Memorandum essay

GN is a government contractor and the company that operates in the military industry. The company manufactures weapon and the military equipment which the company exports worldwide. In such a way, the company attempts to expand its business and to develop its business successfully. However, at the moment, the company faces a bunch of problems, which refer not only to the field of ethics but also to the field of law. At this point, it is worth mentioning the fact that the company operates internationally but its business is highly controversial because the company violates basic ethical norms and standards as well as legal norms. Therefore, the company has to tackle the bunch of problems GN faces at the moment. Otherwise, the company may face considerable problems in the nearest future because of the violation of ethical principles and legal norms and rules.

Ethical issue 1

First of all, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that Gumdrop Northern manufactures land mines and exports them to Iran and Afghanistan. Hence, the company violates its ethical responsibility in face of its customers. In fact, such a situation is unacceptable from the ethical standpoint because the company exports land mines which are extremely harmful and can cause severe damages and numerous casualties among civilians. In the contemporary business environment, such policy of the company is unacceptable because the business should be ethically responsible, especially if the company operates in the military industry. In fact, the military industry is very sensitive industry and companies cannot put under a threat the life of civilians. However, the company operates in the military industry and GN should be responsible for consequences of its actions. In this regard, manufacturing of land mines and its supply to regions, where military actions take place is unethical and contradicts to fundamental principles of business ethics. To put it more precisely, the company manufactures products that are extremely dangerous for civilians and affect the life of people, who do not participate in military operations but become victims of land mines sold by GN to its customers internationally.

Legal issue 1

At the same time, sales of landmines to Iran and Afghanistan raise legal issues as well. To put it more precisely, the company violates existing legal norms concerning the regulation of the weapon trade. In actuality, the export of banned military products, land mines, contradicts to international treaties concerning on the limitation of the spread of the weapon in the world. Therefore, the company violates existing restrictions concerning the trade involving the weapon, namely land mines. Obviously, illegal actions of the company threaten to the future business development of GN because international sanctions can be applied to GN because of its sales of land mines to Iran and Afghanistan. At this point, it is important to understand that GN supplies its products not only to Iran and Afghanistan but also to the US. Therefore, the company cannot ignore legal norms and rules that exist in the US and international trade involving weapon and weapon-related equipment.