Technology, CSR, and Bioethics: Growth, Regulation, and Ethics

Introduction: Technology Growth and Corporate Social Responsibility

This paper addresses three central questions at the intersection of technology and corporate social responsibility (CSR): What are the major factors fueling international technological growth, and how do they impede or support CSR? What major CSR issues arise from the use of technology and scientific research? And how does organizational self-regulation compare with governmental regulation on issues such as eugenics, cloning, and DNA testing?

Three Major Factors Fueling International Technological Growth

Technology offers today's organizations quicker methods for completing tasks while significantly reducing the time required to do so. This creates a larger profit margin for the organization, since work that previously required two to three days can now often be completed in half a day. It is clear that technology drives an organization's profit margin through labor savings.

Furthermore, technology enables organizations in other capacities — including the level of innovation and competitive potential they possess — which in turn drives the development and implementation of new technologies. Finally, consumer and societal demand drives technology use throughout the world.

For example, the National Economic Council report entitled "Technological Opportunities, Job Creation and Economic Growth," released on June 28, 2010, announced that the President had made plans to "nearly double the amount of commercial spectrum available in order to unleash the innovative potential of wireless broadband" (Summers, 2010). The Recovery Act was reported to include in excess of $100 billion in innovative investments to help Americans use energy more efficiently, expand high-speed rail to connect cities, and advance health information technology — all intended to create jobs while transforming the health system (Summers, 2010). For these reasons, the Recovery Act made a "substantial investment in bringing broadband to unserved and underserved areas across the country" (Summers, 2010).

CSR Issues Arising from Technology Use and Scientific Research

Pohle and Hittner (2011) write that the Internet "has already triggered lasting change in the structure of industries and the way businesses create value. People now have access to massive amounts of information — and opinions — about products and company practices. This information is available in every part of the globe, every minute of every day." Because of this reality, the corporate social responsibility requirements of today's organizations have risen, making it more important than ever that organizations be characterized by transparency. Transparency can be understood as an organization making all of its company information available to the public — specifically in terms of its impact on the ecology and environment (Pohle and Hittner, 2011).

Pohle and Hittner (2011) report that the CSR profiles of companies substantially outperforming their peers are those that have formed a CSR strategy highly integrated into their business core. The survey they report found that these top-performing companies are more than twice as likely to pursue two key strategies:

Collaborate: They understand their customers' CSR expectations well; have increased the amount of information they provide about the sourcing, composition, and impact of their products, services, and operations; collaborate with consumers and business partners on CSR initiatives; and engage their full base of employees in their CSR objectives (rather than relying on a purely top-down approach).

Integrate: They place critical importance on CSR supply chain processes and consider themselves very effective at managing them; consider themselves very effective at developing products and services with a positive societal or environmental impact; and place critical importance on aligning philanthropy with business priorities (Pohle and Hittner, 2011).

There are also other critical areas that require organizations to practice corporate social responsibility, including organizational and governmental regulation of eugenics, cloning, and DNA testing — reviewed in the following section.

Conclusion

Corporate social responsibility is about doing what is right for the population as a whole rather than focusing on the wants, needs, and demands of any one specific group or school of thought. As technology continues to change the world and the daily existence of people everywhere, increasingly complex ethical dilemmas will arise.

Technology has presented humankind with tremendous potential, and the wants, needs, and demands of the global population serve to drive the direction of technological growth. While it is natural and understandable that organizations desire to grow and become more profitable in meeting these needs, organizations must continuously examine and reexamine the ethical considerations surrounding the products, services, and treatments they provide to consumers in today's marketplace.

Corporate social responsibility is the tool used for gauging an organization's stance on such matters. It is a tool that today's consumers value highly — and one that will serve organizations well in achieving growth and profitability without compromising ethical integrity. Any technology that can be used for positive, ethically responsible purposes can also be misused for negative ones, and organizations must use CSR to ensure alignment with the ethical principles of the world community.

References

Summers, Lawrence H. (2010). Technological opportunities, job creation and economic growth. June 28, 2010. National Economic Council. Retrieved from

Pohle, George and Hittner, Jeff (2011). Attaining sustainable growth through corporate social responsibility. IBM Global Business Services. Retrieved from http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/gbs/bus/pdf/gbe03019-usen-02.pdf

Rosen, Christine (2003). Eugenics: Sacred and profane. The New Atlantis, Summer. Retrieved from http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/eugenics-sacred-and-profane

Grad, Frank P. (2011). The debate on human cloning and legislative morality: Notes on eugenics for an age of affluence. Legislation and Public Policy. Retrieved from

Fukuyama, Francis (2002). Gene regime. Foreign Policy, No. 129. Washington Post Newsweek Interactive LLC.