Questions and Answers of Understanding Business Ethics

Is green marketing just a fad? Explain your view.
Why are poverty and hunger seen as business issues?
In India, the cotton gins are continuously working, with girls—some as young as 10 years old—employed to spin the raw cotton into commercial cotton for a global textile industry that generates
Do corporations have a responsibility to help solve hunger and poverty around the world? Explain.
Why don’t U.S. firms focus on the poor as a potential target market?
Do you think codes of ethics really make a difference in an organization? Explain.
Many companies ignore or overlook differences in translating codes of ethics into other languages. Why is it important to have codes of ethics translated into the native languages of the countries in
On January 28, 1986, at 11:38 a.m., the space shuttle Challenger was launched. The evening before the launch, the temperature at the launch site had dropped to 18 degrees. It was also estimated to be
Find the Code of Ethics for United Health on the Internet. Comment on the topics addressed in United Health’s Code of Ethics. Do you feel the code adequately achieves its purpose?
Released on December 3, 2010, the movie Black Swan, about a ballerina slowly becoming mentally unstable, received great reviews. The star, Natalie Portman, received an Academy Award for Best Actress
Why do you think that many firms establish ethics policies but do not enforce them?
In the 1920s, Charles Ponzi introduced the “Ponzi” scheme to the American public. The scheme’s simplicity is one of its best traits. By promising above-average returns for their investment,
Can a company be ethical without having a formal ethics policy? Explain.
Headquartered in Munich, Germany, Siemens focuses on developing products for electronic and electronic engineering based industries. As with many large global manufacturing conglomerates, Siemens’s
Do you believe that CPAs would be the best group to perform ethics audits? Why or why not?
In 2002, Blake Mycoskie and his sister Paige competed in the CBS reality program The Amazing Race.During their travels in that competition, Blake and Paige travelled through Argentina. Although they
Do you think hotlines for reporting ethical violations work? Explain your answer.
We believe that our efforts to be a good corporate citizen have a direct impact on our financial strength, as well as our reputation as one of the most trusted and admired companies in the world.—
In May 1985, InterNorth Incorporated and Houston Natural Gas announced that they would merge. Their combined value was an estimated $2.3 billion. These firms were two of the largest gas pipeline
Established in 1961 by the United Nations and headquartered in Rome, Italy, the World Food Programme (WFP) is the largest humanitarian organization dedicated to eliminating world hunger. It costs 25
In November 2005, employees of England’s royal family realized that someone was eavesdropping on their voice mail conversations. The communication secretary and the aide to Prince Charles and the
From its start in a garage in Silicon Valley in 1998, Google has become one of the most powerful technologydriven companies in the world. Started by two graduate students at Stanford University as an
On October 29, 2003, Richard Scrushy, the former CEO of HealthSouth, was indicted by the federal government on 85 counts of fraud. He was released on a $10 million bond and a proposed trial date was
This credo drives Interface’s strategic focus as it competes in the highly competitive floor-coverings industry.Interface was started in 1973 by Ray Anderson to fill the need to manufacture
From the time of Facebook’s inception in a Harvard University dorm room, Mark Zuckerberg’s goal was to develop software to share information. His first software allowed Harvard students to see
Mattel has a long-standing relationship with Chinese manufacturers. For decades, Mattel has depended on Chinese suppliers to manufacturer its licensed products. In fact, 65% of all of Mattel’s
A car company builds a car knowing that there is a defect in the design and parts of the car, but after calculating the cost of fixing the problem, the company decides it is more cost efficient to
With the invention of the phonograph by Thomas Edison in 1877, music became available in a unique, new, and different medium. Before the phonograph, music could be listened to only when played live
McWane Corporation has been a fixture in the Birmingham, Alabama, business community since 1921. Started by J. R. McWane and still controlled by the McWane family, McWane Corporation has become an
In the mid-1990s, Merck & Co. was at a crossroads. A number of its best-selling drugs would no longer be protected by patents within a relatively short period, and Merck had not provided a new set of
In the past, Apple marketed that its products were made in the United States. In today’s global marketplace, that is no longer the case. Almost all the products sold by Apple are produced outside
On May 18, 2002, Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski, who had received his degree in accounting and finance from Seton Hall University in 1968, gave the commencement address to St. Anselm’s College in
Based in Ventura, California, Patagonia was founded by Yvon Chouinard. As a 14-year-old boy, he started rock climbing in 1953 as a member of the Southern California Falconry Club. While searching for
On March 11, 2011, at 2:46 p.m., a 9.0 magnitude earthquake shook Japan and created a tsunami of epic proportions. The earthquake was so powerful that it moved the Japanese coastline and made Japan
On October 14, 2011, British-born Michael Woodford, CEO of Olympus, was fired after the firm’s board of directors unanimously voted for his dismissal. Olympus is a Japanese company that is well
Wal-Mart began as a simple dream by its founder, Sam Walton, to provide low prices for customers every day.That philosophy has taken Wal-Mart from one pre-Wal-Mart 5-and-10-cent store in Bentonville,
In a coffee shop in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in 1983, four men, including Bernard Ebbers, decided to form a long-distance telephone company called Long Distance Discount Service (LDDS). Their
This statement by Tony Hayward is just one of the many ironies in an environmental disaster of epic proportions. Not just Hayward, but the unfortunate many thousands of people who resided around the
Based in Yonkers, New York, Greyston Bakery has been baking brownies since 1982. The company was founded by a Zen Buddhist priest, Bernard Glassman. Glassman was a former aerospace engineer with a
Since the 1950s, humans have been able to make synthetic diamonds. Yet, consumers demand “real” diamonds for their jewelry, but at what cost? The diamond industry has been marred with numerous

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