, and other pollutants in the atmosphere.
- Pressure group is made up of people who want to change business (or government) decisions by taking action, such as organising consumer boycotts.
- Private costs of an activity are the costs paid for by a business or the consumer of the product.
- Private benefits of an activity are the gains to a business or the consumer of the product.
- External costs are costs paid for by the rest of society, other than the business, as a result of business activity.
- External benefits are the gains to the rest of society, other than the business, as a result of business activity.
- Social cost = external costs + private costs.
- Social benefit = external benefits + private benefits.
- Sustainable development is development which does not put at risk the living standards of future generations.
- Pressure groups are groups of people who act together to try to force businesses or governments to adopt certain policies.
- Consumer boycott is when consumers decide not to buy products from businesses that do not act in a socially responsible way.
- Ethical decisions are based on a moral code. Sometimes referred to as ‘doing the right thing’.
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environmental_and_ethical_issues.pdf |