Business Ethics
Component 1 – Individual Business Report
3000 words
Assignment
You are working as a consultant for a UK-based fast-fashion retailer with both online and high-street stores. The company is successful for offering low-priced, fast clothing but is now facing criticism for its negative environmental impact. The leadership team has recognised that current practices are not sustainable. They have highlighted three urgent issues.
- First, overproduction and waste, where large amounts of unsold/returned clothing end up in landfills or are not properly recycled.
- Second, the use of unsustainable materials, such as polyester and other synthetics, which contribute to pollution and climate change.
- Third, limited visibility of overseas supply chains, raising concerns about fair wages and safe working conditions.
Your task is to analyse these three issues using ethical theories, explain what responsible practice would look like in each case, and recommend realistic policies that the company can adopt. The aim is to help the company reduce its environmental impact while improving its reputation as a socially responsible retailer.
Your report should be structured as follows:
- Be clear why each issue is a problem for the company’s sustainability performance, and explain which offers the most scope for improvement.
- Analyse each issue using a single relevant ethical theory (one per issue). Use evidence from the fashion industry to support your claims, showing why these are significant challenges.
- For each issue, explain what responsible practice looks like in the fashion industry. Recommend realistic policies the company can adopt, drawing on examples of organisations already addressing the problem. Suggest how success could be measured.
Please note that any words included as part of a diagram or table are included in the word count.