Questions and Answers of Business And Society Ethics

What (if any) conflicts exist between the images and public reputations of The Body Shop and American Express?Although the Roddick commercials received a positive response from advertising industry
What does the American Express campaign imply about The Body Shop and its customers? Is this different from the image of the nonprofit organizations that The Body Shop endorses?Although the Roddick
What is your opinion on The Body Shop/American Express advertising campaign? Was it a sound business decision on Roddick’s part?Although the Roddick commercials received a positive response from
The Body Shop asks potential employees questions about “personal heroes” and individual beliefs. Is it ethical to ask such questions of applicants?Are these questions legitimate ones to ask in
Should The Body Shop enter the mass market and retail its products in drug stores and supermarkets?How would this affect its operations and direction?When North American consumers are asked to
What are Anita Roddick’s strengths and weaknesses as a leader? Should she stay on in a managing role or step aside and allow a more experienced person to run the marketing operations?When North
What is your assessment of Anita Roddick’s philosophy regarding the “purpose of a business”?When North American consumers are asked to describe the cosmetics industry, they often respond with
What are The Body Shop’s long-term goals? Are they realistic, given the nature of the cosmetics industry?When North American consumers are asked to describe the cosmetics industry, they often
Anita Roddick claims that her firm does not advertise, yet it receives free media exposure and publicity through the social causes it champions.Is this an appropriate approach for a business to
How does The Body Shop address the four components of corporate social responsibility?When North American consumers are asked to describe the cosmetics industry, they often respond with words such as
Wal-Mart is finding severe resistance to its expansion into New England. From Wal-Mart’s perspective, draw the stakeholder map. Define the true goals of the opponents of Wal-Mart. Include a
In the case of Kinder, Louisiana, Wal-Mart left town without any type of reciprocity. Given Wal-Mart’s commitment statements, did the company owe a debt to the city of Kinder? Why or why not?In his
Wal-Mart has closed five stores in its short history.What responsibility, if any, does Wal-Mart have to the employees who are let go? What about its loyal customers and the community?In his final
Some regard Wal-Mart as a leader in the area of corporate social responsibility. How do the “Buy American”program and the “Environmental Awareness”campaign illustrate this? Are these programs
Sam Walton has been called a motivational genius. After reading this case and with what you have observed at your local Wal-Mart store, explain how this motivational genius empowered the employee.
Most of Wal-Mart’s success has come at the expense of the small merchant. What should Wal-Mart do, if anything, to help other vital businesses in the community survive? Why?In his final days, the
What are the major issues in this case? Assess Wal-Mart’s corporate social responsibility using the four-part CSR model. Is Wal-Mart socially responsible for its devastating impact on small
What recommendations would you make in this case? If a company’s strategies or actions are involved, should the company have acted the way it did? What actions should the company take now, and why?
If the case involves a company’s action, evaluate what the company did or did not do in handling the issue affecting it.
What economic/legal/ethical/philanthropic responsibilities does the company have, and what exactly are the nature and extent of these responsibilities?
Who are the stakeholders in this case, and what are their stakes? (Create a stakeholder map if this is helpful.) What challenges/threats/opportunities are posed by these stakeholders?
What subissues or related issues are present in the case that merit consideration and discussion?
What is the major overriding issue in this case? (What major questions/issue does this case address that merit(s) their/its study in this course and in connection with the chapter/material you are
What are the central facts of the case and the assumptions you are making on the basis of these facts?
What factors will influence the growth of the public affairs function in the future? Briefly discuss.
Indicate how public affairs might be incorporated into every manager’s job.
Link public affairs strategy with organizational characteristics.
Characterize the elements of an international public affairs effort.
Highlight trends that have been identified with respect to the public affairs function.
Identify the major functions of public affairs departments.
Describe the evolution of the public affairs function in organizations.
One of the steps suggested in the discussion of crisis management is the development of a crisis management team. List the kinds of personal and managerial characteristics you think are important in
Identify one example, other than those listed in Figure 19–3, of each of the leading force categories: events, authorities/advocates, literature, organizations, and political jurisdictions.
What is your opinion of Naisbitt’s belief that the major public issues start as isolated, local events? Give an example you are aware of that appears to support or refute his hypothesis.
List and discuss the major stages in managing business crises.
Define a crisis and identify the four crisis stages.
Describe the major components in the issues development process and some of the factors that have characterized issues management in actual practice.
Identify and briefly explain the stages in the issues management process.
Distinguish between the conventional and strategic management approaches to issues management.
What are the four stages in environmental analysis? Briefly explain each stage.
What is a social audit? Describe how it may be seen as a tool for strategic control.
Identify the steps involved in the strategic management process. In which step is a concern for social issues planning most evident? Explain.
Identify and discuss the four major stages in environmental analysis.
Relate the notion of social audits to strategic control.
Enumerate and briefly describe how a concern for social and ethical issues fits into the strategic management process.
Articulate the four major strategy levels and explain enterprise-level strategy.
Explain the concept of corporate public policy and relate it to strategic management.
In what ways have companies taken the initiative in becoming more responsive to owners/stakeholders? Discuss.
Outline the major suggestions that have been set forth for improving corporate governance. In your opinion, which suggestions have the greatest chance of being effective? Why?
Explain how mergers, acquisitions, takeovers, greenmail, golden parachutes, and insider trading are related to the corporate governance issue.
Explain the corporate governance problem. Why has it occurred?
Summarize what companies are doing to become more responsive to owner stakeholders.
Discuss the principal ways in which shareholder activism is exerting pressure on corporate management groups to improve governance.
Identify the major changes in boards of directors that are being employed to improve corporate governance.
Describe the general problems with greenmail, golden parachutes, and insider trading.
Identify the major criticisms of boards of directors.
Link the issue of legitimacy to corporate governance.
Do you think preferential treatment should be given in university admissions?Explain.
Do you think the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is turning out to be productive or counterproductive? Comment.
Articulate the corporate view on affirmative action.
Identify different postures with respect to affirmative action, explain the concept of reverse discrimination, and provide an overview of the Supreme Court’s decisions on affirmative action.
Elaborate on issues in employment discrimination relating to race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, and disability.
Provide two different meanings of discrimination and give examples of how each might be committed.
Outline the essentials of the federal discrimination laws, particularly Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Chronicle the civil rights movement and minority progress for the past 35 years.
Identify the privacy, health, and due-process ramifications of both the workplace smoking issue and the AIDS issue.
What are the two major arguments for and against honesty testing by employers?Under what circumstances could management most legitimately argue that honesty testing is necessary?
Elaborate on the right to health in the workplace, with particular reference to the recent concerns about smoking in the office and AIDS.
Explain right-to-know laws, and identify the status of workplace threats to reproductive health.
Discuss the right to safety in the workplace, and summarize the role and responsibilities of OSHA.
Identify the advantages and disadvantages of polygraphs, honesty tests, and drug testing as management instruments for decision making.
Articulate the concerns surrounding the employee’s right to privacy in the workplace.
What is your assessment of the value of the 1986 False Claims Act?
If you could choose only one, would the ombudsperson approach or the peer review panel be your choice as the most effective approach to employee due process? Explain.
Explain the employment-at-will doctrine, and describe why it is being eroded. Do you think its erosion is leading to a healthy or an unhealthy employment environment in the United States? Justify
Elaborate on the freedom-of-speech issue and whistle-blowing.
Describe the actions companies are taking to make the workplace friendlier.
Discuss the right to due process and fair treatment.
Describe and discuss the employment-at-will doctrine and its role in the employee’s right to a job or not to be fired.
Explain the employee rights movement and its underlying principles.
Outline the characteristics of the new social contract between employers and employees.
Identify the major changes that are occurring in the work force today.
Describe what you think are a firm’s social responsibilities in a plant- or business-closing situation and what factors influence the degree of those responsibilities.
Identify and discuss briefly what you think are the major trade-offs that firms face as they think about possible plant closings and their responsibility to their employees and their communities.
In your opinion, why does a business have a responsibility to community stakeholders in a business-closing decision? Enumerate what you think are the major reasons.
Differentiate among public purpose partnerships, strategic philanthropy, and cause-related marketing, and provide an example of each that is not discussed in the text.
Take the social policies attributed to George Steiner and explain how a firm with which you are familiar might apply them in a community.
Identify strategies that a business might employ after a plant-closing decision has been made.
Address steps that a business might take before a plant-closing decision is made.
Characterize the nature of, magnitude of, and reasons for the plant-closing issue.
Differentiate between strategic philanthropy and cause-related marketing.
Discuss reasons for community involvement, various types of community projects, and management of community stakeholders.
Identify and discuss two basic ways of business giving.
What are some examples of business environmentalism and decision models for addressing environmental concerns?
How have nonbusiness organizations responded to environmental challenges?
Focus on the root causes of environmental dilemmas.
Examine business eco-responses with several decision models.
Catalog a variety of business responses to these stakeholders.
Identify various environmental stakeholders and their impacts.
Discuss the roles governments play in environmental issues.

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