Business ethics - an example of the "Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation"

Résumé du document

Bill Gates is one of the most successful businessmen of the last century and is world-wide known to have been one of the founders of Microsoft, in 1975, with Paul Allen. Due to the success of his company, he was, between 1996 and 2007 the wealthiest man in the world. In 2009, his personal fortune was estimated around US $40 billion. In June 2008, he decided to leave Microsoft to dedicate himself to his charity foundation, 'The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation'. This foundation is the most important charitable one in the world. But in the past few years, it has encountered several ethical problems after the revelations of the Los Angeles Times about some investments in total contradiction with their philanthropic aims. I have chosen this subject because it shows the interaction between business and ethics. Business, because a foundation needs to invest and earn money in order to be able to make donations but ethics too because usually, the most profitable investments are not the most ethical.

Extraits

[...] So, Bill Gates and its foundation should start by stopping to counter- balance everything good they made. [...]

[...] But those investments should not be only based on the principle to raise as much money as possible.[14] Those investments should be more ethic-based. Even if it leads to a decrease of the incomes, it is a question of credibility for the foundation. Otherwise, opinion may think that the donation are made in order to have a clear conscience after investing in disrespectful company. The aim of the foundation is the contrary, to invest in order to have more money for donations. [...]

[...] In 2006, the total amount of expenditure of the foundation was 30 Billion It is approximately the same amount of money as the annual budget of the Health World Organization (H.W.O.) (Lesniak, 2006) 55% of the budget is dedicated to health programs which the pharmaceutical industry is not interested in: fight against tetanos, malaria, vaccination . (Lesniak, 2006) This is how the health program is described in the website of the foundation: We live in a time when vaccines and medicines can defeat many of the world's deadliest diseases. Promising research can help us make even greater strides. Our mission is to help ensure that advances in health are created and shared with those who need them most. [ . [...]

[...] The other 95% of the worth of the foundation is invested. The aim of those investments are: to allow for the continued funding of foundation programs and grant making. But the Gates Foundation invests in companies that have failed tests of social responsibility because of environmental lapses, employment discrimination, disregard for worker rights, or unethical practices. Analyzing the companies in which the foundation is investor, it appears that among them are: Companies ranked among the worst U.S. and Canadian polluters, [ . [...]

[...] She received the vaccine against polio and measles thanks to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. But now, Justice suffers from a respiratory trouble. The probable cause of this trouble are the gazes emitted by a nearby oil plant, property of Italian petroleum giant Eni, whose investors include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Moreover, Oil bore holes fill with stagnant water, which is ideal for mosquitoes that spread malaria, one of the diseases the foundation is fighting. So, according to this article, the Gates Foundation counterbalances its efforts in the health field by investing in companies having no care of the habitants living around their factories. [...]