in 2009 Nokia decided to move from Germany ro Romania and then to china . in this question we need to decide whether it's ethical or not.or if it's just a business decision . i have been reading and and saw articales that support my opinion . i believe it was unethical decision for several reasons .is it true that Nokia had unethical decision?
As you implied, ethics usually involves judgement and may be controversial.
Why do you think Nokia's decision was unethical?
because it leave people who work in germany (nokia) without job after moving from one country to another . and this of course has impact in the society
I agree.
But didn't Nokia have an ethical responsibility to see that its stock holders had the best profits possible?
but Ms.Sue, as we have seen in the news, some said Nokia didn't have any financial problem to move to Romania. OK, I agree that it will increase the profit for shareholders, but there is no balance in this equation. The decision has affected more people than they were benefited from increasing the profit
You've made a good point! :-)
So, can we say that their decision was legal but still unethical?
You can if you give reasons why you think their decision was unethical.
First of all, people's reaction was an obvious sign to prove that it was unethical. “Business activity affects all aspects of people’s lives, so the way business behaves toward stakeholders affects how stakeholders will behave toward businesses.” was said in one of Ethics books.
Another thing is, I don't think the German government would force a "broken" company to pay back their subsidies. And not only that, they accused them for misusing it.
(The World From Berlin: Nokia Under Attack in Germany)
Another reason is when they went to China the case has gotten worse because it's known that employers in developing countries treat their workers in bad ways just to get done with the given tasks.
After all, companies have other responsibilities than making money. The main one in this case is "Social responsibility"
Sorry Ms.Sue for making it a long discussion but my friend Mona was confused about this case and I wanted to include someone's else opinion :)
Thank you very much for your help!