Economic efficiency and ethics : a case study of forced labor in Malaysian electrical and electronics industry

Abstract

In this thesis, there are five chapters. The first chapter is introduction on this thesis, including problem statement and justification, objective and research questions and methodology. The second chapter focuses on the concept and issues in forced labor, starting with historical context of forced labor, then followed by the international context from ILO, the clarification on forced labor, human trafficking and slavery, an at last, I will present empirical studies on the issues in forced labor. The third chapter is about ethics, economic efficiency and justice. There are three sections in this chapter. The first section is about empirical review of business ethics. The second section I will use Kantianism, utilitarianism and virtues of ethics to analysis the relationship between ethics and economic efficiency. The third section I will focus on Rawls’ distributive justice and procedural justice to clarify the relationship between economic efficiency and justice. The fourth chapter is the case study of forced labor in Malaysian E&E industry. Firstly, there will be an introduction on the E&E industry, including the its development foreign workers who are working in the industry and their labor standards. Secondly, I will present the issues of forced labor in the E&E industry, on both immigration policies and forced labor practices at company level. At last, I will use the theoretical framework in chapter two and chapter three to analysis ethical consideration and justice in the E&E industry. The last chapter is the conclusion of this thesis.