Knights Apparel - the Alta Gracia Factory

Knights Apparel needs to think into account some ethical considerations when it comes to determining whether they continue to subsidize the Alta Gracia Factory. Common good is the main ethical consideration they should take into account. There are many pros to continuing to subsidize the Alta Gracia factor when taking into account common good. One pro is that they are giving individuals a living wage when they pervious were not making it. “Benefit and fringe payments for Alta Gracia workers equaled about 38 percent of wages – covering paid holidays, vacations and severance accrual as well as contribution to government funds for worker health and pension program.” Some of the benefits of having this living wage is listed in Exhibit A. There are also some cons when it comes to the common good portion of the ethical framework that Knights Apparel also needs to take into consideration. A big down fall of common good is that living wage “could destabilize the economy of the community where the factory was located1.” This could be a huge problem for individuals who do not work at the Alta Gracia factory because it could cause the cost of living to increase so much that that these individuals could no longer afford to live in the area.

Stakeholders are also affected by subsidizing the Alta Gracia factory. Stake-holders that are benefiting from subsidizing the Alta Gracia are customers: Student Activist. They are benefiting because the Alta Factory is drawing attention to their cause about making overseas clothing factories more aware of the basic human rights that employees deserve. Also, the Alta Factory is adhering to the student activist values that they want set. But some of the negatives for these stakeholders is if the Alta Factory fails, it could deterrer other companies from giving their employees a living wage in over seas factories because the Alta factory failed. Exhibit B at the end of this essay also includes many other stakeholders and how they are being affected positively and negatively by the Alta Gracia factory and it being subsidized.

There is one last thing that Knights Apparel needs to take into consideration with continuing to subsidizing the Alta factory is how to achieve long-term profitability. They way that they have already started this is by the way they are marketing their products in stores. By “using workers’ pictures and stories” as their celebrity endorsers. This is a great way to show consumers right where their products are coming from. Marketing this way can open many doors for the company because millennials are being to care more about the work environments in other countries where the products they buy come from. This opens many more doors for the company with this marketing strategy. They should continue to do this but the one thing they need to watch out for is that they aren’t making the host country look bad with the other companies that manufacture in their country. If they do make the host country look bad it could cause them to have to move their factory, which would cause their employees to lose their jobs and everything they works so hard for.  

I found a lot of similarities between Jai Jaikumar and Joe Bozich. Both these men encountered traumas in their lives which lead them to benefit others’ lives. The individuals who benefited from Jai was the village where the old sheep woman lived got a school that Jai, continued to fund. Joe on the other hand Joe chose to benefit a whole demographic of individuals. He created a factory that not only benefited individuals but also benefited the community and the industry around and involved in it. Ultimately, these two men help many individuals after their tragedies, when if it was someone else they might not have been so creative with their tragedies.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B