Business Ethics – Texaco in the Ecuadorean Amazon

Subject: Business Ethics
Pages: 2
Words: 317
Reading time:
2 min

The case of Texaco shows that many international companies violate social responsibility principles and try to achieve financial gain only. Of equal importance, though, is educating society to understand what is going on in the industry and what the industry is trying to do. Texaco has a moral obligation to society and is obliged to provide additional funds and technical expertise. Texaco has a social responsibility to be aware of and understand the pollution process. The question is not really whether Texaco should become involved in social responsibility activity, but rather how deeply Texaco should become involved in social responsibility activity. Like every oil company, Texaco most certainly must follow all social responsibility-oriented laws and requirements.

Texaco must also have a minimum code of morals and ethics to which all of their employees must agree and adhere; otherwise, each employee will establish and operate under his or her own standards to the possible detriment of the company and society as a whole. The example of Texaco allows saying that the relationship of business with the community has had a long and changing role and involves many areas. It starts out by creating and supplying an employment base within the society where the business resides; from this point, it expands into involvement in the areas of education, the arts, environment, urban development, job training, and many other areas. It is almost impossible for the oil businesses not to become involved in some kind of community affairs.

The result is that everyone is happy and better off because of community involvement by business, the community, the business and its employees, the stockholders, and the local, state, and federal government. Businesses and society are going to have to work together more closely in the future if reasonable standards and progress are to be made in this area.