Final answer:
Ethical issues in global supply chains include labor rights, environmental impacts, and fair trade practices. Technology advancements and policies can mitigate these issues, but global ethical discussions are essential to address corporate responsibilities and power dynamics.
Step-by-step explanation:
Some of the ethical issues involved with global supply chains include labor rights, intellectual property rights, fair trade, and the environmental impacts of trade. Advancements in technology and policies can help address these issues, ensuring that supply chains remain robust, even during national emergencies. Sharing technologies with developing countries can foster faster market distribution of refined products, but must be balanced with the protection of labor rights and efforts to integrate these elements. Companies are encouraged to commit to labor policy improvements both internationally and at national levels.
Issues like outsourcing to countries with lower wages, failing to ensure fair trade standards, or neglecting the environmental consequences of supply chain operations can create ethical dilemmas. Globalization has led to global commodity chains where worksites, such as maquiladoras in northern Mexico, are linked globally for manufacturing and marketing, raising further questions about the equitable treatment of workers.
Corporations should consider their responsibility for social, economic, and environmental issues seriously, and the implementation of ethical practices, especially with emerging technologies, can be challenging. Global ethical discussion is needed to address power dynamics and ensure that large institutions prioritize conservation and climate change mitigation, ensuring the health and wellness of global populations.