Importance of Law and its Role in Business Order Instructions: Write a paper discussing the importance of law and its role in the business environment.
This paper is to be general in nature and should address each major category of law covered in the course. You may focus your attention on either civil law, criminal law, or both. Further, attention should also be given to ethical theory and its role in the formation of American jurisprudence.
Importance of Law and its Role in Business Sample Answer
Law in Business
The law is a set of regulations that are meant to streamline human activities in society to maintain peace and order. These regulations are outlined by the governing body in a certain area to control the activities carried out by people who live and work in the area. Without it, there would be no way to determine who is at fault during conflicts that emerge in the day to day lives. The rule of law is essential in the business environment to determine the terms and conditions that business people should adhere to when establishing or conduct business (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2014). It is important for the government or the governing body to put forward certain regulations that dictate the kind of business people conduct and hope they conduct these businesses.
Role of Law in Business
The rule of law plays major roles in the business field such as protecting employees and customers from being duped. The governing body provides the specifications for which businesses are legal and those that are illegal. As such, this protects employees from being deceived to participate in illegal businesses such as the production of illegal goods and services (Ebert, & Griffin, 2015). The regulations give light to people searching for jobs to avoid deception by people who deal with illegal activities. Apart from employees, the regulations state the standards of quality for any service or product given by entrepreneurs. This move protects customers from consuming substandard goods and services. By so doing the customers get the quality of goods they deserve for their money. As such these prevent accidents and other forms malfunctions hence saving customers a lot of money for replacements and the effects of emanating from the use of low-quality products in their homes (Ebert, & Griffin, 2015).
Apart from deception, the regulations protect consumers from exploitation by business dealers. Goods and service providers have the tendency of exaggerating prices or their goods and services. As such, the laws provide the limits of prices for their products to avoid the customers having to pay more than is appropriate (Ebert, & Griffin, 2015). For instance, the government’s regulation of interest rates offered by money lender is crucial. The regulations give a limit to this moneylender such that they do not cross ascertain the value and hence no overexploitation for consumers.
The role played by laws in business is protecting business owners from having the patents of their businesses copied by competitors or fraudsters. Patent ownership gives businesses the originality, credibility, and hence attracting customer loyalty (K Woodside et al., 2012). It is, therefore, crucial to have laws to govern theft of ideas and technology software to allow people to protect their innovations and benefit from them. This, therefore, means that entrepreneurs can have original products and hence no counterfeits. The main benefit for this form of protection is to avoid competitors from tarnishing the names of original brands by producing counterfeits of the same products. As such, these regulations prevent unfair and unhealthy competition. Therefore, entrepreneurs can become innovative without worrying about being copied by their competitors.
There also exist locational laws that dictate the kind of businesses that exist in different areas. These laws give guidelines on where to run which kind of business. This is because some businesses would be a hindrance to human survival and should therefore not be operated where many people exist. For instance, in many countries including the United States, there are laws that prohibit the establishment of factories in the middle of towns or cities (Hill, Cronk & Wickramasekera, 2013). Apart from the noise that emanates from factories, there are also gasses which are life-threatening, and therefore certain factories cannot operate where there are large numbers of residents. The location laws also regulate the kind of billboards and other advisements are placed. These regulations prevent entrepreneurs from marketing their products any way they like. Marketers are therefore supposed to put up their advertisements as well as the billboards.
Licensing laws are put forward to make sure that operators are recognized by the government and that hey abide with other laws and regulations. Entrepreneurs are therefore supposed to register their businesses to collect licenses that are required by authorities. It is, therefore, illegal for a person to run a business without a license. The licenses make it easy for law enforcers to evaluate and assess businesses to make sure that all other conditions set for setting up a business a business have been met (Hill, Cronk, & Wickramasekera, 2013). Entrepreneurs should, therefore, ensure that their business has licenses to avoid closure or being dissolved
Environment laws are also another set of business regulations that play a crucial role in the business community. They dictate how businesses are supposed to take care of the environment by proper disposal of wastewater (World Bank Group, 2013). Apart from that, businesses are also supposed to control the noise that comes from their operations to make the environment conducive for human habitation. As such, it is illegals for entrepreneurs to dispose of their wastes in a manner that poses a risk to the survival of humans. People are also required to get rid of their waste at the required places and in the right manner. Additionally, these business laws also contain recycling of recyclable materials to reduce wastage. For instance, most factories are required to treat their wastewater before realizing into water bodies. As such if the water can be recycled, there exist laws that outline the procedure to save some resources. Apart from water factories whose production procedures involve emission of hazardous gasses are required t treat this gasses before they rich the air.
Importance of Laws in Business
A lot of benefits come with having laws in the business environment. For instance, business laws and regulations help to solve conflicts within an organization. They are therefore important in deciding who is at fault and therefore conflicts can be solved amicably. For instance, without laws to regulate the modes and manner of payments, business owners would be a better position to exploit their employees and pay them to minute salaries (K Woodside et al., 2012). In addition, the laws are important in protecting the rights of employees concerning their overtime payments benefits as well other inclusions which employers find difficult to accord to their employees. The laws, therefore, provide the payment guidelines and therefore ensure that employees are fully compensated for their services.
Business laws are also important because they regulate the level of competition and modes of competition. The regulations outline the range in prices for competing businesses to allow healthy competitions without some individuals lowering prices too much to get others out of the market. Due to the lack of other competition options, the entrepreneurs are forced to upgrade their products to beat the competition. As such there ends up with good quality products in the market and hence consumers benefit from this competition. The government through these regulations also prevents companies from forming mergers and therefore promotes competition within the industry. Also, some regulations dictate divisional structures within a firm to allow specialization and hence good quality products.
Laws are also important because they enhance revenue collection in the form of taxes by the government. The laws that require entrepreneurs to file their returns with tax collection agencies, ensure that businesses pay their taxes by the taxation act (Haidar, 2012). The revenue collected is important because the government uses for development projects to provide better services to its people. Were it not for the taxation and registration laws it would be difficult to assess who have not paid their taxes and hence the revenue would not be available. As such, these laws help the government to provide better services for the people.
Finally, laws are important in maintaining a clean environment as well as the provision of healthy products. These apply specifically to businesses dealing with food and drinks such as hotels and other food vendors (Itagawa, 2015). Since the law requires them to have health permits, the laws prevent the spread of communicable diseases and food poisoning. As well, food vendors are required to practice a high level of hygiene to prevent the spread of this disease such as cholera. It is apparent that anyone looking to establish a business should be very careful in meeting all the laws and regulations to avoid closure or devolvement of their businesses. Ethical Theory and Jurisprudence
Ethical theories outline the moral dilemmas that are people face in their daily activities and hope these dilemmas can be resolved using the particular ethical theory. As such, there are several ethical theories including deontology utilitarianism among others. Jurisprudence, on the other hand, is the comprehensive study of law that tries to unearth a deeper meaning of the law. As such, ethical theories have played an important role in the formation of this theory of law. Ethical theories provide the basis for the formation of the theory of law also called jurisprudence (Luban, 2015).
To understand the role of ethical theory in jurisprudence formation, there need to be several normative questions whose answers have to sort out to get the best and most satisfying meaning of the law. These queries are based on philosophical normative ethics that aid in justification of what should value instead of focusing on what people should do. Normative principles are objective and should be seen as such to understand the difference between morals and responsibilities. Ethical approaches have been portrayed as critiques of legal norms through jurisprudence. Ethical theories can be used to support or oppose the natural law of jurisprudence (Luban, 2015). They are therefore crucial in the explanation of normative ethics that form the basis of jurisprudence.
Deontological theory suggests that individuals must observe their rule responsibilities and liabilities when dealing with a moral dilemma. This, therefore, means taking responsibilities for and fulfilling their responsibility to the community and society is what is considered ethically right. Deontologists follow a set of rules and obligations that are considered to be by the jurisprudence. This theory has contributed much to the formation of jurisprudence because the obligations outlined in this theory are considered lawfully correct (Smith, 2013). For instance, the theories state that parents have an obligation to their children. This obligation is the basis of the children’s protection act, which dictates that children must be given their rights by the government and parents. However, deontology has some drawbacks which if included in the rule of law would lead to conflicts. As such, these sections were left out in the formation of the jurisdiction (Smith, 2013).
Utilitarianism is another ethical theory which that a role in jurisprudence as it outlines the ability to foretell the penalties of an act. It is therefore considered ethically right when and the individual chooses an act that bears the most costly consequences to a large group of people (Knapp, 2013). As such, this-this theory gives an insight into a person to take the choice that will benefit majority people. Since it provides a chance for individuals to explain the rationale for their choice of action, there is a logical argument for the actions that people take. The role of this theory is that it forms the basis for fairness in the theory of law. In jurisprudence, people are given a chance to give an explanation for their actions before they answer and deal with the consequences of their actions. As such, the theory forms the basis for a fair trial and legal representation (Knapp, 2013).
Rights ethical theory outlines that the human rights dictated by s certain governing body or society are supposed to be given the priority. This right is therefore seen as morally upright and should, therefore, be honored and accorded to everyone within the society under which they are outlined. It is, therefore, the obligation of the society to uphold the kind of rights they feel most valuable to the residents (Knapp, 2013). This theory has formed the basis of many rights upheld in the constitution of the United States. These rights are meant to protect the people in the country for survival and maintenance of peace and order. This, therefore, means that equality to the provisions of rights and freedoms is based on this theory. Denying people their rights is considered unacceptable and is punishable and just like in the jurisdiction (Knapp, 2013). Societies are required to outline clearly the rights that have been upheld to enable citizens to understand their obligations and what the government should provide for them.
Casuist is an ethical theory that gives individuals the chance to compare different ethical dilemma. As such, one can tell how severe the consequences of the decisions made during the dilemma are. This is because by looking at previous happenings one can determine the magnitude of the consequences as well as how the outcomes will affect the decision or action (Smith, 2013). This comparison forms the basis of different sentences for different offenses. When people commit similar offenses, they can tell the level and magnitude of the offense and hence can determine the type of sentence that befits the offense through comparison. Additionally, through comparison, people can decide which actions to take and the ones to avoid (Smith, 2013). Since jurisdiction looks to answer the questions on the nature of law, similar judgments for the same offenses can be considered as law after it has been applied over a long period.
Virtue ethical is an ethical theory that focuses on judging an individual by evaluation and assessment or their character. Instead of using a single behavioral action to base the character of the individual, this theory combines several aspects of the individual’s behavior to get to know their daily and inner behaviors. This assessment is important because it is unfair to judge a person by use of a single action that is unethical. In society, good people who find themselves in unethical situations receive a less scrutinized judgment than those with known unethical habits (Smith, 2013). However, in jurisprudence, everybody is judged equally despite his or her normal behavior. It is assumed that everybody knows the consequences of their actions and should, therefore, be responsible for them. Even so, people are given the chance to change but only after, they pay for their faults (Smith, 2013).
From the analysis of these ethical theories, it is clear that they form a very strong basis for jurisprudence (Smith, 2013). Following this basis, the definition of law has been widely discussed to try to determine which other they describe it best. It is evident that law should be taken as an ethical issue but should not be based completely on social bearings. Unethical behaviors are therefore illegal and can attract consequences which may be positive or negative. As such, individuals are cautioned to be overly careful in their daily activities. However, there should be several perspectives from which to judge different situations to allow diversity and reduce unfair judgment in jurisprudence (Smith, 2013).
Importance of Law and its Role in Business References
Carroll, A. B., & Buchholtz, A. K. (2014). Business and Society: Ethics, sustainability, and stakeholder management. Nelson Education.
Ebert, R. J., & Griffin, R. W. (2015). Business Essentials. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Haidar, J. I. (2012). The impact of business regulatory reforms on economic growth. Journal of the Japanese and international economies, 26(3), 285-307. and Economics, 11(2), 127.
Hill, C. W., Cronk, T., & Wickramasekera, R. (2013). Global business today. McGraw-Hill Education (Australia).
Itagawa, Z. (2015). Administrative Regulations (Vol. 4). Doing Business in Japan.
Knapp, A. T. (2013). Law’s Revolutionary: James Wilson and the Birth of American Jurisprudence.
K Woodside, A. G., Chang, M. L., & Cheng, C. F. (2012). Government Regulations of Business, Corruption, Reforms, and the Economic Growth of Nations. International Journal of Business
Luban, D. (2015). Time-Mindedness and Jurisprudence. Va. L. Rev., 101, 903.
Smith, D. W. (2013). The role of phenomenology in analytic philosophy.
World Bank Group (Ed.). (2013). Doing Business 2014: understanding regulations for small and medium-sized enterprises (Vol. 11). World Bank Publications.
