Give an example of a major abuse of advertising via social media from your own observations and experiences. How do you feel about this as a consumer?
> Is the stakeholder corporation a realistic model for business firms? Will stakeholder corporations become more prevalent in the 21st century? Why or why not?
> What are the three levels of stakeholder engagement that a company might use? Explain each.
> What are the five key questions that must be answered for stakeholder management to be successful?
> Differentiate between primary and secondary social and nonsocial stakeholders in a business situation. Give examples of each.
> Explain in your own words the differences between the production, managerial, and stakeholder views of the firm. Which view is best and why?
> Explain the concepts of stake and stakeholder from your perspective as an individual. What kinds of stakes and stakeholders do you have? Discuss.
> Compare and contrast the socially oriented concepts: CSR, corporate citizenship, sustainability, creating shared value, and conscious capitalism. Do these represent different forms of the business and society relationship or do they represent how and why
> Which three of the concepts under the field of behavioral ethics appear to be the most powerful? Explain why and give examples.
> Has the concept of diversity supplanted the concept of affirmative action in leading companies today? Why or why not?
> Do you agree with the Genetic Nondiscrimination Act? Do companies have a right to know and use genetic information about employees? Why or why not?
> Do you think racial inequality is caused by racism, favoritism, or both? Explain your answer.
> How has the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) evolved since its inception?
> Give two different definitions of discrimination, and provide an example of each.
> Identify the major federal discrimination laws and indicate what they prohibit. Which agency is primarily responsible for enforcing these laws?
> Identify the privacy, health, and due-process ramifications of violence in the workplace.
> Which two of the four guidelines on the issue of privacy presented in this chapter do you think are the most important? Why?
> How has the World Trade Center tragedy affected workplace privacy? What are the long-term implications of that?
> How has technology affected workplace privacy? What are the implications for the social contract between firms and their employees?
> Identify and prioritize the best practices for improving the organization’s ethical climate. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each?
> What are the two major arguments for and against integrity (honesty) testing by employers? Under what circumstances could management most legitimately argue that integrity testing is necessary?
> Enumerate the strengths and weaknesses of the polygraph as a management tool for decision making. What polygraph uses are legitimate? What uses of the polygraph are illegitimate?
> In your own words, describe what privacy means and what privacy protection companies should give employees.
> What other steps can management take to be responsive to potential whistle-blowing situations?
> What is your assessment of the value of the False Claims Act? What is your assessment of the value of the whistle-blower protections under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act?
> How do you feel about whistle-blowing now that you have read about it? Are you now more sympathetic or less sympathetic to whistle-blowers? Explain.
> If you could choose only one, which form of alternative dispute resolution would be your choice as the most effective approach to employee due process? Explain.
> In your own words, explain the right to due process. What are some of the major ways management is attempting to ensure due process in the workplace?
> Explain the employment-at-will doctrine, and describe how it is being eroded. Do you think its existence is leading to a healthy or an unhealthy employment environment in the United States? Justify your reasoning.
> Rank the various changes that are occurring in the workplace in terms of their importance to the growth of the employee rights movement. Briefly explain your ranking.
> An ongoing debate concerns whether business ethics can and should be taught in business schools. Do you think ethics can be taught in B-school? Substantiate your point with reasons. Can top managers and board members be taught business ethics?
> In your opinion, why does a business have a responsibility to employees and community stakeholders in a business- or plant-closing decision?
> Identify and discuss briefly what you think are the major trade-offs that firms face as they think about offshoring and reshoring. When substantial layoffs are involved, what are firms’ responsibilities to their employees and their communities?
> Differentiate among strategic philanthropy, cause-related marketing, and cause branding. Provide an example of each not discussed in the text.
> Explain the pros and cons of corporate philanthropy, provide a brief history of corporate philanthropy, and explain why and to whom companies give.
> Have you participated in community involvement at work? What type of program did the company endorse? Outline what you experienced to be the benefits of employee volunteerism.
> Should businesses and societies continue to focus on unlimited economic growth?
> How can ethics be applied in response to environmental issues?
> Who has responsibility for addressing environmental issues?
> What are several of the most important environmental issues now receiving worldwide attention?
> What is sustainability? How does sustainability relate to environmentalism?
> What do you think about codes of conduct? Give three reasons why an organization ought to have a code of conduct and three reasons why an organization should not have a code of conduct. On balance, how do you assess the value of codes of conduct?
> What is your assessment of business’s response to product and service quality and safety? Have they done enough? What is missing from their approaches?
> Given the current business and consumer climate, what do you anticipate the future to be for the CPSC and the FDA? What role does politics play in your answer?
> Differentiate the doctrine of strict liability from the doctrines of absolute liability and market share liability. What implications do these views have for the business community and for future products and services that might be offered?
> Identify the principal reasons why we have a product liability crisis. Have any reasons been omitted? Discuss.
> What ethical theories can help us to better understand the issue of quality? Discuss.
> Identify the major dimensions of quality. Give an example of a product or service in which each of these characteristics is important.
> Does the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau make sense? How do you keep politics out of government agencies? In a free market, why shouldn’t consumers be left to fend for themselves with respect to consumer financial products?
> Are companies genuinely interested in marketing sustainable products or is this just a marketing strategy that is popular today. Do you think “green fatigue” has set in? If so, what should companies now do?
> What is your opinion of the consumer movement? Is it “alive and well” or is it fading away? Why has consumerism been such an enduring movement for so long?
> Assume that you are in your first managerial position. Identify five ways in which you might provide ethical leadership. Rank them in terms of importance, and be prepared to explain your ranking.
> In addition to the basic consumer rights expressed in the consumer’s Magna Carta, what other expectations or rights do you think consumer stakeholders have of business? Do consumers have some moral rights that have not yet been articulated in law?
> What are the limits of corporate political strategy? Are there lines that companies should not cross?
> What does corporate accountability mean to you? How important is corporate political transparency?
> Discuss Citizens United and Speechnow and their likely effect on future elections. What, if any, reforms would you recommend?
> What is a PAC? How is it different from a Super PAC? What are the major arguments in favor of PACs? What are the major types of PACs and how do they differ? In your opinion, are PACs a good way for business to influence the public policy process? What ch
> Explain lobbying in your own words. Describe the different levels at which lobbying takes place. Why is there a lack of unity among the umbrella organizations?
> What are deregulation and reregulation? Under what circumstances should each be considered?
> What are the trade-offs between privatization and federalization? When would one or the other be more appropriate? What problems might you foresee and what future events would merit a shift in the current mix?
> Outline the major benefits and costs of government regulation. In general, do you think the benefits of government regulation exceed the costs? In what areas, if any, do you think the costs exceed the benefits?
> What is regulation? Why does government see a need to regulate? Differentiate between economic and social regulation. What social regulations do you think are most important, and why? What social regulations ought to be eliminated? Explain.
> Which is most important in ethics principles – consequences or duty? Discuss.
> Explain why the public is treated as a separate group in the interactions among business, government, and the public. Doesn’t government represent the public’s interests? How should the public’s interests be manifested?
> Briefly explain how business and government represent a clash of ethical systems (belief systems). With which do you find yourself identifying most? Explain. With which would most business Students identify? Explain.
> What are the major strategies companies might employ in improving global business ethics? What are the key steps research has shown are important to successful company anticorruption efforts?
> Conduct research, for purposes of updating the latest rankings of Transparency International and the activities of the OECD, UNCAC, and individual country initiatives. How could countries such as China, India, and Russia most effective improve their TI r
> Differentiate between a bribe and a grease payment. Give an example of each.
> Investment banking company Goldman Sachs flags employee e-mails that contain inappropriate “swear” words. Bank of America’s call centers track employee movements. Other companies check their employees’ browser histories, log their keystrokes for producti
> On April 24, 2013, an eight-story garment factory building collapsed in Rana Plaza, which is on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The Rana Plaza building is located in Savar, near Dhaka. The collapse occurred just after work had begun that morning in s
> As a State employee, I am restricted from receiving excessive gifts because of my opportunity to direct business toward certain vendors. Currently, the State forbids acceptance of gifts that exceed $100 in value. Regardless of the limit, I make it a pers
> In April 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued revised guidance on the use of arrest and conviction records in employment decisions. In it, the EEOC warned that the use of criminal background as an exclusion must be “job related
> When a roadside explosion in Afghanistan blew up his Humvee, Russ Murray sustained brain and back injuries as well as posttraumatic stress disorder that made it very difficult to leave his home in Watkinsville, Georgia. Getting Ellie, his service dog, ma
> When then-Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) CEO Michael Jeffries said the following in a Salon interview, relatively few took notice: Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A l
> Our department has two buildings about three miles apart. The extension office operates quite differently from headquarters. Folks seem to come and go as they please, and the atmosphere is casual. April works in the extension office and takes full advant
> Few people question an employer’s right to control an employee’s behavior on the job. However, when an employer takes action based on an employee’s offduty conduct, questions of ethics arise. More than half of all states prohibit firing based on various
> As an MNC seeks to balance and honor the ethical standards of both the home and host countries, conflicts inevitably will arise. What criteria do you think managers should consider as they try to decide whether to use home or host country ethical standar
> Ruth Hatton, a waitress for a Red Lobster restaurant in Pleasant Hills, Pennsylvania, was fired from her job because she was accused of stealing a guest-comment card that had been deposited in the customer comment box by a disgruntled couple.1 The couple
> Caroline Murray was mourning the death of her husband, Mike, when she received a call from the employee benefits division of his company requesting a copy of the death certificate. After asking why they needed the certificate, Caroline was surprised to l
> Following the lessons learned in the 2008/2009 mortgage crisis, one would think that issues of egregious lending practices would have gone away. Instead, they have taken a different twist in the context of student loans. Take the example of Scott Burnsid
> Data mining of large data sets, frequently called Big Data, has become a big part of analyzing consumerrelated data that companies collect. Basically, data mining is a computational process of extracting information patterns from data sets and transformi
> KIRK’S FIRST YEAR Kirk was a bright individual who was being groomed for the controller’s position in amedium-sizedmanufacturing firm. After his first year as assistant controller, the officers of the firm started to include him in major company function
> Lack of safe drinking water is a global issue. One of the United Nations Millennium goals is to “halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.” Climate change has made this goal d
> When Jeff Lebesch and Kim Jordan expanded from home beer brewing to commercial production in 1991, they envisioned two goals for their new company: they believed they could produce world-class beers and they believed they could do this while kindling soc
> Global supply chains have been wrought with controversy for decades now. Images and stories of global manufacturing, and particularly textile manufacturing, have highlighted issues of unsafe working conditions, child labor, unfair wages, and corruption.
> Often, state and local governments use tax cuts (abatements) or other types of incentives to entice firms to locate within their area. While tax abatements remain useful incentives to help governments achieve job creation goals, those same cuts may creat
> One of the major challenges businesses face with respect to government regulations is that often compliance with existing regulations during an earlier period does not protect them against expensive problems that occur or come to light later. The plight
> Drawing on the notions of moral, amoral, and immoral management introduced in Chapter 7, categorize your impressions of (a) Nestle, in the infant formula controversy; (b) Union Carbide, in the Bhopal tragedy; and (c) Google, in moving its search engine o
> The McDonald’s coffee spill is the most famous consumer lawsuit in the world. Everyone knows about this case, and the details involved in it continue to be debated in many different venues—classrooms, Web sites, blogs, law schools, and business schools.
> “Big Pharma” is the name the business press uses for the gigantic pharmaceutical industry. Most of us are familiar with Big Business and Big Government. Now Big Pharma continues to be in the news and has been for several years regarding its marketing, ad
> Recent election cycles have brought new challenges for corporations and their boards of directors. For example, in the 2016 presidential election campaign, candidate Hillary Clinton unveiled a prescription drug plan to lower prescription prices following
> The United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of interferon beta-1b (brand name Betaseron®) made it the first multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment to get FDA approval in 25 years. Betaseron was developed by Berlex Laboratories, a U.S. unit
> AN ETHICAL DILEMMA Assume that you are the top executive for a firm doing business in Colombia, South America. If a known terrorist group threatens to kill your employees unless you pay extortion money, should the company pay it? If you answer “no,” ho
> There is nothing new about multinational corporations (MNCs) facing challenges as they do business around the world, especially in developing nations or emerging markets. Royal Dutch Shell had to greatly reduce its production of oil in Nigeria due to gue
> Jonah Peretti decided to customize his Nike shoes and visited the NikeiD Web site. The company allowed customers to personalize their Nikes with the colors of their choice and their own personal 16-character message. Peretti chose the word “sweatshop” fo
> As the topic of corporate governance has been in the news more and more during the past several decade, it is useful to reflect on what boards of directors have to do in terms of their roles and responsibilities. Acting on behalf of shareholders, one of
> Jane had just been hired as the head of the payroll department at R&S Electronic Service Company, a firm comprising 75 employees. She had been hired by Eddie, the general manager, who had informed her of the need for maintaining strict confidentiality re
> Jane Adams had just completed a sales training course with her new employer, a major small appliance manufacturer. She was assigned to work as a trainee under Ann Green, one of the firm’s most productive sales reps on the East Coast. At the end of the fi
> Do you think genetically modified organisms (GMOs) raise a legitimate safety hazard? Should government agencies such as the FDA take more action to require safety testing? Do you think labeling unfairly stigmatizes GMOs and make consumers question their
> When I was in college, I worked part-time one summer at a childcare center that was in a fitness center. Most mornings, I worked from 8 A.M. until noon, but some days I was scheduled to work from 7 A.M. until 11 A.M. My roommate also worked there, and ou
> Ethan Dorsett was a retired and disabled Marine living in Missouri. He struggled for five years trying to pay back a $2,500 payday loan, which had escalated to $50,000 in interest due. Ethan’s plight began when his wife, Emily, slipped on ice and broke h
