The Utility of Offshoring : A Rawlsian Critique
Friedland, J. (2005). The Utility of Offshoring : A Rawlsian Critique. EJBO - Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies, Vol. 10 (1). Retrieved from http://ejbo.jyu.fi
Julkaistu sarjassa
EJBO - Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization StudiesTekijät
Päivämäärä
2005Most prominent arguments favoring
the widespread discretionary business practice of sending jobs overseas, known as ‘offshoring,’ attempt to justify the trend by appeal
to utilitarian principles. It is argued that when business can be performed more cost-effectively offshore,
doing so tends, over the long-term, to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number. This claim is supported by evidence that exporting
jobs actively promotes economic development overseas while simultaneously
increasing the revenue of the exporting country. After showing
that offshoring might indeed be justified on utilitarian grounds, I argue that according to Rawlsian social-contract theory, the practice is nevertheless irrational and unjust. For it unfairly expects the people of a given society to accept job-gain benefits to peoples of other societies as outweighing job-loss hardships it imposes on itself. Finally, I conclude that contrary to socialism, which relies much more on government control, capitalism constitutes a social contract that places a particularly
strong moral obligation on corporations themselves to refrain from offshoring.
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Julkaisija
Business and Organization Ethics Network (BON)ISSN Hae Julkaisufoorumista
1239-2685Asiasanat