Unethical Business Practices and Social Corporate Responsibility: A Case Study from the Fast Fashion Industry

Abstract

This thesis investigates whether the implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) leads to the avoidance of unethical business practices. This is examined on the basis of the Swedish fast fashion company H&M Hennes and Mauritz AB (H&M). In order to be able to subject the business practice of the company to a moral evaluation, the method of the Narrow Reflective Equilibrium (NRE) is applied. Utilizing this method an argument from coherence will be established, exposing a fraction of H&M's business practices as morally unjustifiable. Thus, on the basis of this specific case, it succeeds in demonstrating that although H&M submits to selected CSR principles, unethical practices appear in the company's business activities. This allows to conclude that embedding CSR in a company's business ethos does not necessarily lead to the avoidance of unethical business practices. This case-based approach does not seek to make any universal claims. Rather, it highlights the limitations of the CSR concept by pointing out the discrepancy between the morality- based theoretical approach of CSR and the profit-oriented practical application of this concept. .