Why I don't like the "needs to" framing, especially as it comes to business decisions, is that I think it takes the agency out of the process. Too many of my friends and family seem to assume that just because there are customers willing to pay or cheaper labor, a company must automatically do a certain thing unless the government makes a law to prevent them from doing it.

I guess that's why I like the "chooses to" framing because it highlights that leaders of companies can choose to not pursue markets or go with higher priced suppliers if they can make the argument as to how it might help them in the long term.

Edit: typo

How do you avoid a situation where companies making ethical choices are bought or outspent by companies (or in fact by shareholders) that got rich by exploiting every profitable opportunity that is legally available to them, including unethical ones?

From the point of view of any particular company the choice you're talking about may well exist, especially where the company is founder-led. But that doesn't mean the outcome you're hoping for can be achieved on a purely voluntary basis.

It may work in exceptional cases though, Apple being one of them.

IDK if the philosophy of it matters all that much. Apple is, likely, going to grow in China. We don't have to solve the "agency question" to know this.

That said, I think there is a decent amount of determinism at play here. It's like the "why are all politicians such politicians?" problem. The companies with an interest in entering the Chinese market will, mostly, do it. It's predictable. Predictable isn't determinism, but it's en route.

For a more poetic take, I'll paraphrase leonard cohen on "do you believe in free will?":

I think free will exists, but I think it's over-rated. Mostly, we act because we are compelled to.

Well, let's merge both narrations: they need to, if they choose to pursue the leadership in the global market ;)

at the detriment of human rights and the environment.

A lot of investors and pension funds are starting to add more criteria to their investments than just a profit.

I would consider businesses providing for our basic human needs (eg food) to be needed to be in business.

It is a pretty powerful combo: controlling supply and demand.