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 social, environmental, and cultural change. In 2012, their company, New Belgium Brewing Company (NBB), has become the third largest craft brewery in the United States and the eighth largest producer in the overall industry. The brewery also stands as a corporate leader in environmental sustainability and provides an example of how a company can incorporate environmental concerns into everyday business decisions. However, as NBB continues to expand, the company faces a number of challenges in reaching its environmental goals, many of which it cannot directly control. HISTORY OF NEW BELGIUM BREWERY Jeff was inspired to found New Belgium Brewing (NBB) while on a 1989 bike ride through the Belgian countryside. During his trek, he perceived a lack of flavor in American beers compared to those he was drinking in Europe. When he returned home to Colorado, he set out on a quest to introduce American beer drinkers to the unique essence found in traditional Belgian brews, from the tart framboise, the light saison, and the truly one-of-a-kind trappist ales. Using his home brewing experience, Jeff was able to develop a distinctive recipe for traditional Belgian amber ale. The ale, dubbed Fat Tire in commemoration to the inspirational bike trip, became the brewery’s flagship beer. By 1991, Jeff and Kim formally organized the brewery as New Belgium Brewing Company and began selling the first bottles of Fat Tire around their hometown of Fort Collins, Colorado. Kim, serving as the businessperson of the two, engaged in the marketing and distribution operations, selling the beer to friends, neighbors, and local bars/ stores. A neighbor provided the watercolors that adorn the beers’ labels, a tradition that lives on today. The beers were brewed in the couple’s basement, using an 8.5-barrel system (one barrel is 31 gallons) allowing for total production in 1992 of 993 barrels. By 2012, NBB produced over 750,000 barrels and sold in 31 states.5 In 1991, the company only produced two types of beer, the signature Fat Tire Amber Ale and the darker Abbey Dubbel. Today, NBB regularly produces 21 different styles, 11 being produced year-round. The main brewery is still located in Fort Collins, Colorado, and a new second brewery is opening in Ashville, North Carolina. CORE VALUES Unique in the founding story of New Belgium Brewing is a commitment to a set of values that were adopted from the beginning. Before initial production and during the planning stages of the business, Kim and Jeff developed a set of core values and beliefs by which they would guide their company. Listed below, it is clear from this set of values that profitability is secondary to a sense of social responsibility. This responsibility is centered on two core concepts: the production of quality beer and beer culture and a business that …… Required: 1. What are the ethical issues in this case? 2. What keeps other companies from having the commitment to environmental sustainability that NBB has evidenced? 3. Are you more likely to purchase a product from a company with a strong commitment to sustainability? 4. The benefits of cans over bottles are unclear. Has NBB done the right thing by focusing more on canned beer? Should NBB continue to make a greater commitment to cans? What additional options can NBB explore in the future? 5. Are New Belgium Brewing’s Core Values and Beliefs sustainable? 6. How do employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) align with the sustainability goals of NBB? 7. Do you think that the sale of New Belgium Brewing Company will affect the company’s sustainability focus if they lost their independence and were taken over by a large brewing company?
> 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?
> 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?
> 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
> 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
> SELECTING A NEW COMPUTER ANALYST As a manager in human resources, part of my job is to guide the process by which my company selects new employees. Recently, we selected an applicant to fill a computer analyst position. The supervising manager and a sele
> THE SAN BERNARDINO MASSACRE On December 2, 2015, a married couple used automatic weapons to attack and kill 14 people during an employee training event and holiday party at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California. One of the shooters wa
> Between 2009 and 2015, Volkswagen manufactured and marketed clean diesel automobiles that were designed to provide high performance without the polluting emissions commonly associated with diesel engines. These turbocharged direct injection (TDI) clean d
> After the Enron scandal of 2001 and the WorldCom, Tyco, and Adelphia debacles that followed a couple of years later, the business ethics industry really started to take off. Business ethics consulting and training became a booming field of expertise and
> What do Tamiflu® and Natazia® have in common? They are both goldmedal winners for their direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA). Although their brand name recognition does not rival that of Coca-Cola, their names are familiar to consumers across the nation
> When five customers entered the Chipotle restaurant, Seattle, Washington, in July of 2015, they placed their normal orders…burritos, bowls, tacos—you name it. These customers expected to indulge in what they had come to love over the years, what Chipotle
> PART A: PURSUING SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE When North American consumers are asked to describe the cosmetics industry, they often respond with words such as “glamour” and “beauty.” Beginning in 1976, The Body Shop International PLC (BSI) provided
> Historically, the primary criticism of Walmart, the world’s largest company, has been its impact on communities and small merchants. Anti-sprawl activists and small-town merchants, in particular, have taken issue with the company moving
> Is it an exaggeration to question the ethical implications for business of cell phone and text-messaging use? Discuss both sides of this issue.
> Sam Walton, founder, owner, and mastermind of Wal-Mart,1 now spelled Walmart and often used that way in many advertisements, passed away on April 5, 1992, leaving behind his spirit to ride herd on the colossal Walmart organization. To the consumer in the
> Analyze how the triple bottom line and the Pyramid of CSR are similar and different. Draw a schematic that shows how the two concepts relate to one another.
> Differentiate between corporate social responsibility and corporate social responsiveness. Give an example of each. How does corporate social performance relate to these terms? Where do corporate citizenship and sustainability fit in?
> In your view, what is the single strongest argument against the idea of corporate social responsibility? What is the single strongest argument for corporate social responsibility? Briefly explain.
> Explain the Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility. Provide several examples of each “layer” of the pyramid. Identify and discuss some of the tensions among the layers or components. In what sense do the different layers of the pyramid “overlap” with
> Does socially responsible, sustainable, or ethical investing seem to you to be a legitimate way in which the average citizen might demonstrate her or his concern for CSR? Why is it also called impact investing? Discuss.
> Explain in your own words the Iron Law of Responsibility and the social contract. Give an example of a shared understanding between you as a consumer or an employee and a firm with which you do business or for which you work.
> Give an example of each of the four levels of power discussed in this chapter. Also, give an example of each of the spheres of business power.
> Identify and explain the major factors in the social environment that create an atmosphere in which business criticism takes place and prospers. Provide examples. How are the factors related to one another? Has the revolution of rising expectations run i
> What is the one greatest strength of a pluralistic society? What is the one greatest weakness? Do these characteristics work for or against business?
> Do you think business is abusing its power with respect to invasion of privacy of consumers? Is surveillance of consumers in the marketplace a fair and justified practice? Which particular practice do you think is the most questionable?
> Using the examples you provided for question 1, identify one or more of the guides to personal decision making or ethical tests you think would have helped you resolve your dilemmas. Describe how it would have helped. Question 1: From your personal expe
> (a) In Example 5, find the total sales for January 10, and determine the rate at which sales are falling on that day. (b) Compare the rate of change of sales on January 2 ( Example 5) to the rate on January 10. What can you infer about the rate of change
> Let S(x) represent the total sales (in thousands of dollars) for the month x in the year 2005 at a certain department store. Represent each following statement by an equation involving S or S’. (a) The sales at the end of January reached $120,560 and wer
> Refer to Exercise 41. Is it profitable to produce 1300 chips per day if the cost of producing 1200 chips per day is $14,000? Exercise 41: Let R(x) denote the revenue (in thousands of dollars) generated from the production of x units of computer chips pe
> Let R(x) denote the revenue (in thousands of dollars) generated from the production of x units of computer chips per day, where each unit consists of 100 chips. (a) Represent the following statement by equations involving R or R’: When 1200 chips are pro
> Let P(x) be the profit from producing (and selling) x units of goods. Match each question with the proper solution. Questions A. What is the profit from producing 1000 units of goods? B. At what level of production will the marginal profit be 1000 dollar
> The revenue from producing (and selling) x units of a product is given by R(x) = 3x - .01x2 dollars. (a) Find the marginal revenue at a production level of 20. (b) Find the production levels where the revenue is $200.
> Estimate the cost of manufacturing 51 bicycles per day in Exercise 37. Exercise 37: Let C(x) be the cost (in dollars) of manufacturing x bicycles per day in a certain factory. Interpret C (50) = 5000 and C’ (50) = 45.
> Let C(x) be the cost (in dollars) of manufacturing x bicycles per day in a certain factory. Interpret C (50) = 5000 and C’ (50) = 45.
> If s = 7x2y√z, find: (a) d2s/dx2 (b) d2s/dy2 (c) ds/dz
> If s = Tx2 + 3xP + T2, find: (a) ds/dx (b) ds/dP (c) ds/dT
> Differentiate. y = (2x + 4)3
> If s = P2T, find (a) d2s/dP2, (b) d2s/dT2.
> If s = PT, find (a) ds/dP, (b) ds/dT.
