Ethics within the British armaments industry Essay

Ethics within the British armaments persistence - Essay ExampleOne pains facing this ethical dilemma is armaments. On one hand, the development, production and sale of armaments are an extremely lucrative patronage, serving national strategic, economic, and defensive purposes (Havemann 1998, pp.241-242). On the other hand, it carries unintended consequences - promoting war and violence - whose effects cannot be easily avoided short of halting business lickivity altogether (Havemann 1998, pp.242-243 Gowri 2004, p.33). Thus, while it is sufficient for most enterprises to act ethically by ensuring that their actions comply with the minimum standards of avoiding harmful practices and exercising good conduct, such criteria seems inadequate in evaluating the ethical responsibility of businesses involved in armaments production, which produces foreseeable, but unintended harm regardless of good business practices (Mahoney 1990, p.545 Gowri 2004, p.33). For the UK, these issues are magn ified in scope and intensity because apart from having one of the largest armaments industries in the world, with its leading familiarity BAE Systems, the growing interconnectedness of economies, cultures, and governments worldwide implies a global societal impact.Given the benefits and harm associated with armaments production, can its development, plait and sale be a fully confirm business activity As this essay pull up stakes argue, these activities, although not inherently good acts are morally indifferent business practices. Hence, using the principle of epitome effect and Gowris (2004, pp.40-41) concept of moral externalities, the development, production and sale of armaments can be considered a fully justified business activity. Nonetheless, it is the responsibility of businesses to ensure that they manufacture armaments only within legitimately accepted circumstances. The Business of Armaments AND BritainOccupying a sizeable share of the British manufacturing sector, th e armaments industrys importance for the country is undeniable. As Havemann (1998, p.242) notes, for a medium-sized economy that is highly open on trade such as the United Kingdom, armaments constitutes a significant part of the economy, with major players comparable BAE Systems, ranking 4th globally in the world in 2004 (Dunne and Surry 2006, p. 421) and UK arms production amounting to $19.2 billion in total sales in 2000, alone (Stockholm International Peace and Research Institute SIPRI 2003). Economically speaking, these statistics generate to several macroeconomic and microeconomic benefits to the United Kingdom (Havemann 1998, p. 242). First, given its large share within manufacturing, the armaments industry has been reported to provide a significant amount of jobs, with 155,000 workers directly employed in arms producing activities and 150,000 indirectly working within the arms production supply chain (SIPRI 2003). Armaments production also helps boost the countrys trade p erformance, with companies like BAE Systems exporting 80% of its total sales, British arms exports generated $6.7 in 2000 (SIPRI 2003), significantly contributing to the UKs one-year trade balance. Furthermore, with supply chain links in related industries such as information technology, systems integration, aerospace, and metallurgy, as well as the oil and gas sectors, it is clear that arms producing ac