4.1 Background
After the analysis of the company which successful in addressing the CSR, it’s time to analyze the corporation which might be poor in enforced the CSR in this section, the tobacco giant Philip Morris. Philip Morris is a well-known tobacco corporation in the United States and the best selling and iconic product of it is Marlboro, which sold over 200 countries outside of the United States. In 1847, Philip Morris was a very small family run business that located in London, later on the corporation moved to New York in 1902. The brand gained much popularity since the rapid economic growth in 1983, and it became the one of the largest tobacco makers in the United States. However, …show more content…
In the ethical perspective, Philip Morris runs the business in a fair way and the company ensures the methods they used is not harmful to its stakeholders when the corporation obeys the ethical responsibilities that documented in Code of Conduct and the stakeholders and employees of Philip Morris are obliged to follow it. In 2010, Philip Morris committed to implementing the 3Rs concept, which is Recycle, Reduce and Reuse in their operations around the world, such as reusing the process water, reducing machine washing time, and so on (Philip Morris International 2010).
However, it’s hard to judge the corporation while the customers keep buying from Philip Morris even the corporation sells product which damaging to its customers, and it’s easy to question the moral roots of Philip Morris where the company is profitable due to millions of addicted smokers addicted to their product. As far as “evil” Philip Morris go, the product which corporation sells is the dangerous, addictive cigarette that kills almost 25% of Americans every year …show more content…
Edward Freeman and the theory emphasize how a corporation can assure the interests of all stakeholders in a business. Philip Morris has both internal and external stakeholders, the internal stakeholders include the shareholders, suppliers, and employees of Philip Morris, whereas the communities, media, society, customers, and governments are the external stakeholders of Philip Morris. Freeman has divided the stakeholders into two groups so-called primary and secondary stakeholders, primary stakeholders are referring to the inner circle that closest to the company, they are employees, customers, financiers, and suppliers, whereas the secondary stakeholders are include the media, government, and competitors who located in the external ring of the corporation (). Philip Morris had once claimed that the corporation have impacts or can be impacted by all the stakeholders, from shareholders to business partners, tobacco farmers, even their business practices can influence or be influenced by the authorities, towns, and regions of the people. The statement shows that Philip Morris is affected by the stakeholder opinions, and the company believes that the theory helps the business recognize the interests of its stakeholders by engaging with different groups of stakeholders. Other than that, the tobacco company also outlines the significance of commitment to its stakeholders and they discover five main elements from the engagement that can put