Ethical Arguments for Moving/Keeping Plant

Ethical Argument for Moving the Plant to El Rancho

Moving the plant to El Rancho will benefit the company and Bill in a number of
ways. First, it will reduce the operational costs of the business as it will not have to buy
expensive equipment to clean its emissions as required in the U.S. Using expensive
equipment to clean its emissions is likely to reduce its profits and competitiveness and,
therefore, threaten its ability to survive in future. Additionally, by employing Mexican
workers, the company is likely to further reduce its operational costs as labor in Mexico is
cheaper than labor in the U.S. At a personal level, moving the plant to El Rancho will also
help Bill to keep his job and allow him to continue taking care of wife and three teenage
children. Thus, there are some solid reasons for moving the plant to El Rancho although none
of these reasons has strong ethical backing.

Ethical Argument for Keeping the Plant in Stinko

According to Brusseau (2012, Chapter 14) businesses have a legal and ethical
obligation to protect the environment. By moving the plant to El Rancho, Bill will be helping
the businesses to avoid both of these obligations. From a legal standpoint, businesses as
supposed to protect the environment through following the guidelines of Environmental
Protection Agency (Brusseau, 2012, Chapter 14). Moving the plant to El Rancho will mean
that the businesses will be running away from its legal obligations.

From an ethical standpoint, staying in Stinko will be in accordance with both duty
ethics and utilitarianism. Based on duty ethics, the plant has a duty to protect the environment
because only such a move can be universalized (Brusseau, 2012. Chapter 3). Moving the

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plant to El Rancho will make the plant to pollute the environment even more as there are no
emission control laws in El Rancho. Moving the plant to El Rancho will also be in violation
of utilitarian ethics. Utilitarian ethics require one to make a decision that brings the most
benefits to the largest number of people (Smart, 2020). Keeping the plant in Mexico will
ensure that people employed at the plant will keep their jobs and continue supporting their
families. It will also ensure that the plant reduces its emissions and, therefore, keep the
residents of Stinko and other surrounding areas safe from harmful emissions. Thus, from an
ethical standpoint, the best decision is to remain in Stinko.

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References

Brusseau, J. (2012) The Business Ethics Workshop. Washington, DC: The Saylor
Foundation.

Smart, J. J. C. (2020). Utilitarianism and its applications. In New directions in Ethics (pp. 24-
41). Routledge.