DSST: Business Ethics & Society

Staffing

Staffing: Hiring, training and developing personnel

Stages of Corporate citizenship

Stages of Corporate Citizenship Fun Town did not always embrace the idea of corporate citizenship. There are five stages of corporate citizenship that all companies will progress through as they gain more experience and understanding. In each of the stages, the following dimensions emerge: citizenship concept, strategic intent, leadership, structure, issues management, stakeholder relationships and transparency. Let's take a look at how Fun Town has moved through each of the stages: Elementary: In this first stage, the focus of Fun Town's citizenship concept was on building profits, providing jobs and paying taxes. Their intent was to comply with all legal regulations. Fun Town also had poor leadership who did not pay attention to any stakeholders, and they handled problems defensively or tried to hide problems from the public. Fun Town had been known to ignore customer complaints and did not ever consider offering community support. They turned down offering sick children free entrance to the park and gave the excuse that it would hurt profits too much. Engaged: Fun Town did realize that the company would not survive if they did not start becoming engaged with their community stakeholders. They began to focus their citizenship concept on philanthropy, or charity work. They held multiple charity events at the park, such as reduced park admission for donating items to their food pantry. Fun Town fired the old CEO and replaced her with a new individual who became interactive with stakeholders. The company adopted public relations to improve their image, but was still reactive to many issues. A key example would be when the park employees went on strike as management refused to listen to their demands. Fun Town's management then had to quickly try and resolve the problem while the park remained closed for over a week. Innovative: The third stage of Fun Town's adaptation of corporate citizenship is focused on stakeholder management. Their leadership is now focused on staying abreast of any business development, while organizing cross-functional teams and responses. Stakeholders are extremely influential and Fun Town has weekly meetings with all community groups to proactively uncover potential problems. Integrated: Fun Town's time period in this stage resulted in proactive partnerships with all stakeholders. For instance, customers were tapped to organize blogs discussing amusement parks and help organize events. Engineers from the company donated time to give tips to high schools students interested in their field. Transforming: Fun Town has finally progressed into the last stage, which focuses on a company being a market creator, visionary and transparent with all issues. Fun Town has become the most popular park in the country due to its reputation and customer dedication. In fact, other Fun Towns are being built across the country. They will also be the first company to single-handedly build a new park based entirely on customer feedback. It will be called Space Town and consist of numerous rides that simulate space flight, living on the moon and Mars and coasters with incredible G forces.

Stakeholder Engagement

Stakeholder engagement is the building of 2-way relationships between organizations and stakeholders. In order to say that a company is partaking in stakeholder engagement, they must be working with at least one stakeholder group, such as employees, investors, or the community. Munchie Natural Bars is a manufacturer of healthy food snack bars. They are a relatively new company that is trying to grow their business through developing stakeholder relationships. They know the benefits to stakeholder engagement include higher productivity and the ability to more easily reach corporate goals. Let's see their plan in action. Stakeholders are not immediately in love with a business. Just like in real relationships, a business relationship with stakeholders develops over time through stages. The stages are: 1. Inactive Munchie Natural Bars' first year after launching the business was in an inactive stage. The company treated their stakeholders with little regard to any problems or concerns. The company preferred to operate as an island and not engage government, community, investors or even their customers. Their only concern was producing and selling bars. 2. Reactive By the second year of business, Munchie realized that they could not ignore all stakeholders. They were losing investors and receiving poor reviews from their customers. The company entered into the reactive stage, where Munchie only responded to stakeholders when they had to and usually in an unprofessional or defensive way. For example, Munchie had also launched a protein shake to miserable sales. Most stakeholders were pushing for the company to cut its losses and drop the new product. Munchie only agreed to quiet the stakeholders and customers, not because they believed it was a good idea. 3. Proactive In the third year, a new CEO was hired to try and revive the company's profits and products. The CEO also felt that the company needed to develop proactive relationships with their stakeholders by trying to predict and respond to their concerns. The new CEO, Nate Ural, was able to create an open-door policy that helped the stakeholders communicate directly with management. For example, Nate actually asked for recommendations and ideas for new products directly from the different stakeholders groups. He was successful at creating stakeholder dialogue, where his company and stakeholders meet face to face frequently to discuss issues and problems. For example, Nate holds employee open houses where employees can stop by and ask questions about any company issues. His plan was so effective that it provided Munchie with the final stage of collaborative relationships. 4. Interactive Munchie was able to successfully move into the final stage of collaborative relationships with their stakeholders, called interactive. This is where Munchie worked constantly with stakeholders to develop trust, honesty and participation. The company has been able to launch new products, build new factories and distribution centers, and has exceptional ties to their customers and local community. Nate also believes in creating stakeholder networks by utilizing the expertise of different stakeholder groups to work collaboratively to solve problems and issues. He was able to use his stakeholder networks to solve training issues in his factories. The final result for Munchie is a long-term, productive relationship with all of their stakeholder groups. Oh... and the successful launch of Munchie Cereal!

Stakeholder Engagement

Stakeholder engagement is the building of 2-way relationships between organizations and stakeholders. In order to say that a company is partaking in stakeholder engagement, they must be working with at least one stakeholder group, such as employees, investors, or the community. Munchie Natural Bars is a manufacturer of healthy food snack bars. They are a relatively new company that is trying to grow their business through developing stakeholder relationships. They know the benefits to stakeholder engagement include higher productivity and the ability to more easily reach corporate goals. Let's see their plan in action. Stages of Relationship Building Stakeholders are not immediately in love with a business. Just like in real relationships, a business relationship with stakeholders develops over time through stages. The stages are: 1. Inactive Munchie Natural Bars' first year after launching the business was in an inactive stage. The company treated their stakeholders with little regard to any problems or concerns. The company preferred to operate as an island and not engage government, community, investors or even their customers. Their only concern was producing and selling bars. 2. Reactive By the second year of business, Munchie realized that they could not ignore all stakeholders. They were losing investors and receiving poor reviews from their customers. The company entered into the reactive stage, where Munchie only responded to stakeholders when they had to and usually in an unprofessional or defensive way. For example, Munchie had also launched a protein shake to miserable sales. Most stakeholders were pushing for the company to cut its losses and drop the new product. Munchie only agreed to quiet the stakeholders and customers, not because they believed it was a good idea. 3. Proactive In the third year, a new CEO was hired to try and revive the company's profits and products. The CEO also felt that the company needed to develop proactive relationships with their stakeholders by trying to predict and respond to their concerns. The new CEO, Nate Ural, was able to create an open-door policy that helped the stakeholders communicate directly with management. For example, Nate actually asked for recommendations and ideas for new products directly from the different stakeholders groups. He was successful at creating stakeholder dialogue, where his company and stakeholders meet face to face frequently to discuss issues and problems. For example, Nate holds employee open houses where employees can stop by and ask questions about any company issues. His plan was so effective that it provided Munchie with the final stage of collaborative relationships. 4. Interactive Munchie was able to successfully move into the final stage of collaborative relationships with their stakeholders, called interactive. This is where Munchie worked constantly with stakeholders to develop trust, honesty and participation. The company has been able to launch new products, build new factories and distribution centers, and has exceptional ties to their customers and local community. Nate also believes in creating stakeholder networks by utilizing the expertise of different stakeholder groups to work collaboratively to solve problems and issues. He was able to use his stakeholder networks to solve training issues in his factories. The final result for Munchie is a long-term, productive relationship with all of their stakeholder groups. Oh... and the successful launch of Munchie Cereal!

Stakeholder Theory

Stakeholder theory is a framework used for ethical analysis that looks at the relationships between an organization and others in its internal and external environment and how these relationships affect how the organization conducts its activities. For example, the company's current PR problem with the oil spills can be traced back to a failure to take adequate steps to protect certain company stakeholders - society and the environment.

Stakeholder Theory

Stakeholder theory looks at the relationships between an organization and others in its internal and external environments. It also looks at how these connections influence how the business conducts its activities.

Standardization

Standardization: The goods and services traded in the global marketplace should be standardized so that they can be utilized by all market participants. For example, appliances should operate on the standard electrical system. An obvious problem today is that the U.S. still operates on the old English measuring system instead of the metric system utilized by the vast majority of the world. Environmental and safety standards still vary quite a bit between countries. An example of a service standard may be accounting rules.

Subsidies for pollution control

Subsidies for pollution control are another incentive-based approach. This is defined as financial support granted by the government for activities and products deemed to be environmentally friendly. Instead of attaching a charge to companies that create pollution, subsidies for pollution control reward companies and industries that take steps to reduce pollutants. These types of subsides can be awarded in different ways, including grants, favorable tax treatment or low-interest loans.

Subsidies

Subsidies, or monetary amounts issued by the government to help offset price increases and keep a service competitive, are also ways to influence business. Pear Products received a government subsidy for producing and selling green technology products, such as a solar-powered charger and electric-powered cars.

Sustainable development

Sustainable development requires that natural resources are used at an amount that can be extended over an infinite period. Companies that strive for sustainability move through five different stages. Let's take a look at Makeup Work, a leading women's cosmetics company, to see how they evolved into a well-known leader in ecological sustainability. Sustainable development requires that natural resources are used at an amount that can be extended over an infinite period. There are five stages of sustainability that companies move through: Non-compliance is when companies do not care about sustainability and, in fact, cut corners in the name of profits. Compliance is where a company is not endorsing sustainability yet, but they are at least obliging the bare minimum legally to avoid negative responses from society and government. Beyond compliance is where a company adopts sustainability to help save money by decreasing energy usage, saving water, and decreasing waste-handling and packaging costs. Integrated strategy is when the company has embraced a committed ecologically sustainable business model that is integrated into all key business strategies. Passion and purpose are companies who want to do better because they have a passion to make the world a better place, not just because of profit, marketing, or basic environmental concerns.

joint venture

Take a look at your knee joint. You have the upper part of your leg and the bottom part, and the knee joint is what holds them together. This is very much like a joint venture. Two companies come together to work as one to produce a product or service. Each company brings something to the venture - maybe manufacturing or technical expertise - but in working together they produce a finished product and form a third company.

Target Marketing

Target marketing is when a company targets a specific group of customers for their product or service through advertising. The groups are organized together because they have similar beliefs and values, which leads to common purchasing patterns. Among the ethical ways companies can influence consumers are through persuading, asking, informing, and advising.

Tariffs

Tariffs: Tariffs are the taxes paid on a product when it enters a market. For example, if the tariff on tires entering Saudi Arabia is 10%, then the purchase cost of the tires plus 10% would be what the buyer pays. It is similar to the tax you pay when you buy something at the store.

Plan

Plan: Have a specific outline of the steps that it will take to be successful or have their department or company be successful.

Planning

Planning: Developing and implementing strategy for the organization to function

Global Manager

A smart global manager will review and understand the culture from different perspectives (religion, culture, etc.) so they have a better chance of being successful.

Public Affairs

A public affairs department allows an organization to monitor external stakeholder relationships and activities related to policy development. In this lesson, we will examine the role and activities of the public affairs department of Lavish Chocolate and its staff.

International trade

. International trade is the exchange of goods between national borders. The three leaders were named GATT, NAFTA, and WTO.

Generates Commitment

. This causes members of an organization to feel dedication to the group. The unique culture of an organization provides its members with a feeling that they share common goals. Achieving the goals of the organization often becomes a higher priority than the individual goals of group members. This shared feeling of commitment gives group members a reason to perform their tasks at their highest ability.

360 degree appraisal

A 360 degree appraisal is a type of employee performance review in which subordinates, co-workers, and managers all anonymously rate the employee. This information is then incorporated into that person's performance review.

B corporation

A B corporation is very similar to a traditional corporation, but with one big difference. Whereas a traditional corporation exists only to make money, a B corporation also exists to do something good for society. But wait, how can a company make money and do good for society? Actually, it's pretty easy to imagine. Let's say that your company owned a massive amount of land along a river that was popular for kayakers. You could commercialize it all and have massive billboards along the river for the kayakers to pass. If your corporation owned it, that would be well within your rights, and it would make you more money. However, a B corporation would take a different approach. Instead of building billboards, it may declare the surrounding forest to be a parkland and a wildlife refuge that charges a small parking and admission fee. That is a positive act for society as well as a way for your corporation to make money. B corporations are identical to other more traditional corporations except for the express mandate to perform good works in the community. As a result, they allow profit to be pursued along with social and ethical benefits. B corporations are a relatively new phenomenon but are already attracting attention. They allow their founders to guarantee that socially good work will continue to be done into the future. Proof of such work must be filed with state authorities every year alongside typical corporate reporting, and if there is a suspicion that good work is not being done, shareholders often have the right to sue for proof.

Common Market

A common market not only lifts trade barriers between members and provides for a common trade policy, but it also lifts most barriers to the movement of capital, labor and technology among member countries.

Communicator

A communicator is another role that Lavish's public affairs department handles. The role of a communicator deals with crisis communication, interactions with the media, customer response and stakeholder conversation. For example, Lavish's public affairs department has met with local community leadership to discuss the building of a new chocolate plant in Idaho. Another example is when the department handled customer and the media inquiries about a recall due to glass found in chocolate five years ago.

Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest occurs when an employee takes advantage of a business situation for personal benefit rather than the company's own interests. A common example in this scenario is the use of bribes or gifts to embellish a business deal. Trendon's top financial vice president accepted an expensive trip to Italy for his entire family from a client and in return provided him with insider financial information. Many companies eliminate this potential ethical problem by informing their staff that no bribes or gifts are allowed at all, no matter what the size or expense. Employees are told that they will be terminated if they take a bribe.

Environmental Protection

A country with lower environmental protection policies could have an advantage when it comes to the trade of goods and services because they can produce them cheaper.

Customs Union

A customs union goes further than a Free Trade Agreement and requires its members to implement a common external tariff (or taxes) on imports from outside the union. The aim is to facilitate goods to move freely throughout the union.

Global Market

A global market is not limited to specific geographic locations but rather involves the exchange of good, services, and labor anywhere in the world. For example, a business may be located in the United States. It may purchase components for one of its products from Japan, South Korea, Germany, and Mexico. The components may be shipped by a shipping company from Greece to an outsourcing firm in China for assembly, where it is then transported across Chinese and Russian railroads for distribution in European retail stores. The business' stock may be traded on the New York Stock Exchange, Japanese Nikkei Exchange, and the London Stock exchange.

Public Policies

A government uses public policies to pursue objectives that can help a large part of a country's citizens. Policies can cover many different areas. The government utilizes these policy tools to create a society that flourishes for the public and business.

Information Strategies

A key business strategy is the use of information to appeal to stakeholders to achieve a goal. Businesses need to develop information strategies, which contain pertinent data, scientific research and facts that will achieve ethically and socially responsible business objectives. Crazi Toys also hires consultants to help acquire the facts and data needed to explain the company's public policy to regulators.

Market

A market is an institutional structure that permits people and organizations to exchange goods, services and labor. The United States, for example, is a market. The United States, Canada, and Mexico form a quasi-free market governed by the North American Free Trade Agreement. The European Union is also a market.

Moral Statement

A moral claim expressed through language is called a moral statement. My moral statement claims to be true, but it is only factual if it can be observed being true, the way that my mathematical equation is only true if two and two is shown to equal four. This can be very confusing at times, but in order to claim that any morals are true, you have to first start at this basic step of proving that morality itself is a fact.

Sustainability

A new philosophical trend in social responsibility is called sustainability. It is the thought that if a company helps society through their business as a main goal, then they will reap success. Companies can look to solve society's problems by creating a product or service to fulfill a need, and they will profit and help the world. Other examples of products made by companies that embrace this philosophy would be makeup creams made from ingredients that are imported from developing companies to help their country's growth. Another example would be ice cream maker, Ben & Jerry's, who pride themselves in supporting charities. Ben & Jerry's have been donating a full 7.5% of pretax profits to different charitable institutions. Sustainability's forward thinking revolves around creating new products that, in the long run, will create improvement over time for society's ills. A current example would be a backpack designed with solar panels to charge electronic devices or 100% biodegradable, recycled, cardboard coffins.

skills-based volunteerism

A new trend in corporate volunteering involves skills-based volunteerism, where employee skills are matched to specialized needs in the community. Pear Products' technology team runs volunteer weekend classes where they help small businesses develop skills, such as website or application development.

corporate social responsibility

A number of observers are saying that due to the increased size of companies, and the fact that they are growing increasingly wealthy, businesses have a role to play in the societies around them beyond just cutting a check every so often. This is often called corporate social responsibility. In particular, businesses should work to minimize their environmental impact while helping to provide for increased social opportunities. Again, the business impact of doing this is pretty obvious - a company's best interests are not served by trashing its local environment, while increased social opportunities for the community could result in more clients or able employees in the future. However, that is not all that is meant by increased corporate social responsibility. Not using the 'weight' of the company to achieve what some could view as selfish desires also falls under corporate social responsibility.

Patent

A patent is a legal document issued by the government. It protects a party's intellectual property rights in an invention. The invention must be unique and original, and not previously disclosed to the public. A person receives a patent by applying with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO. Patents are only issued for inventions or improvements to a tangible and functional object.

Positive Culture

A positive culture helps employees learn and grow in their jobs.

Stakeholder

A stakeholder is a person or organization that affects, or is affected by, the company. Stakeholders can be internal, such as employees and managers, or external, such as suppliers, creditors, customers, shareholders, competitors, government and society at large. Stakeholders are people and organizations that are affected by, or can affect, an organization. HR is mainly concerned with internal stakeholders, such as employees.

Tariff

A tariff is a special type of tax that is imposed on imports. Tariffs increase the price of imports, which helps protect domestic industries because the imports become more expensive than locally produced products.

Treaty

A treaty is a formally concluded and ratified agreement between independent governments. Treaties are written agreements that must be ratified, or approved, by all parties to the treaty. Treaties are an exchange of promises made between independent states, international organizations, or countries. Once ratified, the treaty becomes international law and is legally enforceable against all parties to the treaty. In the United States, our Constitution's Supremacy Clause tells us that, 'All Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land.' This means that ratified treaties become a superior part of our federal law system. Only the U.S. Constitution ranks as higher law.

Marketing Communications

According to federal regulations, Georgia Baked Chicken has to provide professional marketing communications, or fair, accurate and non-deceptive marketing and advertising when communicating to their customers and clients. Product claims must be fact-based. For example, Georgia Baked Chicken spent a year developing a healthy menu option that included a lunch sandwich that was low in calories. The restaurant paid a lab to analyze the sandwich so that they could advertise that it was less than 400 calories. Companies cannot make claims that are unsubstantiated.

Moral Foundations theory

According to this theory, there are six universally accepted foundations of morality. No, not everyone lives up to them, but almost all of us know what they are. 1. Care vs Harm 2. Fairness vs Cheating 3. Liberty vs Oppression 4. Loyalty vs Betrayal 5. Authority vs Subversion 6. Sanctity vs Degradation

Ethical behavior

Acting in ways that are consistent with how the business world views moral principles and values.

Ambiguity

Advertisers tend to use ambiguity or inexact, obscure, or vague wording to try and convince consumers to purchase their product. Businesses like to be vague in their wording in the hopes that consumers will come to their own favorable thoughts about their product. Ambiguous terminology is an unethical and immoral way to sell products to the public.

Affirmative Action

Affirmative action, which consists of voluntary guidelines for companies to follow to make sure that jobs are available to qualified individuals regardless of sex, age or ethnic and religious background. Let's take a look at how affirmative action works within an organization's walls. The two keys terms that will help explain the focus of affirmative action are protected groups and adverse impact.

Aid to minority businesses

Aid to minority businesses is another result of business and community partnerships. For example, many companies have partnered with universities to provide expertise and training to minority entrepreneurs. Microsoft offers an Explore Microsoft program to all minority students who are interested in pursuing a challenging career in programming.

the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is also known as the SEC.

All business sectors in the United States operate under guidelines that have been established either directly or indirectly by our government. The accounting industry is no different. The organization that oversees accounting practices is called the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is also known as the SEC. On October 29th, 1929, stock prices plummeted. Investors panicked and started trying to sell stock as quickly as they could. In one day alone, over 16.4 million shares of stock were sold! The market was overwhelmed, and the economy was devastated. Not only did individuals lose everything they had and many companies were forced to close their doors, but these same groups of individuals also lost trust with the entire banking and finance environment. Government leaders wanted to know why this happened and why so many people lost so much money. In their investigation it was discovered that some of the problems that attributed to the stock market crash came from faulty financial statement reporting. That's why by 1934, the government stepped in and created the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC was established as a committee to oversee the banking and finance sector of the business world. More importantly, they were charged with regulating the practices of the accounting industry. The number one goal of the SEC is to protect the investors. In order to do this, there has to be true and accurate financial information that's reported on all the financial statements.

Fair Trade Suppliers

Also, stakeholders are growing dissatisfied with N&N not purchasing their chocolate ingredients from fair trade suppliers. These suppliers are usually located in developing countries and do not use middlemen. N&N signed new contracts to purchase their ingredients from small developing countries to help support global economies and make their stakeholders happy.

Antitrust law

Antitrust law is a set of statutes developed to regulate competition between companies, mainly to ensure that businesses are engaging in fair competition. The purpose of these laws is to protect consumers from greedy business owners.

Controversial advertising

Although the main abuses of advertising fall under deception, companies also use controversial advertising, also known as shock advertising, to gain the attention of their consumers. This type of advertising uses shocking, inappropriate, and sometimes unethical promotion techniques. Controversial ads are used to cut through the clutter of mass advertising and can use scare tactics to get a message across. Companies have to be very careful about selecting a controversial ad to represent their products because public backlash could end up hurting their business. For example, Varus, a car company, ran an ad for their line of cars labeled Varus Killer with photo of a murderer dragging a body from a truck of Varus and a tag line that said, 'At least he drives a Varus'. Although these ads are not illegal, some consumers find them offensive and too controversial. Studies have shown that consumers might remember the company's ad, but not always in a positive way.

advisor

An advisor is a person selected by the government to help provide scientific or economic expert advice in regards to regulations.

Anti-dumping duty

An anti-dumping duty on products it believes are being dumped on its market. An anti-dumping duty is a tariff aimed at imports that are dumped on a market. For example, Cara's country may impose a 100% duty on products dumped on her country's market, which will make the dumped product very expensive in comparison with domestic products.

Audit Report

An audit report is a report that's prepared by an auditor, and it validates the reliability of a company's financial statements. An auditor is a professional whose job it is to examine the financial records of a company and prepare the audit report.

ecologically sustainable organization

An ecologically sustainable organization operates consistently with principles of sustainable development, which conduct business to meet the needs of current customers without compromising future generations' ability to live. In this lesson, you will learn about economically sustainable organizations and the stages through which firms progress as they become more sustainable. In addition, we will identify the steps the global business community can take to reduce ecological damage and to promote sustainable development.

Economic System

An economic system is the manner in which a country determines how resources are allocated and distributed in the society. Economic systems can generally be divided into command and market systems. See Next two terms

Emerging Market

An economically developing country transitioning into an economically developed country is considered to be an emerging market. Emerging markets demonstrate rapid economic growth, relative stability, a good infrastructure, and a legal and regulatory system supportive of a market economy and trade. Emerging markets offer Norman's country a great opportunity to expand trade and for its companies to make new investments and capture new customers. Of course, if successful, emerging markets will become fully developed markets, and these countries and their companies will eventually become direct competitors with Norman's country and its business in the global marketplace.

Assisting Coworkers

An employee can take time from their work to help another to get their job done, as they know it's important to the company and to the other employee. We have all potentially had situations where others pitched in to get a job done that had nothing to do with their specific job, outside of wanting to help the company and a fellow worker.

Employment Relationship

An employment relationship is a legal link that is formed between an employee and employer when work is completed for monetary reimbursement. Both the employee and employer have responsibilities and duties towards each other to ensure that the bond is successful and ethically sound. We are going to examine Fun Town Water Park's employment situation in order to understand how the employer-employee relationship affects other stakeholders.

Ethical Balance

An ethical balance is when a company is able to find a moral compromise between company and owner, stockholder and stakeholder interests.

Independence

An ethical climate that promotes independence gives employees wide latitude to make decisions. This can cause great success because employees are able to think outside the box for problem-solving, especially if they are given the skills and information needed. It can also lead to unethical decisions because individuals feel that there are no ramifications to any business dealings.

Ethical Culture

An ethical culture promotes ethical behavior among the members of an organization.

Spyware

An even more intrusive technology is spyware. Spyware is a small computer program, stored on the user's hard drive, that collects user's habits and transmits that information to a third party, all without the user's consent. Spyware can monitor any website visited by the user, whereas cookies are specific to a particular website. Spyware can be installed when a user downloads software, especially freeware or shareware. A very common way to fall victim to spyware is by downloading peer-to-peer file swapping products. Spyware also steals from the user by using up computer memory and consuming bandwidth. Since spyware uses memory and system resources, it can cause crashes and instability with your computer system.

Export

An export is any good or service that a buyer in one country purchases from a seller in another country. Note that exports are shipped out of our country, while imports are products brought into our country.

Import

An import is any good or service produced in one country and sold to a buyer in another country. Think of imports as buying something that will be brought into our country. For example, Edward has a beautifully carved wood trunk he bought at a local imports store. The trunk was handmade in India. The imports company bought several trunks from a craftsman in India and imported them to be sold in the U.S.

global environmental concern

Ancient societies had more time and space to deal with environmental threats than we do today. Collectively, each of these qualities make an ecological challenge a global environmental concern. In this lesson, we will briefly cover some of the more major global environmental concerns, as well as discuss measures that are being taken to help correct them.

Public Relations Department

Another Gas Free Baby Food organizational branch that is important for communicating with media stakeholders is the Public Relations Department. This office interacts with the media and provides crisis management, image advertising and executive speeches. Gas Free had to engage the public relations department to help with a crisis management campaign when news of the recall of the contaminated baby food became public. The department was able to create communication kits for the media that showed Gas Free Baby Food's public apology, quick recall and monetary reimbursement for damages. The public relations department's quick media response was able to minimize the image crisis and protect the company's stock price from falling.

Insider Trading

Another area that has threatened stockholder investments is the issue of insider trading, which is when a person has access to confidential information about a company's financial situation and then uses the information to buy or sell the company's stock before the public has a chance to learn the information. What if a person tells his friend that his technology company will be launching a revolutionary product in a month that allows consumer users to read other people's minds? If the friend then invests in purchasing the technology company's stock based on this insider information, it would be considered insider trading. The end result of insider trading is usually that the buyer with secret information benefits by purchasing the stock at a low price. Confidential information is then made public, such as the new mind reader technology, and then the buyer sells the stock at a much higher price, making a tremendous profit.

Investor Relations

Another boundary-spanning department that Gas Free Foods has created is called investor relations, in which they handle audit requests and SEC filings and communicate with stockholders.

Weasel words

Another example of ambiguous wording is called weasel words, which is when companies select words that help make their claim seem legitimate. The best example of a weasel word is the term 'help'. Consumers will assume that if a product will help them lose weight or cure their acne, it must work well. In fact, advertisers use the word 'help' to mean 'assist' but not that it is proven to work. For example, the window-cleaning product Erase claims that their product leaves windows virtually spotless. The weasel word is 'virtually', which means 'nearly', so in actuality your windows are not spotless.

Tradable Permits

Another example of an incentive-based regulatory approach is tradable permits. Tradable permits are an approach to environmental protection that utilizes government-issued permits, which can be traded among polluters, for the release of a set amount of pollution. Let's take a look at how tradable permits work. The total amount of allowable emissions is set by a government authority. For example, the government understands that through the process of manufacturing and distributing products and services, a certain amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases will be produced and emitted into the atmosphere. The government decides on an allowable amount of emissions that enables businesses to function, while at the same time provide some environmental protection. This total allowable amount is then divided up into permits and doled out to entities that create the pollutants. Each entity is free to emit pollutants as long as they have permits to cover the emissions. The market now comes into play because permits can be 'traded,' which basically means they can be bought or sold amongst polluters. Polluters that find economical ways to reduce their emissions can sell their unused permits to other companies. In the same way, polluters that find it too expensive to reduce emissions can buy unused permits, essentially allowing them to emit more pollution. So, we see with tradable permits that total emissions are capped, yet companies are afforded the flexibility to either reduce their emissions or purchase 'allowances' from other companies.

he Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which is also known as the PCAOB

Another organization that was formed by the SEC is the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which is also known as the PCAOB. The PCAOB oversees the audits of public companies.

Economic Public Policies

Another public policy that influences business is the economic public policies, which can include industrial development of specific industries and trade policies to help block or increase trade with countries. Neon Garb was attracted by Europe's open trade policies that provided new business and jobs.

EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)

Another regulatory agency is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which establishes and enforces pollution standards, monitors insecticide use, and protects water sources, etc. The federal government has given the agency power to fine firms that damage the environment. Recently, the EPA fined a recreational vehicle manufacturer close to one million dollars for importing and selling ATVs that did not meet environmental emission standards. The fine was issued because the vehicle causes air pollution, an increase in smog and respiratory illnesses to citizens.

Hiding facts

Another way businesses use advertising unethically is by hiding facts from the public. In this technique, companies conceal information that would be considered uncomplimentary. This is a manipulation of the truth and can also result in consumer harm.

Bid Rigging

Another way companies can skew competition is by engaging in bid rigging. This happens when two or more companies agree to price bids unfairly. An example may help. Bill's Plumbing Service, Joe's Plumbing Service and Pepe's Plumbing Service agree to bid on every plumbing project for the city. Bill and Joe enter a really high bid, while Pepe comes in low. Naturally, the city chooses Pepe's bid. Next time, Bill will come in low while Pepe and Joe come in with higher bids. The idea behind this scheme is to make one single bid look much more attractive. Eventually, all three plumbers will receive an offer.

Federal Register

Are you aware that the federal government publishes proposed and new regulations daily? In this year alone, there will be 70,000 pages added to the Federal Register, which provides daily updates on government proposed or new regulations. Businesses have to be aware of changing and new regulations that could affect their daily work. The Federal Register also provides information regarding notices of hearings and final versions of amended regulations.

Analyst

As an analyst at Lavish Chocolates, the public affairs department monitors, analyzes and reports on regulation that could affect overall business. For example, a new regulation was recently passed that will force Lavish Chocolates to purchase only fair trade chocolates from suppliers. The public affairs department first educated the company about the potential new regulation and then briefed them on how it would affect overall business.

Better Business Bureau (BBB)

As it turns out, you may have your hopes dashed about just what the Better Business Bureau (BBB) can do. It is not a government agency, so any dreams you have about seeing your most hated company receiving serious punishment are gone. Instead, it is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping guarantee trust in the marketplace.

Water Scarcity

As more water sources dry up because of misuse or become undrinkable because of pollution, there becomes a lack of secure, uninterrupted, long-term availability of adequate clean freshwater, known as water scarcity.

Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act

Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act makes it illegal to hunt and kill bald or golden eagles by any person for any reason without express government permission.

Biodiversity

Biodiversity, defined as the number and variety of living organisms on Earth, is also in overall decline. As pollution and overuse cause important plants and animals that many people rely on to go extinct, there becomes a cause for great concern in wondering if the growing global population can be adequately sustained given what biodiversity we have left.

Business Environment

Business environments consist of all those factors that have a bearing on the business. The term business environment implies that internal and external factors have an impact on the individual organization.

Business Ethics

Business ethics determine companies' everyday conduct. They include both laws and morals, which determine how an employee will act in the business world.

Business Ethics

Business ethics refers to the moral principles or values that generally govern the conduct of an individual or group.

Business Strategies

Business strategies are a corporation's long-term plans to achieve specific objectives. Business strategies are a corporation's long-term plans to achieve specific objectives.

Corporate citizenship

Businesses need to treat their stakeholders ethically and with respect by believing in corporate citizenship, in which they show commitment to ethical behavior by balancing stakeholders' needs and protecting the environment. id you know that Microsoft has been awarded a top corporate citizenship award? According to Forbes magazine, a major factor of Microsoft's success in this arena is their employees' passion for supporting their communities and causes through charitable giving and volunteering. In 2012, 93% of employees felt that Microsoft is a good corporate citizen around the world.

Campaign Contributions

Campaign contributions are political monetary donations from a business to either the Democrat or Republican Party in order to secure beneficial relationships. As the saying goes, 'money talks!' And companies use their financial influence to help protect their business interests. For example, Crazi Toys donated thousands of dollars to the reelection campaign of the local senator and mayor in hopes of securing the factory.

Campaign Contributions

Campaign contributions are political monetary donations from a business to either the Democratic or Republican Party in order to secure beneficial relationships. As the saying goes, 'money talks!' And companies use their financial influence to help protect their business interests. For example, a very large aerospace corporation has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to both political parties and was rewarded with 17 billion dollars-worth of business contracts - more than any other company

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, also known as COPPA, was formed to protect children's online privacy. The act establishes requirements for business websites with services targeted to children under 13 years of age.

Kyoto Protocol

Clearly, the most important global agreement regarding the environment, however, is known as the Kyoto Protocol. It is an international agreement on reducing carbon dioxide emissions. However, over the years, economic, scientific, and ideological disagreements have weakened the protocol's effectiveness. It is encouraging, however, that over 96 countries first supported and ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

Political and legal strategies

Companies also develop political and legal strategies to achieve their business objectives. These are achieved by communicating with legislators and regulators to communicate a business' purpose.

Public Issue

Companies need to be aware of potential public issues that could affect their financial condition. Stakeholders do not want to discover that their company is suddenly struggling to survive. What can a company do to prevent problems from developing with their stakeholders? In this lesson, you will learn how companies can monitor public issues and prevent problems. A public issue is any issue that is of mutual concern to an organization and one or more of its stakeholders.

Total Marketing environment

Companies need to understand the total marketing environment when developing a plan of action. These elements can be uncontrollable in nature and consist of demographics, social, economic, political, technological and competition. Let's look at the foreign and domestic competition sections of the marketing environment. The competitive environment deals with the number of competitors in the market and the size of the competition.

deforestation

Companies that cut down trees permanently for other land uses through deforestation also impact global warming as the trees absorb carbon dioxide and help clean the atmosphere.

Congressional oversight

Congressional oversight, which is part of the process of enforcing a regulation, is the reviewing, monitoring and supervision of federal agencies and policies. Here are the steps of the rule making process: Initiating an event Determination of rule Preparation of proposed rule OMB review of proposed rule Publication of proposed rule Public comments Preparation of final rule OMB final review Publication of final rule

Consequentialism

Consequentialists believe that actions are defined as good or bad based on the consequence for their action. In other words, the end result justifies the means. A consequentialist may believe that the price of gasoline is too high and, thus, be a proponent of war on countries that control oil. So, if killing a few thousand soldiers is required in order to get cheaper oil, then the end justifies the means.

Consumer advocacy groups

Consumer advocacy groups soon developed, and their purpose was to protect the interests of the buying public. One of the most well-known consumer advocates is Ralph Nader, who started the consumer advocacy group called Public Citizen. For example, his group fought for over six years and finally was able to get the Department of Transportation in 2014 to issue a new auto safety standard to improve the rear design of vehicles, so that the driver can easily see what is behind them. This law was pursued by Nader's group because of the many deaths that have occurred due to drivers backing over people or children they cannot see.

Consumer Rights

Consumer protection is based on consumer rights, or the idea that consumers have an inherent right to basic health and safety. The FTC protects these rights by: Enforcing product safety Distributing consumer-related information Preventing deceptive marketing

Product Liability

Consumer protection is often achieved through the legal doctrine of product liability. Generally speaking, this is the legal responsibility imposed on a business for the manufacturing or selling of defective goods. Product liability laws are state laws, and therefore vary by state. However, the laws share a common goal. The laws are built on the principle that manufacturers and vendors have more knowledge about the products than the consumers do. Therefore, these businesses bear the responsibility when things go wrong, even when consumers are somewhat at fault. Product liability cases can result in large civil lawsuits and lucrative monetary judgments for the plaintiffs. This can be harmful to small businesses and manufacturers and has been an argument for tort reform. But keep in mind that, on the other hand, many of the product safeguards consumers now enjoy are the result of previous lawsuits. There are three main types of product liability. Businesses will be found liable to consumers when a court finds: Design flaws Manufacturing defects A failure to warn consumers of a possible danger

Consumer Protection

Consumer protection, therefore, refers to laws and other forms of government regulation designed to protect the rights of consumers. The Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, serves as our nation's consumer protection agency and administers many different consumer protection laws, like the Telemarketing Sales Rule and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

Consumer Rights

Consumer rights are consumer protections that encourage businesses to produce products and services that will be beneficial and safe for consumers. In this lesson, we will identify and discuss the five major rights of consumers: safety, information, choice, voice, and redress.

Control

Control: Be able to keep all the pieces and parts of the plan moving together.

Controlling

Controlling: Making sure the steps of your plan and the results of your work are monitored

cookies

Cookies are small data files that are written and stored on the user's hard drive by a website when that user visits the site with a browser. The cookie provide information within the website on pages visited, items examined, dates of visits, and even passwords. This information is stored in the cookie and sent back to the company.

corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility is a business's concern for society's welfare. This means that marketing managers are interested in long-term corporate interests and also society's health.

Corporate and Criminal Fraud Accountability Act

Corporate whistleblowers are protected by the Corporate and Criminal Fraud Accountability Act. This act is a subset of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which was enacted in 2002 as a direct answer to the issues raised by Enron and other corporate fraud scandals. These laws hope to encourage whistleblowing by protecting employees who disclose certain securities-related violations by making retaliation a federal crime.

in-kind contributions

Corporations can also give in-kind contributions, which are gifts of products or services. This type of donation from companies now exceeds their cash donations. Pear Products provides free tablets, laptops, and technology expertise to schools, universities, and startup companies.

Cost of service

Cost-of-service regulation is when price is regulated based on costs, which the end consumer pays. One example would be the electricity industry where their total costs are factored, and then the prices are distributed to the end consumer at the rate needed to recoup all costs. Cost-of-service regulation is when price is regulated based on costs, which the end consumer pays.

Countervailing Forces

Countervailing forces is also based on a democratic ideal. The premise is an open society where society and government both take a hand in building relationships with business. For example, N&N uses lobbying and influence to affect regulations in government. The government uses regulations and leadership to maintain control over N&N and protect society. Countervailing forces are areas that can impact the symbiotic relationships of society, government, and business, such as war, weather, technology, or cultural change. These forces can alter the relationship, such as when N&N faced a drop in profits due to the emergence of 3-D printer technology, which caused consumers to print their own personal chocolate bars at home for half the price.

Cross Subsidization

Cross subsidization is when one group of customers pays less than cost, while another group pays more than cost in order to balance out the inequity. A real-world example would be when you and three friends go out to dinner. The food bill comes to $100, so each of you pays $25, when in actuality, your dinner only costs $15 and your friend's was $35. You end up paying more than cost to balance out the bill. A real-life example would be how at some airports they cross-subsidize costs linked with serving airline passengers meals through sales on duty-free goods. Cross subsidization is when one group of customers pays less than cost, while another group pays more than cost in order to balance out the inequity.

Creating a positive organizational culture

Cultures that encourage positive and ethical behavior are typically high in risk tolerance, low in aggressiveness and concerned with the methods that are used to meet organizational goals. In order to create a positive and ethical culture, organizations should do the following: Establish an ethical role model to set an example for the rest of the organization Communicate ethical expectations to organization members by establishing a Code of Ethics that states what is acceptable and what is unacceptable behavior Provide ethical training to members of the organization Reward ethical acts and punish unethical acts Create a blame-free environment in which organizational members feel free to discuss ethical situations without reprimand.

Customer relations

Customer relations is Gas Free Foods' division that interacts directly with their customer stakeholders. Customers are able to call a 1-800 number to have questions answered about the baby food or to express their concern about quality. (1-800 Gas Free) Last year, the department was in charge of a massive recall because the Pear Mango food was found to contain sand filaments. This department is extremely important to maintaining communication and providing feedback directly to the customers. Many organizations also have added a social media section within their customer relations department to monitor customers' conversations about their product.

Protected Group

Deema heard that the boss said that Deema was being disrespectful by wearing a 'hat' at work. Deema would be considered a member of a protected group since she has been identified as a previous target for employment discrimination.

Department of Public affairs

Department of Public Affairs, in which they track government laws and monitor policy trends. For example, the company recently has decided to launch an organic line of baby food. This department was in charge of inquiring about the definition of organic in order to comply with government regulations for labeling food.

Deregulation

Deregulation is when there is a decrease of regulation in an industry. A prime example of deregulation is the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. The Act allowed many new airlines to enter the market with plentiful routes. Initially, prices decreased and options increased with competition flourishing. There is not final determination if deregulation of airlines was the best solution. Currently, airlines are merging due to increasing fuel costs. Consumers are finding crowded planes and delays. Deregulation does cause the elimination of cross subsidization and cost of service regulation. Deregulation is when there is a decrease of regulation in an industry.

Differentiation

Differentiation is a way of spotlighting the differences between competitors, stores or products. The difference must be of value and noticeable to the consumer. The final plan for Parti Favors was to revamp their product line. They would only offer unique, hard-to-find party favors or customizable products on their website. For example, a customer could order favors with a name written on the balloons, napkins, etc. The unique products would be retro-theme-based party items such as Star Wars, Jaws, Gone with the Wind, etc.

Direct Communication

Direct communication, such as inviting politicians to headquarters, parties and events to give them an understanding of business, is another tactic that businesses can use to communicate with government. For example, pharmaceutical companies will offer politicians free platforms to speak at national sales meetings. This can create a long-term relationship between legislators and business owners. There are stringent rules about what members of the Senate and House of Representatives can accept. For example, they are not allowed to be paid for speeches nor receive a gift worth more than $50. However, they can receive transportation expense reimbursement, food and lodging from business.

Disability Discrimination

Disability discrimination is when a physically or mentally disabled individual is passed over for employment due to their handicap.

Diversity Training

Diversity training is a series of courses or instruction that increase the participants' understanding, knowledge and awareness of different cultural attributes. Most of this training centers on helping the individuals to better communicate and work with the diverse cultures that could be present in a working environment. One aspect that is not discussed in great detail is the legal aspects that this diversity training helps with as well. Diversity training helps individuals to not discriminate or insult people from other cultures in the work environment by making them aware of different cultural perspectives and sensitivities.

business sustainability

Do you make purchases from companies that claim to produce green or environmentally friendly products? Perhaps you drink certified organic coffee or send greeting cards made from recycled paper. For many businesses, going 'green' is a lot more than a popular trend. It's part of a strategy to improve business sustainability, meaning they're seeking to minimize negative environmental and social impacts and ensure that future generations will have adequate resources to meet their needs. Sustainable businesses are not just good stewards of the environment; they're also well-positioned to succeed in the competitive global marketplace. Today's investors, consumers, and even job seekers pay attention to a company's reputation for social and environmental responsibility. Companies that refrain from sustainable practices risk losing part of their target market. The media plays an important role in the sustainability movement by letting us know when business practices cause harm to humans and the environment.

Dominance (Populism)

Dominance is the second model that can be used to explain business, government, and society. This model is based on the idea that a few people are rich at the expense of many. It is also known as populism, where the common man views business and government as something to be protected from. Government's part in the dominance model is the idea of heavy regulation and owning big business. Business and government are ranked at the top of the pyramid, while the rest of society is beneath them.

Downsizing

Downsizing means we have to reduce the number of employees that work for our organization. We will downsize our sales department, marketing department and finance department. We anticipate cutting 20 to 30 jobs over the next several months. This measure will help us cut costs by reducing redundancies, reorganizing jobs and streamlining our processes to be more efficient.

Strategic Influence

During his tour of Pear Products, he met some investors who maintain large shares of the company so they can exert their strategic influence, or affect policy changes within the firm. Eddie revealed that his one share would not put him in that position of influence.

Economic environment

Economic environment is the economy and the economic system present in a country. The economy could be weak and the system might not be stable, which would impact how a manager would manage his or her operations in a foreign market. It is apparent why a manager needs to stay close to this area, as it will impact their business directly.

Economic Factors

Economic factors include economic conditions and the economic policies that together constitute the economic environment. These items include the national growth rate, inflation, restrictive trade practices, etc. All of these items have a considerable impact on the organization.

Economic Integration

Economic integration is an agreement between two or more countries to reduce or eliminate economic barriers to trade and commerce between their countries. For example, Norman's country is a party to several trade agreements, which are treaties that govern trade between treaty signatories. Norman's country is also a member of a free-trade area, where there are no tariffs or other trade barriers between member states, but the barriers are kept against non-members.

Economic Integration

Economic integration is the process where the economic barriers between two or more countries are eliminated. It involves specific policy decisions by governments designed to reduce or remove barriers to mutual exchange of goods, services, capital and people.

Economic leverage

Economic leverage is when businesses use their power and influence to threaten governments. For example, a company threatens to leave a state unless certain political action is taken. An example would be if a CEO threatened to build a new auto factory overseas if the government did not approve of local tax breaks for a domestic plant.

Economic Regulation

Economic regulation sets prices or conditions for firms to enter a specific industry. Examples of regulatory agencies that provide these types of conditions are the Federal Communication Commission, or FCC.

Minimize Risk

Eddie also had an objective to minimize risk to his investment. This is when a person invests in stock that will likely have a good return with minimal chance of a loss. He felt that although a Pear Products share was expensive, he would have a safe, sound investment with minimal risk in both the short- and long-term. Minimize risk - when a person invests in stock that will likely have a good return with minimal chance at a loss.

Long Term Profit

Eddie changed his objective to long-term profit. He believed they were the leader in technology, and his one share could end up very profitable years from now. Long-term profit is when stockholders receive yearly dividends and invest in long-term goals of a company.

Short-Term Profit

Eddie felt that he was initially going to be interested in just a short-term profit objective, as Pear Products was known to produce blockbuster products. Short-term profit is where stock price increases very quickly, resulting in a profit.

Stock Splits

Eddie has purchased Pear Products common stock, so he has been able to vote on issues, such as stock splits, where a company splits current stock into multiple shares.

Shareholder activist

Eddie taught his class about a new focus of shareholder influence called a shareholder activist. This is a person who utilizes their rights as a shareholder of a publicly-traded corporation to force social change, such as the elimination of the use of a sweatshop. Eddie's presentation showed that many Pear Products shareholders were using their influence to eliminate top managers who were performing poorly or proposing changes to the board. Pear Products listened to their own shareholders and stopped using certain factories overseas that were suspected to use children in sweatshops to make their products. Eddie thanked the class and explained that this project, the purchase of Pear stock and the tour of the company, provided him with immeasurable knowledge regarding stockholders. He plans on investing in more companies.

Common Stockholders

Eddie's project illustrates that there are two kinds of stockholders. The first type is a common stockholder in which a shareholder purchases common stock and is able to vote to elect the board of directors. Eddie has purchased Pear Products common stock, so he has been able to vote on issues, such as stock splits, where a company splits current stock into multiple shares. In fact, during the time of the project, his stock split into two shares. In addition, Eddie received dividends that were declared by Pear Products and amount to quarterly payments paid to the shareholders based on profits.

Separate Powers

Eddie's tour of Pear Products gave him firsthand knowledge about how shareholders, managers, board of directors and employees all have separate powers that act as checks and balances within the organization. The board of directors is focused on protecting the rights of the shareholders. They have the power to fire top executives and ensure the development of excellent replacements. Eddie illustrated that shareholders do not play a major role in running the company, so everyday decisions are left to the managers. The shareholder is able to vote for the board of directors, but they do not have the power to decide who will run for the seats. Lastly, Eddie saw that Pear Products' employees have powers as well, as they are the engine behind the production of the product or service. Shareholders, managers, board of directors and employees all have separate powers that act as checks and balances within the organization.

Electronic surveillance

Electronic surveillance involves monitoring people with technology, often without their knowledge. Video recordings, photography, and audio recordings are common electronic surveillance techniques

Employment discrimination

Employment discrimination is the unfair treatment of employees based on prejudices. The forms of discrimination can be dependent upon equal pay compensation, sexual orientation, national origin/language, pregnancy, religion, disability, race and sex.

Human Values

Environmental ethics helps define man's moral and ethical obligations toward the environment. But human values become a factor when looking at environmental ethics. Human values are the things that are important to individuals that they then use to evaluate actions or events. In other words, humans assign value to certain things and then use this assigned value to make decisions about whether something is right or wrong. Human values are unique to each individual because not everyone places the same importance on each element of life. For example, a person living in poverty in an undeveloped country may find it morally acceptable to cut down the forest to make room for a farm where he can grow food for his family. However, a person in a developed country may find this action morally unacceptable because the destruction of forests increases carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, which can negatively impact the environment. Environmental ethics, along with human values, make for challenging philosophical debates about man's interaction with the environment. Water and air pollution, the depletion of natural resources, loss of biodiversity, destruction of ecosystems, and global climate change are all part of the environmental ethics debate. And we see that within the discipline of environmental ethics there are tough ethical decisions humans must consider.

Environmental Ethics

Environmental ethics is the philosophical discipline that considers the moral and ethical relationship of human beings to the environment. In other words: what, if any, moral obligation does man have to the preservation and care of the non-human world?

Environmental issues

Environmental issues are harmful consequences of human activity on the natural environment. In this lesson, we will discuss some of today's major environmental issues: global warming, pollution and loss of habitat.

Environmental law

Environmental law establishes protection for our scarce natural resources and natural surroundings, like land, air and water. It may seem like people have been concerned about industrial effects on the environment for only a short period of time.

Environmental legislation

Environmental legislation is the collection of laws and regulations pertaining to air quality, water quality, the wilderness, endangered wildlife and other environmental factors. The umbrella of environmental legislation covers many laws and regulations, yet they all work together toward a common goal, which is regulating the interaction between man and the natural world to reduce threats to the environment and increase public health.

Environmental Policies

Environmental policies are the guidelines put in place to manage human activities for the benefit of the environment. Manufacturing and production of products requires the use of raw materials and energy. The extraction of raw materials and the production of energy create harmful effects on the environment, such as the depletion of natural resources and greenhouse gas emissions. If these processes are not regulated in some way, such as through environmental policies, they could lead to irreparable degradation of the environment. Therefore, countries create policies to protect the environment. However, developed countries may put different levels of importance on environmental protection than developing countries. This can lead to challenges when it comes to trade between countries. For example, the United States may have strict environmental policies that must be upheld by U.S.-based manufacturing companies. Abiding by these policies can lead to extra steps in the production process or additional equipment costs. These additional steps and costs are added to the price of the product made in the United States.

Environmental Policies

Environmental policies consist of a government's course of action regarding regulating the manner in which we interact with the environment. Areas of environmental policy include pollution, land use, protection of wildlife, energy, consumption of renewable and non-renewable resources, and the production and disposal of waste.

Technological factors

Technological Factors: Good technologies can help improve the marketability of a product. Therefore, it is important for an organization to keep a pace with the changing technologies in order to survive.

Ethical Code of Conduct

Ethical Code of Conduct, or guidelines on how people should act at work.

Ethical Behavior

Ethical behavior is acting in ways that are consistent with how the business world views moral principles and values. Business ethics determine employees' everyday conduct. Let's take a look at some of the factors that affect your ethical behavior in the workplace. How would you answer when faced with an ethical dilemma?

Ethical Behavior

Ethical behavior is acting in ways that is consistent with how the business world views moral principles and values

Ethical communications

Ethical communications, or truthful, accurate and respectful actions, are a pillar of how a business maintains integrity. Georgia Baked Chicken's philosophy is based on three key elements of ethical understanding: goals, means and outcomes.

anthropocentric (human-centered)

Ethical debates impact our ability to solve environmental problems because individuals differ on man's obligation concerning the natural environment. Those that place significantly higher value on human interests at the expense of non-human things are said to have an anthropocentric ethical view. This term is easy to recall if you remember that the prefix 'anthropo' means 'human' and the suffix 'centric' means 'centered.' Therefore, the term 'anthropocentric' literally means 'human-centered.' A person with this viewpoint would be more likely to see nature and its resources as things available for man to use. Their exploitation would therefore be acceptable as long as it did not lead to negative consequences for human beings.

Ethical reporting

Ethical reporting, which is providing an avenue for employees or outsiders to report unethical behavior

Ethical target marketing

Ethical target marketing occurs when businesses analyze and research consumers to see what predisposed ways might make an individual purchase a product.

Ethics

Ethics is a system of rules and principles of appropriate conduct in any given culture, society or organization that guides people in their decision making and responsibilities. In simpler terms, it's a system of rules that tells us what behavior is 'good' and what behavior is 'bad.' For example, it is usually considered unethical to lie.

Ethics

Ethics is a system of values and principles of right or proper conduct. For example, most ethical systems find lying to be a violation of an ethical rule of being truthful.

Incentive Regulations

Evan and policymakers can also recommend the use of incentive regulations, which has started to play a significant role in U.S. environmental law and regulations starting in the 1990s. Incentive regulations are market-oriented and seek to provide incentives to encourage certain behavior through rewards and discourage other behavior through making the conduct costly. For example, some states require consumers to pay a recycling deposit on each can of soda, bottle of alcohol, or other recyclable container. If the consumer fails to recycle the container, the consumer pays more for the product. On the other hand, if the consumer returns the containers to a recycling center, then the consumer is refunded the deposit and pays less per container of product by engaging in the environmentally-friendly practice of recycling.

Reporting

Every publicly-traded company, like Georgia Baked Chicken, needs to provide detailed financial reporting, which are standardized reports that summarize a company's financial position at a specific point in time. It is important for the communication to be accurate, fair and legal to ensure that lawsuits or fines are avoided. Georgia Baked Chicken has a top-rated CPA firm that handles their financial obligations.

Exchange Rate

Exchange rate: The value of one currency for the purpose of conversion to another. For example, one U.S. dollar buys .76 Euros. Thus, the exchange rate from dollars to Euros is .76.

Exclusive deals

Exclusive deals are also not permitted. This means a company cannot be the exclusive provider of complementary products. In other words, a coffee machine company cannot develop a machine that takes only a certain type of coffee filter. This creates a monopoly. This is a difficult thing to prove. Sometimes a company creates an exclusive product because they want to ensure the quality of the product and complementary products.

Expert Power

Expert Power: Which is power bestowed upon an individual who has knowledge of an area that is expert in nature.

Expert witness testimony

Expert witness testimony is another tactic businesses can use to influence government. For example, many CEOs will testify for Congress as experts about their industry in order to get a business agenda to the forefront. Hearings can affect whether or not legislation is implemented. For instance, a CEO of a wind energy company could eventually get more business by testifying about how wind energy is cleaner, safer and more affordable than nuclear and coal.

External Factors

External factors are things from outside an organization that directly or indirectly influences it. Oftentimes, these external factors are outside of the control of organization. These influences include the social and cultural, technological, economic, and political and legal environments. One way to remember these factors is to link it to the word STEP: S for 'social and cultural' Tfor 'technological' E for 'economic' P for 'political and legal'

file-sharing

File-sharing, or the transmittal of computer data or space through a network, can cause a company problems when it is done illegally or with proprietary information.

Internal Communicatons

Finally, Georgia Baked Chicken needs to ensure that they have an excellent way to conduct internal communications. This type of communications are with a company's outside stakeholders, state agencies and employees. It is important to communicate directions, plans, changes and statuses of any policies to everyone of value to the company. Last year, the restaurant had a re-organization and had to close low-performing stores. This had to be communicated across the company and more delicately to those affected by the layoff. A detailed plan was provided explaining why the layoff was needed and most employees were transferred to other stores. The few that were not offered transfers were given a substantial layoff package.

Universalization Test

Finally, the universalization test prods us to think about how the world would be if everyone made the same decision. In other words, if a decision you make in business was replicated by every other business, what would happen? Would it benefit society? Would people get hurt?

Economic Union

Finally, we have the establishment of an economic union, which entails a common currency and/or the unification of monetary, fiscal and social policies.

FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)

Financial organizations also have the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to monitor their business practices. The FDIC insures bank deposits, approves mergers and audits banking practices. This regulatory agency protects consumers and other businesses from unsavory financial practices. Just this year, the FDIC sued numerous banks that violated safe and sound lending processes through illegal real estate loans. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures bank deposits, approves mergers and audits banking practices.

Food and Drug Administration

Food and Drug Administration. This agency handles regulations against selling and distributing misbranded or hazardous food and drug products. The agency has gone against the tobacco industry for years and has recently decided to target fast food companies due to the increase in obesity. The agency wants fast food companies to publish calories and fat content of their products to educate consumers about what they're eating.

Convention on Biological Diversity

For example, developed countries attempted to reduce the destruction of the world's biodiversity by the formation of an international regime called the Convention on Biological Diversity. This convention works on finding and implementing ways to conserve our natural resources as well as to use them in a fair and equitable wa

Formal Power

Formal Power: Power bestowed upon an individual who has expert knowledge in an area.

Environmental Regulation

Fortunately, the EPA facilitated environmental regulation, or a form of government intervention in the business world to reduce or eliminate environmental hazards against individuals and the world. There still is a constant debate between companies, societies, and economists regarding whether environmental regulation brings forth costs or benefits to the overall world. In this lesson, we will assess the costs and benefits of environmental regulation for a well-known hotel chain called Saucy Hotels.

Free Trade Agreement

Free trade agreement means that the members of the free trade agreement charge each other lower tariffs (taxes when goods are sold from one country to another) than those applicable to non-members; however, there is no free movement of goods within the area.

Corporate Relations Office

Gas Free Foods' Corporate Relations Office handles varied duties targeted at the general public, from social monitoring to environmental scanning of competitors. This group provides feedback on trends, such as competitors providing new gluten-free baby food products.

Geert Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory

Geert Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory, a theory that looks at unique aspects of cultures and rates them on a scale for comparison. Now, I am not trying to say dogs to humans are the same, but the way they interact is quite similar. Geert Hofstede is a professor who researched how people from different countries and cultures interact based on six different categories of cultural dimensions. Those categories are: Power Distance: This dimension expresses the degree to which the less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. Individualism vs. Collectivism: This dimension focuses on the questions about whether people prefer a close knit network of people or prefer to be left alone to fend for themselves. Masculinity vs. Femininity: Masculinity represents a preference in society for achievement, heroism, assertiveness and material reward for success. Its opposite, femininity, stands for a preference for cooperation, modesty, caring for the weak and quality of life. Uncertainty Avoidance: This dimension expresses the degree to which the member of a society feels uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity. Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation: Long-term orientation dimension can be interpreted as dealing with society's search for virtue. Societies with a short-term orientation generally have a strong concern with establishing the absolute truth.

General factors

General factors have an impact on an entire industry and affect individual organizations equally.

Trade secret

Generally speaking, a trade secret is any confidential business information that provides the business with a competitive edge. This includes things like sales methods, distribution methods, marketing methods, research methods, consumer profiles, advertising strategies, suppliers list, client lists, firm software and manufacturing processes. You'll notice that many of these items don't meet the necessary criteria to be patentable.

Moral agency

Georgia Baked Chicken also needs to be concerned with establishing a moral agency, or an ability to choose the best ethical path within their growing restaurant chain

Disclosures

Georgia Baked Chicken also needs to make sure that they are honest with their business practices through disclosures. These usually deal with conflicts of interest, research claims or revealing business proprietary relationships. Georgia Baked Chicken has hired a famous race car driver (Screachin' Steve) to appear in their commercial touting how much he loves their food. In fine print, the restaurant had to disclose that they pay him $1 million dollars a year to be their spokesperson. Georgia Baked Chicken spends over $10 million dollars a year on their marketing communications with consumers.

Globalization

Globalization is the increasing movement of goods, services and capital across national borders. Information technology has been a driving force of globalization. Advances in software, hardware, Internet and telecommunications have made it easier and faster for companies to communicate with employees, partners and suppliers from all over the globe in real time. Information technology facilitates greater efficiency and productivity and enables new innovations to spread quickly. One of the costs of globalization is job security. Increasingly, jobs are moved across borders where there is cheaper labor, few environmental and labor laws and weak regulations regarding health and safety. Many jobs in the domestic economy are lost or wages are lowered to stay competitive with foreign rivals.

Federal Trade commission (FTC)

Government has the most substantial role in battling advertising abuses. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) oversees the protection of consumers from fraudulent business practices and deceptive advertising.

US Bureau of Industry and Security

Governs US exports

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, or GLBA

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, or GLBA. This federal law was enacted in 1999 and is named for the three congressional co-sponsors of the act. The act is extensive and complicated with lengthy provisions. Generally speaking, though, it specifies how financial institutions must handle consumers' private information.

Habitat loss

Habitat loss occurs when an animal population loses its home. Every animal in the animal kingdom has a place in their animal community, and without their specific habitat, they no longer have a place to live. Loss of habitat occurs because of the high demand on land for agriculture and building to accommodate an increasing human population. This has been a particular problem in parts of the Amazon rainforest, where rapid clearing of trees to create land suitable for agriculture has put a number of species under threat.

Whistleblower

Have you ever heard of the term whistleblower? Did you think the term referred to a referee in a sporting event or a kind of lollipop? In this lesson, you will learn about the role a whistleblower can have in providing ethical reporting.

High Context Culture

High Context: This is a culture that makes a lot of assumptions about the commonality of the communications, views and knowledge. Individuals from these cultures do not need all the specifics, and there is a level of assumption and mutual understanding that is present.

Primary Stakeholders

How does Film Booth support every stakeholder's interests? They focus on primary stakeholders, who are considered groups that are invaluable to the long-term survival of the company. The primary stakeholders are shareholders, employees and customers because if one of the groups becomes unsatisfied, it would cause the failure of the company.

damages

I can also ask the court for an award of damages. This is a money award meant to compensate the patent owner for any loss incurred due to the defendant's patent infringement.

proprietary information

I may learn the hard way the importance of protecting proprietary information, or business secrets and intellectual property. That was my client list. It was in the Barks and Bubbles front desk computer. Only Wilma and I had access to that computer. We had to sign-on with a secret password and Wilma knew it was secret. I can't believe this! What if she shares other proprietary information with Wash and Woof? She has all kinds of secret information about my products and services! I'm going to see my business attorney right away. I need to find out what I need to do to protect my information, or if it's just too late.

incentive-based regulatory approaches

I think most people would agree that it's easier to perform a task if there is an incentive to get the job done. Incentives provide us with motivation. Take Timmy for example. Timmy does not recycle, and even though he feels recycling is a good idea, he doesn't see it as being worth the effort. Now, let's give Timmy a dollar for each pound of waste he recycles and see what happens. Yep, when Timmy is given a financial incentive, he now sees recycling as being worth his time and effort. This is how incentive-based regulatory approaches work

Identity theft

Identity theft is the stealing of another person's social security number, credit card number, or other personal information for the purpose of borrowing money, making purchases, and running up debts. In some cases, thieves even withdraw cash directly from the victim's bank account. Since many private organizations and governments keep information about individuals in accessible databases, there is an endless opportunity for thieves to retrieve it and misuse the information.

Redress

If a product is defective or harmful to consumers, the bill of rights provides the method of redress, or compensation for harm or wrongfulness. Nixon added redress, while Kennedy proposed the original four rights.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed. It included a specific piece of legislation called Title VII, which protected against employment discrimination on the basis of race, ethnic background, gender or religious practices. The idea behind the legislation was that it would level the playing field and give everyone an equal opportunity.

In 1972, Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Act

In 1972, Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Act, which gave the CPSC powers to protect individuals from unsafe consumer products. They accomplish this task through evaluating the safety of consumer products, developing standards, and conducting research as it pertains to safety. For example, the CPSC recently issued a recall on folding lounge chairs because consumers have reported falls when using them.

Montreal Protocol

In 1987, a large group of nations created the Montreal Protocol, which called for the banning of CFCs. If countries and companies continue to support the agreement, there is potential for the ozone layer to recover.

Command

In a command system, the state owns most resources and makes most economic decisions regarding allocation, production and distribution.

Injunction

In a lawsuit, I can ask the court for an injunction. This is a court order preventing the defendant from continuing to use the patented item.

Market

In a market system, private individuals own most of the resources, and individuals in the marketplace make most of the economic decisions. Chester's company will have a much easier time working within a market-based system than a command system. In fact, some command-based economies may be practically closed to his company.

Role Play

In a role play situation the employee is asked to put themselves in an ethical dilemma and determine the correct course of action. For example, Crazi Toys has used role play in the past on cases that dealt with toys injuring customers. They asked, how should a Crazi Toys' employee respond? Since the team was experienced with a similar situation, the toy horse issue was handled correctly by the hotline team and a recall was implemented.

Dividends

In addition, Eddie received dividends that were declared by Pear Products and amount to quarterly payments paid to the shareholders based on profits.

Non-Market

In addition, Fun Town's internal relationships with their employees also benefits the non-market environment, such as society and government. When employees are not financially stable (as when Fun Town's employees were on strike), they are not able to help society through charitable work and monetary donations. Government is also affected since employees are not working and not paying taxes. Companies need to understand the far-reaching effects of any issues developing in their employer-employee relationship.

Temporarily abled

In fact, the term 'temporarily abled' is sometimes used to describe a person currently without a disability to point to the reality that most of us will experience disability at some point in our lives, and most likely in our older years.

Lawrence Kohlberg's concept of ethical development

In general, he lists three stages. In the first stage, a person's behavior is driven by simplistic concerns, such as fear of punishment or a quick appraisal of the immediate benefits to be obtained. In the second stage, a person's behavior is constrained by their interpretation of social norms and their desire to be perceived as a good person. This can be described as a follow-the-rules approach. The third stage is more complex. Behavior tends to be concerned with the relationship of the individual to society as a whole, rather than local or institutional values. A person's actions reflect universal principles and consideration of, and respect for, different perspectives. Simply put, these are like the stages of a person's life. A child's behavior is based upon their immediate needs and their desire to avoid being punished for inappropriate behavior. Later, as we begin to mature, we want to 'fit in.' At this stage of our lives, we value social conformity and peer acceptance. Finally, as a person reaches maturity, they become comfortable with their personal value structure and are less dependent upon social conformity. Next, let's look at how Kohlberg's viewpoint relates to the legal and financial environment of a business organization.

International business

In its simplest form, international business is conducted by either importing products and services or exporting products and services.

FTC (Federal Trade Commission)

In order to protect consumers from unfair or deceptive practices and ensure free and fair business competition, the federal government created the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). This agency's main purpose is to protect consumers from unethical or illegal business practices. An illustration of the agency's purpose is a recent case involving a world famous technology company. The large technology company was forced to reimburse consumers close to 19 million dollars for illegally billing parents for their children's unauthorized app downloads. The technology company did not have mandatory safeguards in place that would require the parents' permission before kids could charge apps to their parents' account. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) protects consumers from unethical or illegal business practices. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was initially created in 1914 as an agency that wielded a weapon against antitrust. Eventually, the commission's powers were enlarged to also protect consumers against false advertising and fraud. There are many specific areas that the FTC has targeted in respect to the protection of the public. For example, the most recent areas of concern have been toward businesses advertising to children. The FTC has made vitamin companies refund over $425,000 to consumers who purchased products with recognizable kid characters. The vitamins were advertised with misleading information that claimed false health benefits.

Health and Safety Department

In order to show that Gas Free Baby Foods is interested in protecting the environment, they also have established a Health and Safety Department that will ensure compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state guidelines. One prime work of the department was to organize glass food jar recycling programs nationwide to keep constituents happy with green product techniques.

Competitors

In order to survive, a business must keep a close look at the market and formulate its own policies and strategies to have a competitive advantage over its competitors.

Ethics

In short, ethics focuses on whether actions are praiseworthy or not. The philosophical study of morality.

Licensing

In the case of licensing, a company is giving another company the right to make their product. Now, we all love soda, or at least I do. In a licensing situation, Coke (in the United States) would license, or allow, a foreign company to bottle their product. In this situation, they do not have a bottling plant overseas or make any investment. They simply enter into an agreement with a company overseas to do the bottling. They are giving their permission for that company to bottle the soda, and the foreign company pays a licensing fee to Coke for that opportunity.

Community

In the context of this lesson, a community refers to an area that can be influenced by the company or interacted with to achieve mutual goals. Companies and communities are interdependent upon each other as their expectations and successes are intertwined. For example, a community needs for businesses to pay taxes in order to have money for education. In addition, a business wants a pool of educated students to hire as their workers.

Beyond Compliance

In the third stage, called beyond compliance, Makeup Work finally realized that sustainability could help the company save money by decreasing energy usage, saving water, and decreasing waste-handling and packaging costs. For example, the marketing department redesigned the cosmetic packaging to eliminate wasteful additional materials such as double plastic seals and boxes. At this stage, companies look to the idea of sustainability as a good public relations idea and profit enhancer. Makeup Work has not fully integrated sustainability into all of their departments and product strategies.

Serious/Pervasive

In this case, serious means that the advances are unwanted, and pervasive means they occur at more than one time and are frequent enough to alter how the people feel about them coming to work.

Normative (Ethics)

In which actions are judged by their merits, allowing societies to develop codes of conduct for behavior. The Golden Rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, is a classic example of normative ethics, since you are determining morality through your actions. Other examples could include helping someone who is lost, or finding a wallet and turning it in to the lost and found. If your actions to another person align with how you want to be treated, they are moral. normative ethics actually define what is right and wrong. Normative ethics is the study of how people ought to act.

Individualism vs. Collectivism:

Individualism vs. Collectivism: This dimension focuses on the questions about whether people prefer a close knit network of people or prefer to be left alone to fend for themselves.

Informal Power

Informal Power: When an individual has a position of power over others, but it is not part of the hierarchical structure of the organization.

Information Privacy

Information privacy is the right to determine when and to what extent information about oneself can be communicated to others. This applies to individuals, groups, and institutions. Privacy can be interpreted quite broadly, which contributes to the debate concerning privacy expectations and availability of personal information.

Insourcing

Insourcing involves moving a business function in-house rather than having an external vendor complete the task. Insourcing may involve bringing in specialists or consultants to provide expertise or training. Currently, our accounting function is outsourced to a local accounting firm. We have been unhappy with their service and responsiveness to our needs. Therefore, we have decided to maximize the potential of our current employees and hire additional talent to bring our accounting function in-house. We anticipate the need to hire ten new employees over the next several months as we make the transition from an outsourced to an insourced accounting function. We hope that by insourcing the accounting function, we will reduce cost over the long-term, improve consistency and accuracy, secure our financial information and, ultimately, contribute to improving the overall competitiveness of the organization.

Internal relationships

Internal Relationships: Factors like the amount of support the management enjoys from its shareholders, employees, and the board of directions all affect the smooth functions of an organization.

Internal Controls

Internal controls are procedures that are put in place within an organization to ensure business is carried out in an orderly, effective and accurate manner.

Deontology

Is about strict adherence to rules regardless of consequences. For example, people who believe that the death penalty should always be enforced even though some innocent people are executed might be described as having a deontological point of view.

Psychology

Is the study of human thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Psychology looks at what people have in common, but it also looks at individual differences in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Psychological views of morality say that people act morally because of the way they think or feel

Customs Union

customs union, trade barriers between member countries are eliminated just like with free trade areas. However, unlike free trade areas, members of a customs union will develop a unified trade policy regarding non-members.

Societal Strategies

Keeping both community stakeholders and investors happy can be a difficult balance for businesses. Crazi Toys knew that investors would be happy with the new plant's location in the U.S., but was aware of local concern from communities about traffic, pollution and construction. Crazi Toys needs to have societal strategies in place to handle activists that might attack or protest organization objectives. These strategies allow a company to communicate with community, media and other external stakeholders. If Crazi Toys acts as ethically as possible, creates coalitions to support their objectives and uses engaging media relations, most strategies can be effective. For example, Crazi Toys became active in the local town's chamber of commerce, donated money to schools, gave away tons of free toys to area charities and held an open town meeting. This caused the community to slowly sway toward supporting the new factory due to their effective societal plan.

Labor union boycotts

Labor union boycotts are also protected under this act. Labor unions have the right to strike and not be considered in violation of a company's right to competition.

volunteer employee services

Lastly, companies can provide volunteer employee services, which are the gifts of time. Pear Products' employees volunteer at local shelters, food kitchens, and for environmental causes. For example, last month all of the employees spent a day cleaning up an area beach for the upcoming summer season.

Methane

Lastly, companies that are involved in beef production release methane, a greenhouse gas that is made as a by-product of cow digestion.

Officers

Lastly, let's take a look at officers. Corporate officers are high-level executives responsible for everyday business operations. Officers are agents for the corporation, meaning that they act on behalf of the corporation and can bind the corporation to contracts. They can also, therefore, be held personally liable for corporate misconduct or for gross failures. The board of directors appoints the officers. They serve at the will of the directors unless the company's bylaws or the officer's employment contract states otherwise. Typical corporate officers include: Chief executive officer Chief financial officer Chief legal officer President Vice president Secretary Treasurer For example, let's say that Daniel is still the president of Doughy's. He's an officer. Daniel uses some of Doughy's Donuts' profits to invest in his best friend's donut company. This company is called 'Darling Donuts' and is a major competitor of Doughy's, though Daniel didn't know that since he didn't research the deal. He was just trying to do a favor for a friend. Daniel, as an officer of Doughy's, can be held personally liable for his negligence and for using Doughy's profits for his own benefit.

Human Resources Department

Lastly, the Human Resource Department of Gas Free Baby Foods allows open dialogue with all of their worldwide employees through examples such as union negotiations and ensuring cooperation with labor laws. Their department is well recognized for establishing work diversity and family work programs that recognize every culture in their workforce. For example, the company offers minority education reimbursement programs and free daycare for employees to help with supporting their workers' family needs.

Laws

Laws define the boundaries of what is legal and are the written guidelines that must be followed in society.

Lead

Lead: Show vision and enthusiasm to reach the goal of the plan.

Leading

Leading: Supplying a vision to the personnel in the organization

Legal Communications

Legal communications are concerned with employees having the understanding to not violate ethics, standards and laws pertaining to business communications. The five areas of legal communication that Georgia Baked Chicken needs to be concerned with are disclaimers, disclosures, marketing communications, reporting and internal communications.

Long Term vs Short Term Orientation

Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation: Long-term orientation dimension can be interpreted as dealing with society's search for virtue. Societies with a short-term orientation generally have a strong concern with establishing the absolute truth.

Low Context Culture

Low Context: This is a culture where issues are fully detailed and spelled out. Issues are much more specific, and a great deal of focus and importance is put on what is said. Thus, in a group setting, individuals from low context cultures will want specifics and details as they relate to the problem the group is working on.

biocatalytic production

Makeup Work can claim that they are a fully sustainable company through the use of biocatalytic production of their cosmetics. The production process uses less energy, no acids, and eliminates the need for solvents during the making of their cosmetics. In fact, Makeup Work can use their ecological commitment as a way of differentiating themselves from their competition.

Managerial Ethics

Managerial ethics is a set of principles and rules dictated by upper management that define what is right and what is wrong in an organization. It is the guideline that helps direct a lower manager's decisions in the scope of his or her job when a conflict of values is presented

Ethical decision-making

Managers must make decisions every day, and many of these decisions have an ethical dimension. Ethical decision-making is a cognitive process where people consider ethical rules, principles or guidelines when making decisions. Ethical decision making is merely making decisions based on what ought to be done to benefit the maximum amount of people. It should include society as well as the environment. Three popular ethical decision-making models include: The Golden Rule Public Disclosure Test Universalization Test As we learn about the three models, it is important to think about three things. Who are we considering in the decisions we make? What is the purpose of the decisions we make? And how will our decisions impact others?

Crime abatement programs

Many businesses have created community alliances to fight and reduce crime in the area through crime abatement programs. For example, in Chicago, workshops are held for business owners and local community members on how to increase safety in the area.

Consumerism

Many of you might be familiar with the derogatory definition of consumerism, which is the preoccupation of society with the acquisition of consumer goods. The term consumerism also means an organized way to protect consumers from company policies and products that violate consumer rights, and that's what we'll be talking about here. It is a societal issue of the non-market environment, where government is tapped to create and enforce laws that will safeguard consumers from unethical business practices. How did the idea of consumerism develop? Consumers were once trustful of business, but companies have not always been ethical and treated consumers ethically. For example, the manufacturers of cigarettes have been accused of knowing that their products are addictive and can kill their consumers. Consumers soon grew disenchanted with business and felt that they needed protection.

Global warming

Many scientists blame global warming for the drastic weather pattern changes or natural disasters, such as hurricanes. Global warming is also known as the greenhouse effect, and it happens when carbon dioxide and gases in the atmosphere stop heat from dissipating into space. This can result in unusual weather patterns and activity, the melting of glaciers and the rising of sea levels. There has been an increase of 25% in greenhouse gases since the Industrial Revolution.

Market allocation

Market allocation involves two companies conspiring to divide a market in order for two businesses to sell similar products at higher prices to drive away competition. For example, Acme Meat Packing, Inc. and Beefy Meat Packing want to be the only two beef distributors in a large city. So, Acme and Beefy agree to split the list of those who purchase beef products and each company will sell only to the customers on their list. Neither company will sell to businesses on the other company's list. In fact, they may even quote higher prices to avoid making a sale. While it may sound crazy to engage in market allocation, it actually makes sense. If two companies service all of the businesses in a region by maintaining low prices, no other competition can enter into the market.

Masculinity vs. Femininity

Masculinity vs. Femininity: Masculinity represents a preference in society for achievement, heroism, assertiveness and material reward for success. Its opposite, femininity, stands for a preference for cooperation, modesty, caring for the weak and quality of life.

Copyright Infringement

Messy had to handle copyright infringement over corporate material that was used without permission on Internet blogs. A blog used images of their candy on the blog owner's stuffed homemade pets. In addition, Messy caught a company manufacturing t-shirts with their candy bars on it.

Migrant Workers

Migrant workers are usually low-skilled workers or laborers who travel from region to region or country to country in order to find work. Although people have always moved to wherever they can find work and undocumented migrant workers have been part of the agricultural industry for decades in many countries, it has only recently become a high-profile issue. Additionally, the advent of the globalized world has made migratory work for those even outside normal migrant worker-based industries more possible than ever.

John Stuart Mill (Utilitarianism)

Mill's moral philosophy, utilitarianism, and how it applies to business dilemmas, like the one about whether to release the drug or not. According to Mill's theory of utilitarianism, the way to know whether something is ethically right or good is not by determining what the motives are behind it, but by determining what the outcome is. In other words, the ends justify the means. There are two ways to determine whether the end result is moral, according to a utilitarian view: 1. The number of people helped vs. harmed. 2. The degree of benefit vs. harm.

Mission and Objectives

Mission and Objectives: Different priorities, policies, and philosophies of a business can affect the mission and objectives.

Public Sentiment

N&N faces countless new regulations from the government that is used to keep big business under ethical control. Consumers tend to view N&N as big business and the 'bad guys' out just to make a profit under this model. Recent public sentiment, or public opinions, have been negative towards big business due to unethical nightmares caused by companies, such as Enron.

eight strategic radar screens

N&N uses eight strategic radar screens (the customer, competitor, economic, technological, social, political, legal and geophysical environments) to give managers the ability to research and glean information regarding their business environments from each of the sectors.

Social Responsibility

Modern organizations have embraced the idea of social responsibility within their company. This is when companies feel an ethical responsibility for the interests and welfare of society. Companies, such as Life Drugs, that follow this philosophy bring positive changes to their stakeholders' lives, including clean environments, charitable donations, responsible programs and participation in community events. This can result in community benefits, and the result is community loyalty to a company. For example, Life Drugs ensures that they do not pollute the environment with product runoff. They also use solar power for factories, provide stock dividends and donate money to the community. They even built a local autism school for the town to help disabled youths. Life Drugs' business decisions have been socially responsible and have created a better community for the stakeholders, which include investors, private interest groups, local citizens, customers and the government.

Monetary Policy

Monetary policy, or how a government manages the supply, demand, and valuation of currency, also impacts Neon Garb's international business. A higher valuation of a country's money means that Neon Garb's American dollars are not worth as much. For instance, currently in 2014, the exchange rate of Euro (1.00) is equal to .80 in American money, but in India, 1 American dollar would be equal to 62 rupees. Countries with a lower exchange rate can attract international investment, which can lead to more jobs for the country's citizens. For example, Neon Garb might be attracted to build a factory in India due to the exchange rate which would bring industrial jobs to the country.

Moral Fact

Moral facts are simply, objectively true. They just are. However, for a moral fact to be true, it must always be true

Moral Suasion

Moral suasion is the government's ability to use policy announcements or speeches (instead of regulation) to persuade businesses to take a specific action. For instance, the head of the Federal Reserve can speak about the economy and drastically affect the stock market and business by recommending certain actions.

Morals

Morals are another individual characteristic that can affect an individual's ethics. Morals are the rules people develop as a result of cultural norms and values and are, traditionally, what employees learn from their childhood, culture, education, religion, etc. They are usually described as good or bad behavior. Would you have good morals if you pushed a product on a customer that you knew was not going to help solve a problem?

Morals

Morals are the rules people develop as a result of cultural norms and values and are, traditionally, what employees learn from their childhood, culture, education, religion, etc. They are usually described as good or bad behavior. Would a salesperson have good morals if they pushed a product on a customer that they knew was not going to help them solve a problem?

Egoistic

Morals give society a shared set of values and rules, and this gives people guidelines they can use to ensure their own safety, happiness, and success within that group.

Ethical Codes

Most companies establish policies and procedures to provide ethical guidelines to employees. These are known as ethical codes and can establish checks and balances to support ethical behavior.

performance-expectations gap

Most public issues develop due to a performance-expectations gap, which is inconsistency between what stakeholders expect and what an organization's daily performance is in the workplace. Companies need to identify any gaps as soon as possible in order to solve issues quickly in order to not have to deal with unsatisfied stakeholders. N&N is a candy manufacturer that is publicly traded on the stock market. They have established ways to monitor public issues and uncover gaps that could affect their organization.

Authority v Subversion

Moving on, we come to authority versus subversion. Putting this one simply, it's the basic belief that authority is to be respected. It's the reason most of us obey the law. We don't think that much about it; it's just automatic. It's the reason most of us sit at red lights even when we're alone on the road, and it's the reason most of us obeyed our parents. After all, it's just what you do.

Competitive Intelligence

N&N also uses competitive intelligence to glean information about their competitors in the marketplace. This information usually contains specific competitor's future plans, decisions and operations. For example, N&N has come across some key information through the intelligence reconnaissance and radar screens that will change their business plans and avert stakeholder conflict:

ozone depletion

Unfortunately, the emissions from many companies' production processes and products, such as aerosol hairspray, emit chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which have destroyed large parts of the ozone layer. This is called ozone depletion.

Environmental Analysis

N&N's managers first effective way to monitor public issues is to use environmental analysis in order to attain information regarding external issues, threats and trends, so they can form an overall strategy that eliminates threats and focuses on developing opportunities.

Stakeholder networks

Nate also believes in creating stakeholder networks by utilizing the expertise of different stakeholder groups to work collaboratively to solve problems and issues. He was able to use his stakeholder networks to solve training issues in his factories. The final result for Munchie is a long-term, productive relationship with all of their stakeholder groups. Oh... and the successful launch of Munchie Cereal!

NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational safety)

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health s a U.S. federal agency that conducts ongoing research to prevent worker injury and illness. Typically, they would focus on areas such as employees working with chemicals or unsafe working conditions, somewhat similar to the OSHA, but the National Institute for Occupational Safety is researching these aspects on an ongoing basis. In many ways, they look ahead to see what could happen with unsafe materials or products, then enact regulations to ensure safety. As an example, we have to think back to when coal mining was far less protected as far as health issues than it is today. Some agency had to investigate and research how to prevent miner illnesses from breathing in the materials they were working with, and that agency was NIOSH. What this means to management is that at any time they may have to change the way they do business or process materials due to the findings of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

NLRB (National Labor Relations Board)

National Labor Relations Board, otherwise known as the NLRB, is a federal agency that has the power to protect employees' rights to organize and to form unions, should the employees wish to do so. The organization also works to prevent and repair any unfair labor practices that organizations might commit to help safeguard unfair practices towards employees by private organizations. As one might imagine, management has to pay close attention to the National Labor Relations Board and the work that they do. We are not saying that unions are good or bad, but should a group of employees decide to unionize or if there are charges that an individual or group of individuals could bring up against an organization to the National Labor Relations Board, management would need to defend their actions as it relates to that issue.

National origin/language discrimination

National origin/language discrimination occurs when someone is not hired due to their country of origin or the language that they speak. Martha discriminated against three foreign candidates for the position, as she did not want to have a subordinate who did not speak perfect English - even though an accent would not prevent the candidate from doing the job. Martha also was discriminatory towards other races than her own.

Loyalty v Betrayal

Next, we'll consider loyalty versus betrayal. Building on the fact that humans are social beings, this is the concept of faithfulness to a group. Whether this is a big brother standing up for his little brother or a young marine fighting for his country, we humans seem to be wired to protect our group. To not do so just seems shameful.

wholly owned subsidiary

Not every company wants to, or has the opportunity to, work in any of the methods we've just discussed. Maybe the product is a pharmaceutical that they need to make sure they can control, or maybe the company makes a safety device that they cannot allow another form of international arrangement to be a part of. In this case, the company might use a wholly owned subsidiary. Thus, they own the foreign company, so they can make sure the quality is present.

Occupational Safety and Health Act

Occupational Safety and Health Act which was passed by Congress in 1970. The goal of the Act is to make sure that workers have the most safe and healthy work conditions possible. Many states also run their own OSHA programs, but we'll keep our discussion mostly to the federal program. OSHA regulates workplace safety and health by issuing safety and health standards. Owen and other OSHA employees will undertake inspections and investigations to make sure that employers are complying with the standards.

unfair business practice

Once the trade secret is properly protected, any unauthorized use of the confidential information will be considered an unfair business practice and the misappropriation of a trade secret. This is a business tort and a civil cause of action. The business owner can sue in state court. Common remedies include injunctions and money damages. Notice that this isn't a federal cause of action, like a patent infringement case. Sounds like I might have a state cause of action against Wilma for her misappropriation of my client list. I'm so glad I protected this information and made it obvious that it was a secret. My attorney's calling Wash and Woof right now.

Sanctity v Degradation

Our last moral foundation is that of sanctity versus degradation. With sanctity meaning holy or sacred, this is the simple idea that some things are just plain wrong, even disgusting. There are just things you don't do. For instance, adults don't hurt children, and family members don't enter into sexual relationships with one another. To do so is morally reprehensible.

Testimony or advisory panels

Testimony or advisory panels in which business leaders testify to Congress in order to help shape new regulations: This is usually used in conjunction with participating in comments via regulation.gov. Members of Crazi Toys' upper management did speak to Congress about the need to keep jobs in America and not overseas. This helped gain legislators' support on all levels for the factory to be built.

Command and control regulations

One approach is the use of command and control regulations. This was the approach utilized by the U.S. government in the 1970s. Command and control regulations impose mandatory requirements and standards upon parties in their activities relating to the environment. For example, regulations that outline how toxic waste must be stored or the type and level of pollutants that can be reintroduced into a public water system are command and control regulations. One way pollution is controlled is through the command and control regulatory approach, which works toward preventing environmental problems by legislating what is permitted. In other words, a company would be held responsible for going over any limits set on the generation of pollution. The command and control approach provides polluting entities with detailed quality standards set by a government authority that must be met. Ongoing inspections are then used to ensure that the standards are being met. If the company is not compliant with the regulations, then a sanction would result, such as a fine or prosecution.

environmental taxes

One example of an incentive-based regulatory approach is environmental taxes. Environmental taxes are defined as an approach to environmental protection that utilizes taxes connected to pollution emissions and waste production. The primary objective of environmental taxes is to encourage entities that create pollution to act in more environmentally-responsible ways and in essence, 'go green.'

Corporation

One of the most popular business structures is the corporation. A corporation is a complex business structure where the business is a separate entity from the individuals that run the business. A corporate structure involves various individuals working in several different management roles. For the most part, a corporation must have shareholders, directors and officers. These individuals form the corporate hierarchy. The shareholders elect the directors, and in turn, the directors employ the officers.

FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act)

One of the newest government regulations is the Family Medical Leave Act, or FMLA. This act allows eligible employees to take unpaid protected leave for specific reasons, such as the birth of a child or to care for a spouse or sick child that has a serious health condition. What this means from a management perspective is at any time for valid reasons an employee could be gone for up to 12 weeks in a 12-month period for a family medical leave act condition. While the act itself is great for employees that have these issues, as a manager, one can see how it's challenging to work with an individual or individuals that could suddenly have an unscheduled 12-week absence.

Economic development

One result of the collaborative partnerships is economic development, or the formation of new companies and jobs within the community. For example, in the United States, the federal Community Reinvestment Act requires banks to show their commitment to local communities through low-income lending programs, which can cause new businesses to flourish, especially in urban areas.

Stockholder Model

One theory, championed by Milton Friedman, is the stockholder model. It argues that the sole obligation of a corporation is to maximize shareholder wealth.

Grassroots lobbying

One way a business can influence Congress is through grassroots lobbying, or a form of communicating with the public about company important legislation and providing an argument for or against it.

Manipulation

One way companies' use unethical target marketing is through manipulation to force or direct consumers' behavior in subtle ways. An example of this type of unethical marketing occurred with a product called Save a Life, which sold medical alarms to the elderly. The company used fear and anxiety to promote their product through ads that showed an elderly person alone in the house, trapped, and unable to get help without their product. An ethical way to promote this product to their target market would have been to rely on information and rational ads. Instead, the company decided to prey on elderly and use manipulative scare tactics.

Sherman Antitrust Act

One way the government intervened was to create the Sherman Antitrust Act. This act was written in the 1800s to prohibit manipulation of markets and stop monopolies. The Sherman Antitrust Act was written to prohibit manipulation of markets and stop monopolies,

Organizational culture

Organizational culture is a system of shared assumptions, values and beliefs that governs how people behave in organizations.

Organizational Culture

Organizational culture is a system of shared assumptions, values, and beliefs that governs how people behave in organizations. The culture of an organization is difficult to measure or observe, but it performs many important functions within an organization. Let's find out how culture can impact members of an organization.

Organizational ethical climate

Organizational ethical climate refers to the moral atmosphere of the work environment and the level of ethics practiced within a company. Instrumental, caring, law and order, rules, and independence are the five types of climates that can exist in an organization. Incivility, harassment, aggression, and discrimination can all produce an unethical and hostile work environment, which can create dissatisfied employees, while a positive ethical environment can make employees more productive and even happier.

Organize

Organize: Get all the people and equipment together to support the plan.

Organizing

Organizing: Ensuring the company has all the right people and parts, in the right place, at the right time

unethical target marketing

Other companies use unethical target marketing by focusing on target markets that can be easily influenced and manipulated.

Liberty v Oppression

Our next moral foundation is that of liberty versus oppression. Although things like slavery have definitely gone against this one, it's the idea that tyrannical oppression is wrong. Quoting a rather famous document, it's the inherent belief that all of us deserve a shot at life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Sadly, history has proven that humanity has blown the application of this principle many, many times. Despite this, sociologists argue that most of us were born accepting the moral theory that tyranny and oppression are wrong.

Outsourcing

Outsourcing occurs when a company retains another business to perform some of its work activities. These companies are usually located in foreign countries with lower labor costs and a less strict regulatory environment. Lower labor costs. Companies typically outsource to businesses in developing countries where the cost of labor is significantly cheaper. Lower labor costs will improve the company's bottom line. Less regulations. Developing countries often have a low level of regulatory restrictions, which can also reduce the cost of operations and increase productivity. For example, there may not be limits on overtime or on work, health, and safety issues. Focus on core competencies. Companies that outsource lower-level work, or work the business is not optimized to perform, can then focus on the work activities at which they excel. This will increase productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness. For example, a tech company in Silicon Valley may be better off outsourcing its manufacturing operations to a company in China so it can focus on research and development. Reduced overhead. Outsourcing can also reduce a company's overhead costs because the outsourcing company uses its own facilities, equipment, and personnel to perform the work. In fact, it's theoretically possible to engage in massive manufacturing ventures out of a room of your house if you outsource all the manufacturing to a factory overseas. Flexibility. Outsourcing means that a company can stay lean and mean, which makes it easier to adapt to change. For example, companies don't have to invest a bunch of money and resources into a new plant and equipment that may become obsolete quickly. Instead, they can pass that risk off to the outsourcing firms.

Regulatory Impact analysis

Part of the process toward publication in the Federal Register involves a regulatory impact analysis, which is a federal agency analysis of the necessity of the proposed regulation, possible alternatives, and the costs and benefits. Analysis steps include: Describe the need for regulation Define the baseline Establish the time frame of analysis Acknowledge any alternatives, and Summarize the impact analysis

Business Interest groups

Participate in business interest groups, or coalitions that promote company or industry objectives in order to help the company's cause: For example, business interest groups, such as Toy Companies for America, banded together to push for government approval (state and local) to support American-made toys.

Moral Development (Physiologist Lawrence Kohlberg)

People first pass through two stages known collectively as the pre-conventional level. In the first stage, people are motivated by trying to avoid punishment; their actions are bad if they get punished and good if they don't. In this stage, Lauren would give her father the money because she doesn't want him to punish her. At the second stage, people are motivated purely by self-interest. Lauren at this stage would likely keep the money, thinking that, even if she can't afford a bike, she can use it to buy something else good for herself. The next level of moral development, the conventional, also contains two stages. Adolescents typically operate at this level, as do some adults. In stage three, people make moral decisions based on getting people to like them. Lauren might decide to give her father the money because this will improve her relationship with him; but if her mother is upset by her father's drinking, she might decide to give the money to her mother in order to be a 'good girl' in her eyes. Her decision would be based on whichever social relationship seemed most important. In stage four, moral reasoning centers around maintaining a functioning society by recognizing that laws are more important the individual needs. In this stage, Lauren probably wouldn't give her father the money, because his alcoholism is disruptive to the stability of their family and community. The final level of moral development is called the post-conventional. Not all adults reach this level; many are stuck at some of the earlier stages. Post-conventional moral thinkers reject the rigidity of laws, believing that they should be ignored or changed if they're not good laws. In stage five, people will try to act in ways that achieve the most good for the most number of people; they'd judge a law as unjust if it failed to do this. Lauren at this stage would not give her father the money, because she'd recognize that his alcoholism is hurting his family and himself. Stage six thinkers develop ethical principles and a sense of justice. Actions are taken because they are right in themselves, not because they help achieve other goals. Though Kohlberg theorized that this stage existed, he had trouble finding people who were always operating at this level. For Lauren to exhibit stage six moral reasoning, she'd have to have a strongly developed sense of the injustice of giving her father money for beer.

Persuasive messages

Persuasive messages are a type of communication that's used to change an individual's intentions, actions or beliefs.

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of how we understand our existence and how we come to know what is real, good, and true. It's an academic discipline and so has branches that focus on specific areas. Philosophy aims to discuss questions such as: 'What is real?,' 'What is truth?,' and even 'What is beautiful?' And how do we come to know what is real, true, good, and beautiful?

Moral agent

Phojack believes that they should not be concerned with charitable actions or supporting social causes. They feel that it is not possible to balance every shareholder's interests and act as a moral agent, or someone who makes moral decisions as to what is right or wrong. Phojack believes that the shareholder who profits from their company's stock increases can invest their own money in whatever charitable organization they desire.

Piracy

Piracy, or the use of software without a license, is a growing trend as well. Messy's CIO is determined to protect their corporate information and maintain customer privacy through new technological applications.

Political action committees (PAC)

Political action committees (PAC) are independently organized organizations that can request money and then pass the money directly to political candidates. Businesses are not legally allowed to give money directly to politicians. PACs allow businesses to circumvent this legal issue and give money to the organization who then turns it over to the politicians. Businesses give the money in hopes of influencing politicians to support specific agendas once in office. For example, the National Association of Realtors is one of the largest contributors to PAC, giving over $5 million to Republicans and $2 million to Democrats.

Pollution

Pollution can be defined as the introduction of harmful substances into the environment. Most of the time, the harmful substances come from industry and modes of transportation, such as cars, which release waste products that are harmful to humans, animals and plants. Examples are sulfur dioxide (SO2), which is released by the burning of coal, and nitrogen oxides, which are produced by internal combustion engines. In the high concentrations that may occur in urban areas, these can harm people directly by causing respiratory problems. They also undergo reactions in the atmosphere that can produce acid rain, which can acidify soil and water, affecting plants and aquatic organisms and damaging stone buildings and monuments. Pollution can also affect water directly through the discharge of wastewater from industrial processes, agriculture and mining. Some pollutants may find their way into the sea and accumulate in the food chain. On a more local scale, toxic chemicals from abandoned industrial sites and waste dumps can leave soil contaminated for long periods of time.

Power Distance

Power Distance: This dimension expresses the degree to which the less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.

Predisposed ways

Predisposed ways can be numerous factors that make consumers purchase a specific way, such as personal preferences, cultural norms, or habitual purchasing.

Preferred Stockholders

Preferred stockholders receive a steady dividend before a common stockholder. This worries Eddie because if Pear Products has financial difficulties in the future, then he will not get his money back until preferred stockholders receive their money first. Eddie explains that although preferred stockholders are first in line to get paid, they cannot vote on any company issues.

Price Discrimination

Price discrimination refers to charging different prices to customers in the same area. For example, Tony's Tomato Sauce Company cannot charge a significantly higher price to certain pizzerias and less to others in the same market.

Price Fixing

Price fixing happens when two companies set higher than average prices for a product that is only available for purchase by the two companies. By setting the same price, customers will not be motivated to be loyal to one store over another. Now, if both companies set higher than usual prices for the same product, customers will not have a choice but to make the purchase from one of the two companies. These actions can prove devastating to small business or, even worse, the economy as a system. Government intervention is imminent.

Privacy

Privacy is the right to be left alone and free from surveillance and unreasonable personal intrusions.

Privatization

Privatization is when government lets businesses take ownership of a public function. This can occur through a government contract where a private company will take ownership of a product or service. A big concern about privatizing a function is that it removes the ability of the public to provide feedback or concern. Some examples of functions that were privatized are health care, the Internet and water. For example, there has been ample proof that private health care has become a tremendous failure in the U.S., with many citizens unable to afford basic care. In addition, the costs of surgeries have skyrocketed. The reasons for privatization are usually that the government is not able to provide the services competitively, and they are less efficient than the private sector. Anti-privatization proponents feel that certain areas, such as the postal services and airlines, are not able to be run properly by the private sector due to cost issues. Privatization is when government lets businesses take ownership of a public function.

Moral relativism

Proper moral conduct s relevant to the culture and even particular circumstances at hand. While Dillon may believe that giving the unused food to his friends after work is morally unacceptable as theft, he may believe giving the unused food to the homeless family is morally acceptable. In fact, Dillon may believe refusing to give the unused food to the homeless family is an immoral act given the situation. Thus, according to moral relativism, the same act may be moral or immoral depending upon the circumstances.

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is unwanted sexual advances, obscene remarks or any other offensive sexually motivated material or communication. In other words, we can understand that any type of sexual advance from one person to another that is not mutually welcomed is sexual harassment. A common misconception is that sexual harassment only affects women. This is not true. Women can also make sexual advances or comments to men, causing them to feel sexually harassed.

Sexual Orientation Discrimination

Sexual orientation discrimination is when someone is treated wrongly just because of their sexual preference, whether it be homosexual, bisexual or heterosexual.

Sherman Act of 1890.

Sherman Act of 1890. This act makes monopolies or attempts to monopolize illegal, and it ensures fair competition. T

Data Breach

data breach, which is when sensitive information is viewed or stolen, your checking account was emptied. This is happening more frequently to consumers online

Lawrence Kohlberg

Psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg famously identified three levels of ethical development that individuals typically progress through. By looking at these stages, we can begin to talk about whether behavior is ethical and what its motivations might be. The first level of ethical development is called preconventional morality. This level of ethics is most childlike. The best example would be to think of how a toddler acts during a day. They're very self-centered and only driven by rewards or punishment, such as a lollipop or a time out. Most business people have already moved beyond this level of ethical development...well, hopefully. The second level of ethical development is called conventional morality, which means behaving in accord with society's rules and expectations. This level is when a marketing manager would be concerned with breaking a law and how it could be viewed by outsiders. Another way to look at this is peer pressure or doing what others would do. The last level is called postconventional morality and revolves around the idea that people are more concerned about how they view themselves and not what others may think. Internal pressure to behave correctly and follow a moral path is the central theme. A marketing manager who has reached a level of postconventional morality would not just consider the legal ramifications of a decision, but also how it could possibly hurt the environment or, potentially, the customer.

Public Relations

Public relations encompasses a large area of communication activities that target specific audiences and create a positive opinion about a company or its activities.

corporate social performance model

Recently, a model was developed to help determine if a company was being responsible to their legal and economic stakeholders, while also being socially responsible. This model is called a corporate social performance model and consists of three elements (social responsibility categories, mode of social responsiveness, and social issues of stakeholders), which are drawn into a three dimensional model for easy interpretation by managers. which is the stakeholders' assessment of the CSR and corporate citizenship over time in comparison to competition. How will stakeholders assess a company through the model? They will evaluate and analyze a company through the three variables. We will use Microsoft as an example since they epitomize a socially responsible company.

Regional Integration

Regional integration is a process in which countries enter into a regional agreement in order to enhance regional cooperation through regional structure and rules. The most well known of these are: NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement), which is with the U.S., Mexico and Canada, and The EU (or the European Union), which has 27 member countries in Europe.

Regional Intergration

Regional integration is when a group of countries get together and develop a formal agreement regarding how they will conduct trade with each other. There are many different levels of involvement, and in this lesson, we will review the types and how a manager should understand and match them to his or her company's international needs.

Investor Relations

Relationship a company has with those that support it financially.

Religious Discrimination

Religious discrimination is when a person is harassed or treated harshly due to their religious beliefs. Martha grew up in a Catholic household in New York. She was shocked when some of the candidates asked about Jewish or Muslim religious holidays as part of their benefits package. She only wanted to have a subordinate that would be off from work during her religious holidays. She discriminately dismissed the candidates as well.

Universal

Right and wrong transcend time and culture and apply equally to everyone. For these people, morality is generally explained as coming from one of two sources.

Robinson-Patman Act of 1936

Robinson-Patman Act of 1936, and this makes it illegal to offer different prices to different buyers of merchandise of like grade and quality. T

Rule Making

Rule making is a process that the government uses to create regulations

SEC Filings

SEC Filings are financial statements requested by the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission. This department educates and updates investors and works at developing long-term positive relationships to help grow the company.

Public Disclosure Test

Similar to the Golden Rule is the public disclosure test. This test asks that a business decision be something a company would be so proud of that it would not mind if the decision were to be broadcast on public television for the whole world to see. Let's look at an example of how one Chinese baby milk producer was not mindful of the public disclosure test. Sanlu Group, a large milk distributor in China, produced baby milk powder that they knowingly fortified with melamine, an ingredient commonly used in making plastics. Human consumption of melamine can cause kidney and liver failure, especially in babies. As a result, several babies died from drinking the milk. After an investigation, it was revealed that the company was aware of the added ingredient. It was claimed that they added melamine to boost the protein count, making the milk more attractive to mothers. In the end, several key people at Sanlu were arrested along with some government officials. The cover-up extended far beyond just a few corporate executives. Sanlu Group is one example of how the public disclosure test may have saved lives.

Social Contract of Business

Simply put, some view businesses as having special responsibilities due to the fact that they are permitted by society to do business. As we will see in this lesson, that can take on a number of shapes.

Deceptive advertising techniques

Since companies face difficulty in acquiring consumers' interest in such a competitive landscape, many have resulted in using deceptive advertising techniques to get attention. This type of advertising is also known as false advertising and uses misleading, confusing, or blatant lies to persuade the public. Let's take a look at some actual examples of companies using different deceptive advertising techniques to understand the type of advertising abuses that occur in the business world.

Reasonable Accommodation

Since the passage of the Act, Eli's return to work would be very different. As long as the cost and difficulty was not extensive, his employer could be asked to provide a desk that allowed access for his wheelchair. This is known in the ADA as a reasonable accommodation, or a change that makes it possible for a person with a disability to apply for a job, perform job functions, or enjoy equal benefits available to others in the workplace. An accommodation is considered reasonable when it does not put undue hardship on an employer. The change to Eli's desk is neither difficult nor particularly expensive, and this simple change will make the difference to him in allowing him to work.

strategic philanthropy

Smart companies establish strategic philanthropy, which is strategy that is in line with their goals and objectives so that both society and business benefit from the giving. Companies can benefit from having effective giving strategies. The benefits include: Large supply of trained workers by offering free training, gifts to universities, and donated computer equipment Improved demand for product or service, such as corporate giving, results in increased customer loyalty and positive corporate image which results in more sales

Lobbyists

So companies typically end up hiring lobbyists who specialize in influencing government regarding issues pertinent to companies. The United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC), one of the largest lobbying groups in the United States, is an example of a business-oriented lobbying group. They commonly oppose actions against climate change and financial regulation, while supporting free trade, off shoring and globalization. Another method for businesses to adopt in order to gain congressional or regulatory influence is through lobbying, or trying to persuade legislators or regulatory agencies to act in favor of a specific cause or idea.

Social Issues of stakeholders

Social issues of stakeholders is the last element of corporate social performance analysis. This part of the model explains the specific topics that a business must consider with the first two dimensions of responsiveness and social responsibility categories. Examples of the topics are product safety, discrimination, occupational safety, and the environment. For instance, Microsoft has successfully performed proactively in all of the social issues. They actively donate technology, education, and guidance to help battle human trafficking with the Photo DNA initiative and The Year Up Program (which is 12-month internships given by Microsoft to disadvantaged college students). This part of the model explains the specific topics that a business must consider with the first two dimensions of responsiveness and social responsibility categories. Examples of specific topics are education, environment, and employee rights.

Social Regulation

Social regulation deals with the protection of individuals through an agency, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

Society

Society is a group of individuals who reside in communities that have shared values and laws. In addition, society is made up of different religions, cultures, interests, attitudes, and lifestyles.

Virtues

Some anthropologists claim that all societies develop morals that strengthen certain virtues. Virtues include wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence, or spirituality. However, even if all societies do believe in these virtues, the actual actions associated with them are different. Violence is courageous in one society, while pacifism is courageous in another.

Immoral

Something bad or wrong.

Multilateral Treaties

Sometimes treaties are made between many independent parties. Treaties between more than two independent governments are known as multilateral treaties. For example, the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, is a treaty executed in the early 1990s between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. This treaty addresses several important international business topics. The main goal of NAFTA was to eliminate barriers to trade, such as tariffs, between the treaty nations. Also consider the UN Charter, which established the United Nations just after World War II. The United Nations is an international organization of countries that facilitates human rights through the promotion of peace, health, and security. This treaty was made between 51 original member countries, though the United Nations currently includes 193 countries.

Specific factors

Specific factors affect the individual organization in its day-to-day operations.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 1990

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), passed in 1990, aimed to provide those with mental or physical disabilities equal opportunities to experience mainstream, public life. Modeled after the Civil Rights Act, the law prohibits discrimination in areas such as employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications, and governmental activities.

The Child Safety Protection Act

The Child Safety Protection Act - This act is an amendment of the CPSA to better protect small children from choking hazards through the production of products that will be safe for children to use and warning labels.

The Children's Gasoline Burn Prevention Act (2008)

The Children's Gasoline Burn Prevention Act, which was passed in 2008 and requires portable gasoline containers manufactured for sale in the United States on or after January 17, 2009 to conform to safety requirements for child-resistant packaging.

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA)

The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) requires that Messy Chocolates accumulate information for a child under 13 with verifiable (usually through email) consent from a parent or guardian. Messy has a well-known, kid-friendly website that introduces their chocolates through educational games. The website is run with COPPA in mind in order to maintain children's privacy.

Treble damages for private lawsuits

The Clayton Antitrust Act allows treble damages for private lawsuits where a private party sues a business for violation of antitrust violations that had personal effects, like loss of money. Treble damages are three times the amount a jury specifies.

The Clayton Antitrust Act

The Clayton Antitrust Act made it illegal to engage in price discrimination or make exclusive deals and allows for private lawsuits, labor union organization and regulation of mergers. Clayton Antitrust Act makes it illegal to engage in price discrimination or make exclusive deals and allows for private lawsuits, labor union organization and regulation of mergers. The main goal of both acts is to ensure that consumers are protected from greedy business practices by making it illegal for businesses to compete in unfair ways.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ensures consumers have the information needed to select the best financial services, such as credit cards, student loans, and mortgages. The CFPB works with companies to eliminate fine print add-ons that can confuse and hurt consumer finances. In addition, the CFPB will help consumers who are having difficulty paying their mortgage by putting them in touch with a counselor to help provide financial planning and assistance.

CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission)

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) administers federal safety standards through powers endowed by Congress. Their function is to protect the public from unreasonable risk of injury or death from manufacturers of products. For example, many clothing manufactures have been fined by not following CPSC laws requiring elimination of drawstrings on children's coats. The drawstrings have been shown to become entrapped in small places or car doors leading to injury or other dangers. Most consumers are informed by a recall mailing and can receive a full refund for the product.The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) administers federal safety standards through powers endowed by Congress. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is responsible for protecting individuals from unsafe consumer products. They accomplish this task by evaluating the safety of consumer products, developing standards, and conducting research as it pertains to safety.

Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is a federal agency established to protect the health and safety of consumers in and around their homes. This agency sets safety standards for all consumer products. They can impose large financial fines on companies and even send corporate executives to jail. They're allowed to ban products, and every year they recall over 400 different products due to safety issues. Just this year alone, they recalled products such as baby seats that resulted in skull fractures, dehumidifiers that caught fire, toys that were choking hazards and certain bunk beds that have been known to break apart. Detective Lombardo stressed that trying to evade the safety laws can lead to injured consumers, fines and bad public relations.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is responsible for consumer product safety

Morality

The Differentiation between right and wrong.

The Endangered Species Act

The Endangered Species Act is similar but expands to include protection for any endangered species from being hunted and killed.

EEOC (The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is another federal regulatory commission that oversees Title VII, or the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (fair employment). Its mission is to protect all employees and job applicants from any form of discrimination including race, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy or religion. Businesses need to be educated on how they need to treat their employees in order to cooperate with the EEOC. For instance, a large chain of bakery goods was recently sued by the EEOC for refusing to hire a job applicant due to their religious orientation. The applicant's religion forbids them to work from sundown Friday night until sunset Saturday. The applicant's job offer was revoked when he told his boss that he could not work that time frame. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a federal regulatory commission that oversees Title VIII or the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (fair employment).

General Services Administration

The FDA believes it will provide better results on the drug's ability to work, while the pharmaceutical industry is afraid the added time will hurt their new drug business. All panels are overseen by the GSA, or General Services Administration, who ensures that a fair representation of individuals is added to each panel. :

The Fair Credit Reporting Act

The Fair Credit Reporting Act provides numerous ways for consumers to protect and check on their credit. For example, consumers are now allowed to get one free credit report from each of the three agencies per year. Consumers are also allowed to attain their credit score for a fee and challenge anything on their credit report that is incorrect.

Deontology

defines an act as moral or immoral based upon whether the duty was violated regardless of the consequences flowing from the act.

The Federal Hazardous Substance Act

The Federal Hazardous Substance Act, which requires certain hazardous household products to have warning labels, including children's items. Examples of products regulated under this law include electrically operated toys, cribs, rattles, pacifiers, bicycles and children's bunk beds

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is another federal agency empowered to prevent persons or corporations from using unfair methods of competition in commerce. The agency can investigate unfair company mergers and deceptive advertising. Recently the FTC went after Reebok for advertising that their EasyTone and RunTone shoes actually toned a consumer's body. There was no proof in this claim, and Reebok ended up having to pay $25 million for customer refunds.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was initially created in 1914

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) was initially created in 1914 as an agency that wielded a weapon against antitrust. Eventually, the commission's powers were enlarged to also protect consumers against false advertising and fraud. There are many specific areas that the FTC has targeted in respect to the protection of the public. For example, the most recent areas of concern have been towards businesses advertising to children. The FTC was able to fine a large technology company $19 million for unfairly billing parents for their children's authorized app purchases.

The Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914, the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and the Celler-Kefauver Antimerger Act of 1950

The Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914, the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and the Celler-Kefauver Antimerger Act of 1950 all were passed to regulate the competitive environment. These acts give the federal government more power to approve corporate mergers and maintain the correct competitive business balance.

The Federal Trade Commission, also known as the FTC

The Federal Trade Commission, also known as the FTC, exists to protect consumers from unfair, deceptive, illegal or unethical business practices. It was created through the passage of The Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914. The FTC has five board members that are appointed by the president of the United States. The president names one of the five members chairperson. Let's take a look at how the agency works with a real case company example.

The Financial Services Modernization Act

The Financial Services Modernization Act covers consumers' financial privacy in regards to financial loans. The act specifies exactly what private and non-private information can be shared, forces companies to inform consumers about their policies and also gives consumers the option to opt out and share no information.

FDA (Food and Drug administration)

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) administers federal food purity laws, drug testing and cosmetics safety. Companies need to ensure that their food or drug products are safe to use for all consumers or face fines or criminal charges. The FDA is also responsible for recalls to protect consumers from getting sick, injury or death. A recent recall was over a fruit company whose products were possibly contaminated with Listeria, which is a bacterium that can sicken consumers resulting in death for those with compromised immune systems. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) administers federal food purity laws, drug testing and cosmetics safety. astly, they also are involved in counterterrorism by protecting our food supply and watching for the development of public health threats. For example, the FDA has announced that there is a burgeoning amount of false claims from companies suggesting that they have a product that will cure or safeguard consumers against the Ebola virus. The FDA issued a severe warning to prevent consumers from being scammed and purchasing products which do not work.astly, they also are involved in counterterrorism by protecting our food supply and watching for the development of public health threats. For example, the FDA has announced that there is a burgeoning amount of false claims from companies suggesting that they have a product that will cure or safeguard consumers against the Ebola virus. The FDA issued a severe warning to prevent consumers from being scammed and purchasing products which do not work.

food and Drug administration

The Food and Drug Administration is responsible for the safeguarding of public health by monitoring drugs, medical devices, and cosmetics. The administration also helps improve consumers' health through advancing drug innovation. Lastly, they also protect our food supply. For example, the FDA recently published a list of online pharmacy websites that were selling fake drugs to consumers.

Financial Privacy Rule

The GLBA's financial privacy rule requires companies to give individuals privacy notices and the right to opt-out of some information sharing. You may recall receiving this type of privacy notice from your credit card company or bank. The privacy notices must clearly explain the company's policies on information sharing. The company must tell the individual what type of non-public financial information they collect and explain how they use and share that information. How often you receive a privacy statement depends on your relationship with the company. If you're a customer, then that means you have an on-going relationship with the financial institution. In that case, they must automatically send you an annual privacy notice as long as you remain a customer.

The Golden Rule

The Golden Rule is simple. It asks that you treat people the way you want to be treated. This is a lesson many of us learned in kindergarten. It involves taking the feelings of others into consideration when making decisions that affect them. Respect people in all of your exchanges. Although the concept is simple, applying it to business decisions can be challenging. Not every business decision can be made with the interest of others in mind.

The Lanham Act

The Lanham Act devotes an entire section to unfair competition between businesses. Section 43(a) allows businesses to sue other businesses for a wide-range of false, misleading, confusing, or deceptive statements or practices.

NAFTA North American Free Trade Agreement

The NAFTA, or North American Free Trade Agreement, is the second leader of international trade. NAFTA's purpose is to remove all trade barriers between Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. It has also reduced restrictions on banking and provided uniform protection of intellectual property. A leading women's cosmetics company called Mary Kay is one of the success stories of NAFTA. The ability to eliminate trade barriers and shorter processing times of business orders allowed Mary Kay to compete with Canadian and Mexican cosmetic companies. In addition, the company built a new corporate division in Mexico, leading to many new jobs.

environmental impact statement (EIS)

The National Environmental Policy Act ensures that matters important to the environment are thoroughly considered in any decisions made by federal agencies. With the act came new procedural requirements for all federal agencies, including an environmental impact statement (or EIS), which is a document required for any actions that may significantly impact the environment. An EIS provides an analysis of the environmental impact of a proposed action - such as a proposal to build a coal-burning electric power plant as we discussed earlier. An environmental impact statement may also propose alternative actions to aid in the decision process and ensures that the goals of the National Environmental Policy Act are being followed.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was created by the U.S. Department of Transportation in 1970 to protect consumers by reducing death, injuries, and monetary losses through vehicle accidents. It also plays a huge role in the investigation of defects in motor vehicle design, equipment, and laws. Lastly, the NHTSA provides training to communities to educate drivers about driving drunk. They also educate consumers on safety belts, air bags, and child restraint seats. For example, the NHTSA's latest public announcement to consumers was to educate them regarding a leading car manufacturer having defective air bags installed in their vehicles. The NHTSA posted a recall bulletin to let consumers know that the air bag could explode and propel metal shards into the car cabin, seriously injuring or killing passengers.

The Platform for Privacy Preference Project (P3P)

The Platform for Privacy Preference Project (P3P) is one way that customers can restrict personal information being released on the Internet.

The Poison Prevention Act - (PPPA)

The Poison Prevention Act - The PPPA requires a number of household substances to be packaged in child-resistant packaging. It is why all medicines have a child safety top that even some adults find difficult to open.

Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP for short.

The SEC charged the FASB with creating the guidelines for financial reporting that all accounting professionals must follow in order to produce accurate and reliable financial statements. These guidelines are called the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or GAAP for short.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act , also known as SOX, is a federal law that protects investors from fraudulent accounting practices. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, also known as SOX, is a federal law that protects investors from fraudulent accounting activities. It was enacted in 2002, following several high-profile corporate scandals that cost investors billions of dollars. One of the scandals that best exemplifies the purpose of enacting SOX is the Enron case. This case involved a scheme of fraudulent financial reporting that was carried out by the firm Arthur Andersen, which was employed by Enron, and Enron corporate executives. There are three main purposes for the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. First, SOX made sure that corporate executives were aware of what appeared on company financial statements. No longer can they plead ignorance if these reports are found to be falsified. A second purpose of the act is to ensure that audit reports are included in the financial statements of a company. An audit report is a report prepared by an auditor that validates the reliability of a company's financial statements. An auditor is a professional whose job it is to examine the financial records of a company and prepare the audit report. A third important purpose of SOX is to make sure that publicly traded companies have internal controls in place. Though this act cannot ensure that all accounting firms and all companies will be truthful in their reporting practices, it does make sure that there are repercussions for fraudulent behavior.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed to establish new standards for corporate accountability. In addition, new penalties were also created in case companies were unethical in their corporate financial disclosures. The biggest change was that the new law allowed the SEC to ensure that companies were utilizing internal controls and audits to ensure the validity of their financial records. Previously, companies were using accounting firms to conduct their financial statements and also act as their auditors, which created an atmosphere ripe for bad financial decisions. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act ensures that independent verification is conducted, so CEOs and COOs must be aware of their own financial health. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed to broaden the powers of the SEC and establish new standards for corporate accountability

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is another federal regulatory agency that was established by Congress to protect consumers. The purpose of the SEC is to regulate the securities markets and provide full public disclosure of financial information to protect investors against fraudulent and manipulative practices in the securities markets. For example, the SEC will take legal action against companies, such as credit card companies or banks that credit a consumer's account with payments that the consumer submitted on time and then charge late fees to the consumer.

SEC (Securities and Exchange commission)

The Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) mission is to protect stockholders' rights and ensure ethical activities by corporations. The Securities and Exchange Commission was formed in 1934 as a result of the stock market crash and the need to protect investors' interests. You can view the SEC as a government superhero agency out to protect against corporate financial evil. Let's take a look at two areas stockholders are specifically concerned about: fraudulent accounting and insider trading. Both of these unethical practices can hurt stockholders' investments.

The Uniform Trade Secrets Act

The Uniform Trade Secrets Act is a model act regarding trade secrets and adopted as law in 47 states. This act says that the law protects a trade secret only when the owner has made efforts that are reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy. For most business owners, this means taking measures, such as: Stamping documents CONFIDENTIAL Password protecting certain files Limiting physical access to certain areas Using confidentiality, or non-disclosure, agreements

Ethics

The answer is that it is, usually, your ethics. Ethics refers to the moral principles or values that generally govern the conduct of an individual or a group. They can also be viewed as a standard of behavior. The gray area of ethics occurs when one person's standard is not the same as someone else's. Society's ethical standards are for people to follow the rules and not cut in line. In business, ethics are very important, as companies must follow the unwritten rules to protect employee rights, the environment, and their customers.

NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act)

The cornerstone of environmental law is the National Environmental Policy Act (or NEPA). This is the U.S. environmental law that established a nation-wide policy promoting the protection of the environment. This act of 1969 was formed to encourage a harmonious relationship between the nation's citizens and their natural surroundings with the goal of preventing destruction of the environment.

Common Market

The creation of a common market has a goal of free movement of labor, capital, services and persons. Now, not just products, but people, money and services can move between the member countries freely.

Fiduciary

The directors aren't agents of the shareholders, but they do owe the shareholders a fiduciary duty. This means that the directors are required to act in the best interests of the shareholders. As the managers, directors serve as the major decision makers for the company. They work as a committee and decide such key things as what executives will be hired or fired and when corporate dividends will be issued. Unlike shareholders, directors can be held individually liable for corporate activities for which they had some responsibility.

ozone

The earth depends upon ozone, which is a layer of gas that is located in the stratosphere and protects us all from the sun's rays.

sustainable development

The earth is being attacked on a daily basis, not by alien beings, but by threats from global business. We will examine businesses' major threats to the earth's ecosystem. Some businesses are not supporting sustainable development, where natural resources are used at an amount that can be extended over an infinite period.

Ethical Climate

The ethical climate of an organization is determined by the content and strength of the organization's culture

Regulatory Agencies

The federal government has set up safeguards to help protect all consumers. Companies have numerous federal regulatory agencies that oversee their operations to ensure ethical, safe and professional business practices. A regulatory agency is a governmental body that is formed by a legislature to oversee and enforce laws.

Consumer Product safety act 1972 (CPSC)

The federal government has the most far-reaching legislation that protects consumers. In 1972, Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Act, which gave the Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC, powers to protect individuals from unsafe consumer products. They accomplish this task through evaluating the safety of consumer products, developing standards and conducting research as it pertains to safety. For example, the CPSC recently issued a recall on children's swings due to problems with faulty suspension fittings that could cause the child to fall.

Goals

The first element focuses on goals, or what the restaurant wants the end result to be. In regards to the before mentioned layoff, Georgia Baked Chicken wanted the end result to remain profitable and attractive to investors.

social responsibility categories

The first element of the corporate social performance model is the social responsibility categories, which include economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic areas. Companies must examine whether they have been successful in each specific area starting at the bottom of the pyramid: economic. A company needs to be profitable before they can continue to be legal, ethical, and philanthropic. Microsoft has successfully made a profit (economic), follows all legal constraints, operates ethically, and donates to many charities (philanthropic).

Sense of Identity

The first function that organizational culture performs is providing group members with a sense of identity. The culture of an organization provides its members with a way to 'define who we are.' Because the culture of every organization is unique, being a part of an organization gives members a sense of identity that is shared only by the people who belong to that organization.

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade GATT

The first leader, GATT, or General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, has the objective to reduce tariffs among all member nations. This trade agreement allows for the creation of the MFN (Most Favored Nation) designation, which permits the designated country to export goods with very low tariffs and other beneficial terms.

preconventional morality

The first level of ethical development is called preconventional morality. This level of ethics is most childlike. The best example would be to think of how a toddler acts during a day. They're very self-centered and only driven by rewards or punishment, such as a lollipop or a time out. Most business people have already moved beyond this level of ethical development...well, hopefully.

Safeguards Rule

The second section is the safeguards rule. This rule basically requires financial institutions to develop and implement an information security plan. The plan must include both physical and technical safeguards for consumer information. The rule is purposely designed to be flexible, so that each company can execute a security plan that's appropriate for the size and nature of the particular business. Keep in mind, however, that the Federal Trade Commission commonly brings enforcement actions against financial institutions that fail to provide reasonable security measures.

Market Capitalism

The first model is called market capitalism and is found in democratic societies. The definition is based on an economy that is focused on supply and demand, where the prices of goods and services are set through an open free market system. For example, N&N would love to sell their chocolate bars for $20.00 each. Unfortunately, society's demand for chocolates is high, and consumers are not willing to pay such a high price, especially since society can eat many other options to fulfill their food objective. They could order two pizzas for $20.00 instead or purchase a competitor's chocolate bar for only $1.00. In market capitalism, the objectives for businesses are determined by society's demand, as well as government's added costs, such as taxes.

Care vs Harm

The first principle or foundation of morality is that of care versus harm. This is the natural born belief that as humans we should value and care for others. We should seek the good of others. Whether living in Asia or America, most humans inherently believe it is wrong to capriciously dole out harm. As a mom would say to her toddler, we all just seem to know that we should 'be nice.' Those who don't follow this age old little rebuke are stepping outside the moral parameters of society.

Non-compliance

The first stage is non-compliance, and at this point, companies, like Makeup Work, do not care about sustainability and, in fact, cut corners in the name of profits. For example, Makeup Work used subpar ingredients in the manufacturing of their makeup, which resulted in the byproduct damaging the local environment. Companies at this stage blatantly disregard any type of protective and safety regulation that cause their actions to be illegal. Makeup Work, like most companies, did not linger very long at this first stage as the potential for fines, legal battles, and public outcry was imminent.

Disclaimers

The first type of legal communication that Georgia Baked Chicken needs to establish is concerning disclaimers, or written documents that will protect the restaurant chain from potentially harmful litigation in the event of misuse or misunderstanding by customers. For example, Georgia Baked Chicken sells hot apple cider that is famously popular. Each hot apple cider cup has a disclaimer that warns that the cider could burn, and it says 'Caution, Contents Might Be Very Hot.' This is to protect the company from people suing if any cider spills.

Fiscal Policy

The first type of policy is fiscal policy and deals with taxation and spending decisions that are used to help the economy. A government's taxation policy can drastically affect Neon Garb's business strategies. For example, in a few global nations such as Belgium and Finland, taxes are high, which can impact Neon Garb's overall profits. However, the higher taxes for countries, such as Finland, create superior services such as health care for their society.

Diversity

The goal of diversity in business is to have people of varying backgrounds, education, sex, creed and age all working in the same organization. This allows an organization to have an employee base of very different people that can bring different ideas and thoughts to the table. For example, let us say you had a company, and your employees were going to be painting pictures. If everyone in your company painted with the color gray, there would be boring paintings that all looked similar. However, if some painted with gray, yet others painted with red, blue, yellow and green, the pictures would be more interesting and different. That diversity allows your company to not just look at things one way or from one viewpoint but from many viewpoints.

Integrated strategy

The integrated strategy stage has finally found Makeup Work with a committed ecologically sustainable business model that is integrated into all key business strategies. Makeup Work can claim that they are a fully sustainable company through the use of biocatalytic production of their cosmetics.

Outcomes

The last element of ethical framework is outcomes, which is the consequence of the decision. In order to remain ethical, companies need to consider the amount of harm that a decision could cause to someone. Companies need to work hard to minimize damage or harmful actions to their stakeholders and overall community.

Rules and Standards

The last function that organizational culture provides to members of an organization is a set of unwritten rules and standards that define the rules of the game to its members. Culture acts as a social glue that helps to hold the organization together by providing appropriate rules and standards that guide group members while they complete tasks for the organization. These rules and standards also function as a control mechanism that rewards acceptable behavior and punishes unacceptable behavior by group members.

Postconventional Morality

The last level is called postconventional morality and revolves around the idea that people are more concerned about how they view themselves and not what others may think. Internal pressure to behave correctly and follow a moral path is the central theme. A marketing manager who has reached a level of postconventional morality would not just consider the legal ramifications of a decision, but also how it could possibly hurt the environment or, potentially, the customer.

WTO World Trade Organization

The last of the three leaders is WTO, or World Trade Organization, which has absorbed GATT since its inception. The WTO tries to reduce trade barriers and governs trade agreements in areas such as agriculture and intellectual property. Each member nation of the WTO has to designate other member nations with the MFN status, leading to better trade. The WTO is unique in that it mediates disputes between nations. Every nation in the WTO is regarded with equal rights, so even smaller developing nations can challenge larger ones. Not all countries want to cooperate with the WTO and regard their work as bullying. For example, the WTO can force companies to pay employees better wages. In addition, some decisions by the WTO can undermine a country's national law for the sake of trade. For example, the U.S. tried to ban the catching of shrimp through the use of equipment that were harming endangered sea turtles. The WTO ruled that banning illegal and the U.S. could not proceed with their ruling.

Compliance

The second stage of sustainability is compliance, where a company, like Makeup Work, starts to embrace all safety, health and environmental regulation. Although the company is not endorsing sustainability yet, they are at least obliging the bare minimum legally to avoid negative responses from society and government. When Makeup Work was in the second stage, they treated society as their dumpsite for manufacturing waste. In addition, they had no issues destroying natural resources for profit.

Social Services Policies

The last set of policies that aid in government-business relations are social services policies. Social services policies consist of health care, education, and housing policies that improve living conditions of their citizens. Countries such as the U.S. have many levels of social services that serve their people, such as Medicare, senior citizen centers, and daycares. Developing countries need financial investment and corporate assistance in creating social services to help improve their citizen's living conditions. Businesses can play an important partner in helping developing countries obtain their goals. For instance, Neon Garb has built local medical clinics in heavily populated areas to help Indian society and show stakeholders how much the company values their citizens.

Passion and purpose

The last step of a company becoming a sustainable organization is called passion and purpose. Not all companies move from step four into step five. In fact, there is much similarity between the two steps. The only difference is that companies, such as Makeup Work, who exist with passion and purpose, are motivated to continue to conduct business the right way. The last step encompasses companies who want to do better because they have a passion to make the world a better place, not just because of profit, marketing, or basic environmental concerns.

Legal Environment

The legal environment is the court systems and laws that are present in a foreign country.

Market

The market would consist of Fun Town's actual business profits and sales. For example, Fun Town's park workers went on strike to request higher pay and better benefits. Fun Town not responding to employees' needs resulted in the water park closing for over two weeks in the summer, severely disappointing customers and hurting investors who had to watch the profits fall.

Boundary Spanning departments

The most efficient way for corporations to interact with each different stakeholder group is to establish boundary-spanning departments, which are offices within an organization that interact across boundaries that divide the company between different stakeholders. Gas Free Baby Foods has followed this organizational method so that the company has one separate internal department that communicates directly with each group of stakeholders. Let's take a look at each of Gas Free Baby Food's boundary-spanning departments and their corresponding stakeholder groups to see the benefits of their interactions.

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1994)

The new General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT 1994) is a part of the World Trade Organization regime and governs trade in goods.

Fairness vs Cheating

The next principle is fairness versus cheating. Again, pretty simple, we all know we're supposed to be fair and just. Cheating is bad; being fair is good. From kids cheating on tests to adults cheating on taxes, we all just inherently seem to recognize it's a no-no! Of course, this idea of fairness versus cheating does have some situational variations. For instance, a little boy cheating during a pee-wee football game doesn't carry the same stigma as a professional football player throwing a game.

Central State Control

The next type of economic system that Pear Products tries to avoid is formed around a central state control, where power is controlled by government and politicians. In addition, the government would actually own Pear Products' property and factories that are used to make their products.

Shareholders

The owners of an incorporated business are known as shareholders. The corporation must be operated in a manner that best benefits its shareholders. A shareholder can be a person, company or other entity. It's any entity that owns at least one share of a company's stock. Although shareholders don't play an active role in the everyday business operations, they do have certain rights and duties that will be defined in the company's bylaws. Generally, shareholders have the right to: Attend the corporation's annual meeting Inspect the corporation's books and records Vote on the appointment of directors and other corporate matters Sue the corporation for wrongs committed by directors or officers Approve the sale of company assets Share in the proceeds if the company liquidates Agree to merger or consolidation deals Receive a portion of any dividends issued by the company Since the corporation is an independent entity from the shareholders, the corporation is held legally liable for its own business debts, taxes and liabilities. The shareholders typically don't bear these burdens as individuals. As owners of the business, shareholders do well if the company does well. Conversely, shareholders lose money when the company loses money. For example, let's say that Damon buys three shares of stock in his favorite company, Doughy's Donuts. That makes Damon a shareholder in Doughy's Donuts. Damon is now invited to attend the annual meetings, can vote on the board of directors and enjoys several other shareholder rights. How do corporations organize internally to respond to and interact with stakeholders? A stakeholder is any person or group associated with the organization that has a stake in the organization's output. Corporations face a massive challenge in trying to organize, communicate and respond to all of their different stakeholders. Gas Free Baby Foods is a prime example of a multinational corporation that has established a program that allows it to communicate to each of the following stakeholder groups: government, stockholders, customers, community, general public, media, environment and employees. In this lesson, you will learn through the example of Gas Free Baby Foods how modern corporations organize internally to interact with various stakeholders.

Political Environment

The political environment consists of the government and its actions.

Black Carbon

The problem can be blamed on a few different reasons. The first way global warming occurs is through the oxidizing of oil and gas as a byproduct of corporations. In addition, diesel engines and wildfire release black carbon into the atmosphere, which results in black smoke. Scientists predict that if emissions from corporations continue on their current path, the earth's temperature could increase by 6.4 degrees Celsius by 2100.

Means

The second key element is means or how someone chooses to communicate. Georgia Baked Chicken wanted to communicate honestly and with transparency. They held open meetings to address the financial issues and discuss the implications of the layoffs. No employee was taken by surprise by the end result.

The shareholdermodel

The shareholder model supports the belief that the only social responsibility a company has is to maximize profits. Phojack is the preeminent maker of photography film. Their focus is to increase profits, which will result in an increase in stock price to satisfy shareholders.

stakeholder model

The stakeholder model is the second model that companies can adopt as a way to ethically balance owner, stockholder and stakeholder interest. Film Booth subscribes to this model, which is focused on the company's long-term survival and profitability. It is not just based on maximizing shareholder's profits. Various stakeholders' interests are considered a priority, unlike the shareholder model.

Strategic Advisor

The strategic advisor is the last role of the public affairs department. In this role, Lavish's department offers advice via policy discussions regarding issue advocacy. The department will educate managers about numerous issues that could affect Lavish's business, from labor issues and zoning regulations to health care. They also engage legislators in creating regulations that ultimately will benefit the company. This role is similar to a lobbyist. Just recently, the department explained how the new government health care would affect their organization. In addition, in this role, the department is able to help Lavish promote and implement their own corporate policies, such as eliminating reimbursed costs for daycare and gym memberships to employees worldwide in order to cut costs and avoid layoffs. In this role, Lavish's department offers advice via policy discussions regarding issue advocacy.

Techical

The technical aspect of managing internationally has a unique twist that you might not be aware of. Here we're talking about technology that is present in a market. To help you understand this, let us use China as an example. In China, the government regulates and censors the Internet; thus, they control information. This technology (the Internet) has developed into something every company relies on, but in China, this technology is not freely available.

Pretexting Provisions

The third section contains the pretexting provisions. Unlike the other two sections, these provisions don't apply to financial institutions. The provisions basically prohibit individuals and companies from obtaining customer information from financial institutions under false pretenses. This means the individual or company intentionally misrepresents a fact in order to gain access to the financial information. For example, the Federal Trade Commission has brought enforcement actions against information brokers for engaging in pretexting.

Puffery

The use of puffery, or exaggerated claims, is the last ambiguous abuse of advertising that businesses employ. Examples of puffery are when advertisers use the words 'best, most, greatest' to communicate to consumers some sort of fact, even when there is no proof that the products have those traits. For example, the company Hot Beans often claims they have the best coffee, but according to whom or what study?

False Claims Act

There are many other laws in place to protect people who engage in whistleblowing. These are often referred to as a patchwork because they vary from state to state and even by industry. The most famous is the False Claims Act, which was enacted in 1863, but is still often used. This law permits a private individual to initiate a lawsuit against a business for committing fraud against the federal government. It can be a past or present fraud. The False Claims Act allows a whistleblower to collect a percentage of any money awarded due to his or her whistleblowing and protects the whistleblower from wrongful dismissal. These lawsuits are also historically known as qui tam lawsuits, which is a Latin-derived legal term that means 'on behalf of myself and of the king.' In a qui tam lawsuit, the whistleblower acts as a secret government informant. These informants sometimes have enormous economic incentives, such as in the 2009 Pfizer Pharmaceutical case. The company was sanctioned over $2 billion. More than $1 billion of that constituted criminal penalties for taking kickbacks and illegally labeling products.

Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, or TRIPS

There are only a few standard conditions that must be met in order for information to be considered a trade secret. These requirements come from the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, or TRIPS. This is an agreement, administered by the World Trade Organization, which sets internationally applicable minimum standards for many different forms of intellectual property regulation. For trade secrets, TRIPS simply requires that: The information is a secret. This means that the information isn't generally known to, or accessible to, people that normally deal with this kind of information. The information has commercial value because it's a secret. In other words, if the information was made public, its value would decrease. The owner of the secret has taken reasonable steps to protect the secret. This simply means that the rightful holder of the information has tried to keep the information confidential. Notice that trade secret information is meant to be confidential forever. This is different than patent information. Once a patent application is filed, it becomes a government document and a matter of public record.

Employee Internet Management software

There is a category of tools called Employee Internet Management (EIM) software

Stakeholder theory

This theory's central focus is that social responsibility is really giving attention to every stakeholder in the entire company whether it be the employees, customers, owners, suppliers, management or the community. The following is how each stakeholder would view social responsibility from their company. It is a more widespread approach and far reaching. Employees want to have a good, secure job and excellent wages, while management wants happy workers and profits. Customers expect excellent customer service and high quality products while the community wants a corporation to pay their taxes, offer their citizens good wages, and help support the environment by not polluting. Suppliers want their business to remain plentiful, and owners, of course, want a financial return or an excellent profit.

Global Crises

There's one other telling factor that points to the emergence of a global society that deserves mentioning: global crises. World War I and World War II were major international conflicts, but they were understood mostly in terms of how they impacted individual nations. That's quickly changing. With the world being so interconnected, it's difficult for us to separate anything from its relationship to our global commercial, political, and social networks. If the economy of one nation crashes, that impacts the global market. Environmental issues are understood in terms of their impact on the entire planet. Even terrorism, being largely perpetrated by those not attached to any single state, is being seen more and more seen as a threat to global security and not just to the well-being of specific nations. So, conflict also points out the gradual rise of a global society, because these crises are giving us all causes over which to unite. Working together, talking about issues, and even the simple act of worrying as a single community all help turn international issues into issues for a single, global society.

Natural Rights

These are rights given to us at birth that are universal and based on principles like expression, thought, beliefs, customs and even privacy. Some people believe that these rights are granted by a higher power, while others believe that these rights are simply an innate part of being a human.

Legal Rights

These are rights that are man-made and are a set of laws that people in a specific society must follow.

philanthropic purposes

These purposes could range from donating to local causes to holding gala events for high-profile charities.

Stakeholder

Think of a stakeholder as a person or group that can affect or be affected by an organization. Stakeholders can come from inside or outside of the business. Examples include customers, employees, stockholders, suppliers, non-profit groups, government, and the local community, among many others. Stakeholders Businesses do not function in a black hole where they are not responsible to anyone else but themselves. In fact, organizations have numerous individuals and groups that they must cater to in order to be a productive part of society. The question is, exactly who are they responsible to? The answer is, they are responsible to every stakeholder. In this lesson, you will learn the definition of a stakeholder and how they are impacted by business decisions. A stakeholder is any person or group associated with the organization that has a stake in the organization's output. Examples of stakeholders include society, customers, investors, government and employees. Most companies have found that employees, customers and shareholders are the three most important stakeholders to an organization. An organization's performance has a direct impact on the stakeholders. Many companies have adopted a belief to act ethically and be responsible to all of their different stakeholders. The problem is that each type of decision influences stakeholders differently. Let's take a look at the top ways that a company's decisions can impact stakeholders via our company example of Life Drugs, who is a local medicine manufacturer. Life Drugs had to pay a large fine due to company negligence regarding the heart drug. Unfortunately, the company also decided to move their headquarters from New Jersey to Georgia and layoff over 25% of their workforce. This business decision had a positive impact for investors as the stock price increased, but a negative impact on the employees as many lost their jobs. The decision also caused many employees to rethink their job commitment and loyalty to the company. This is an example to illustrate that not all decisions impact stakeholders the same way. There is a constant struggle to balance the needs and satisfaction of all of the different stakeholders.

Free marketing

This all amounts to an incredible amount of work for companies, but there are some pretty substantial payoffs. Most notably, a company that meets its global obligations is likely to receive very favorable coverage in the media. That is free marketing. Additionally, armed with that information, customers are likely to pay a bit of a premium for products made by globally responsible companies. That not only helps to offset the cost of providing such responsibilities, but also helps to add profits to the firm's bottom line. All of that means a healthier business and a healthier planet.

Prestige Pricing

This allows the company to offer prestige pricing, or high pricing, for entrance to their park due to their reputation, customer service and high quality.

Corporate Social Responsibility

This brings us to corporate social responsibility, and it means a corporation's responsibility to be aware of the environment and society when making decisions. Think accountability, integrity and honesty. Back in 1968, the Ford Motor Company quickly designed and manufactured the Ford Pinto to compete with the newly emerging Japanese subcompact cars that were taking over United States highways. In their haste, an unnoticed problem with the fuel tank was looming that would eventually lead to 180 deaths, numerous serious burn injuries and thousands of burned cars.

Cause-related marketing

This is called cause-related marketing, and its growth has exploded during the last ten years. A more official definition of cause-related marketing is that it is the team marketing efforts of a for-profit and a non-profit business. The trend has increased due to many reasons. The biggest is that the recession has made consumers more conservative with their money. If a product purchase results in helping those less fortunate, there is a positive psychological benefit to the consumer...or maybe even some guilt for not doing it.

Deceptive Advertising

This is deceptive advertising and unfair competition because Wilma is using an inaccurate advertisement to make a false statement about quality or price in comparison to another's product. Deceptive advertising can be accomplished in many other ways, too, such as through bait and switch schemes. This is when a business advertises a low cost item to bait a customer into a store, and then switches the item for something higher priced. This scheme is illegal if the business refuses to show the low cost item to the customer, doesn't have enough of the low cost item on hand or try to make appropriate concessions, or if the business discourages salespeople from selling the low cost item.

Competitive Analysis Research

This is when research is completed to discover exactly who the competitors are in the market and their strengths and weaknesses.

Class action lawsuits

This last right allows consumers to ask for financial compensation or other benefits for product error. For example, numerous companies have faced class action lawsuits because of wrongdoing regarding their product or service. This type of lawsuit is usually filed by a law firm on behalf of a large group of consumers.

ethical relativism

This means what is morally right or wrong depends on the norms in one's culture. This means that there is no one universal moral code by which all people live.

ecocentric (nature-centered)

Those that see the intrinsic value of non-human things regardless of their usefulness to man are said to have an ecocentric ethical view. This term is also easy to recall if you remember that the prefix 'eco' refers to nature. Combined with 'centered,' which we get from the suffix of this word, we see that the term 'ecocentric' literally means 'nature-centered.' A person with an ecocentric viewpoint would be more likely to see elements of nature such as trees, animals, and plants as having value in-and-of themselves simply because they are part of an ecological community. Therefore, these resources should not be consumed or destroyed without regarding their value within nature. With viewpoints as widely separated as these, we see that debates over how the environment is to be cared for will continue, and even though the field of environmental ethics is young, it is here to stay.

patent infringement

To do so is patent infringement. Patent infringement is a federal, civil cause of action alleging that one person used another person's patented item without the patent owner's permission. In other words, I can sue Wilma, or Wash and Woof, if they use my items.

Financial Accounting Standards Board

To ensure that this occurred, the SEC created yet another organization to focus strictly on the accounting industry. This organization is called the Financial Accounting Standards Board, which is also known as the FASB.

Sociocultural

To understand how managers have to deal with sociocultural issues, we have to understand what 'sociocultural' means. It is defined as 'the blending of social and cultural aspects in a country.'

Trademark Infringement

Trademark infringement is using a trademark without authorization from the owner or licensee, thereby causing a violation of trademark rights. I never gave Wilma permission to use my logo. Since Wilma used to work for me, I know she copied my logo on purpose.

Transportation

Transportation: As one would expect, this is the charge for transporting the item from one country to another. If a company needs the product quickly, they will ship it by airplane. If not, they will ship it by ocean. Ocean takes longer, but it's much less expensive.

Article II of the US Constitution

Treaties are also addressed in other portions of the U.S. Constitution. Article II authorizes our president to make treaties with other countries. The president uses treaties in order to conduct foreign business and policy, such as through peace or trade agreements. Note, though, that our president isn't authorized to act alone. Many officials are involved in the treaty-making process. First, officials with the Department of State must negotiate the treaty with the other government. Next, the draft treaty is sent to the U.S. Senate for a process called 'advice and consent.' The Senate must consider the draft treaty and approve the treaty by a two-thirds vote. The president must then execute, or sign, the treaty. The treaty isn't officially ratified, or enforceable, until all parties to the treaty have signed. There are a couple of different types of treaties. Let's take a look at the two main types of treaties.

Bilateral Treaties

Treaties made between two independent governments are called bilateral treaties. For example, the Louisiana Purchase is a well-known bilateral treaty. President Thomas Jefferson executed the agreement on behalf of the U.S. in 1803. The treaty secured the purchase of Louisiana from France. Bilateral treaties are usually made between two nations but can also be made between one nation and a bloc of nations. For example, China has a current trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN. ASEAN is a bloc consisting of 10 separate Southeast Asian countries.

Trust

Trust: Global market participants must have confidence that everyone will follow the same rules of the marketplace, and the rules will be uniformly enforced. For example, buyers and sellers need to feel confident that contracts will be honored by all parties and will be enforced by the legal system if there is a breach. Market participants will also often have to rely on third-parties to provided credible information on parties to market transactions.

Uncertainty Avoidance

Uncertainty Avoidance: This dimension expresses the degree to which the member of a society feels uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity.

Unethical behavior

Unethical behavior is any activity by an organization member that does not conform to the standards set by the culture of their organization

workplace deviance

Unethical behavior, or workplace deviance, will be punished through probation, demotions, and loss of certain privileges, such as extra vacation days, etc.

Unfair Competition

Unfair competition refers to several different types of intentional torts that cause economic injury to another person's business. The torts are many various forms of deceptive or wrongful business practices that will allow a civil cause of action and damages for the plaintiff if the plaintiff is successful. Some forms of unfair competition can also be accomplished through a crime, like stealing a client list. These torts are sometimes broken into two broad categories: The term 'unfair competition' can refer only to those torts involving an attempt to pass off goods or services as if they belonged to another business. The term 'unfair trade practices' can be used to refer to all other torts falling under unfair competition.

United States v. Dion

United States v. Dion, Dwight Dion, a member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe in South Dakota was charged with hunting, killing and selling parts of bald eagles and whole bald eagle carcasses. On face value, it seems appropriate to convict Dion for violating the act against hunting an endangered species. What complicates this case is Dion's heritage as an American Indian. You see, when American Indians gave up their land, the Unites States signed a treaty, or a formal agreement, allowing unrestricted hunting and fishing rights within the perimeters of their reservations for food and religious purposes. In fact, the lower court ruling was in favor of Dion based on the treaty, which expressly allowed hunting rights. Dissatisfied with the lower court decision, the case went to appeal. This court decided by a unanimous vote that Dion did commit a crime under the Endangered Species Act rather than the Bald and Golden Eagle Act. This act did not contain language that expressly permitted native Indians to hunt or kill endangered species. This case taught us how government takes measures to protect the environment through legislation.

grassroots constituency lobbying

Utilize grassroots constituency lobbying, or a form of communicating with the public about important legislation and providing an argument for or against it: Crazi Toys encouraged stakeholders to contact local and state government to allow the factory to be built. This form of influence is dependent upon the everyday citizen to make their opinion heard by government and is a very successful way to build a coalition, mainly due to the ease of reaching the masses through social media.

Value System

Value System: A value system includes the culture and norms of the organization. In other words, it's the regulatory framework of an organization and every employee has to act within the limits of this framework. The value system can be changed or replaced at any moment based on the direction of upper management.

Values

Values are an individual's judgment or standard of behavior. They are another individual factor that affects ethical behavior. To some people, acting in an improper way is just a part of doing business. Would you feel that it is ethical to make up lies about your competitor just to win a contract? Some people's standard of behavior will feel that lying for a business financial win is not unethical.

Greenhouse Effect

What causes this situation is when the amount of carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere and traps solar radiation, which then increases the atmosphere's temperature. This is called the greenhouse effect. The increase of pollution in the atmosphere not only leads to the changing in the global climate, but it also leads to some other serious problems.

organizational citizenship

What we are talking about when we look at a business from a perspective of a company being a city and wanting employees to feel closely associated with the city is organizational citizenship, or a perspective that employees have whereby they extend their behaviors beyond the normal duties of their position. The sheer scope of organizational citizenship is far-reaching, and in a very good way. The employee who believes in (or we say 'practices') good organizational citizenship is one who has an eye out for the company's best interest at all times. That can take many different forms, such as:

Moral truth

When a moral statement accurately corresponds to reality, it is called a moral truth.

Vulnerable populations

When companies purposely target vulnerable populations, they are participating in unethical target marketing. These types of populations or target markets consist of consumers that have psychological problems or lack maturity and intelligence to make informed purchases. Examples of this type of target market include the elderly, children, and poorly educated consumers. Target marketing strategies that are considered unethical would include lying, deception, manipulation, and threats. Sadly, these unethical ways of marketing are used against vulnerable populations. Let's look at some specific examples.

Being a company representative

When some employees leave for the day, the company they represent stays behind them in the office. An organizational citizen represents their company 24/7 and has no problem talking to others about how their company might help them. Think about standing in line with someone - you tell them about your company or job, and they begin to tell you how their company can help you. They are not on the clock, but they take the company with them wherever they go.

Global Mindset

a global mindset. That is to say, they need to see business in a global perspective and not just how Americans see it. Chances are that global company is working with many international vendors and customers, and a successful manager will need to think globally when it comes to all issues. They could be working with shipping issues from China, investment issues from Germany, and labor issues in India. Being able to see the entire global picture is critical for success in this position. It is very different than wondering if the truck from Phoenix got where it was going.

Corporate Citizenship

Why should a business respond to community issues? The answer is that community members can be valuable stakeholders. There are many instances of communities dying from real estate crashes or drug problems, which can make businesses suffer as well. In addition, there are others reasons for companies to care about their community, such as corporate citizenship, which is when a business shows commitment to ethical behavior by balancing stakeholders' needs and protecting the environment. An example would be Microsoft's Youth Spark program that has set out to create over 300 million jobs for young people across the world. Another reason for community involvement is that it creates goodwill and acceptance. This can result in support for coalitions or grassroots efforts, if needed, to fight activists or regulations that could impact business. Community relations departments of most corporations cover areas such as healthcare, the environment, education, etc. This can be accomplished through corporate citizenship, which is when a business shows commitment to ethical behavior by balancing stakeholders' needs and protecting the environment.

advisory panel

Why would a seasoned executive or business CEO serve on an advisory panel? Do they receive a free jet? The answer is, of course, no. They do receive many other non-material benefits by providing their services through an advisory panel, or a group of business people who offer opinions, insights, and suggestions to Congress regarding regulation considerations. Usually the panel is formed with each individual coming to the table with specialized talents, such as a marketing, accounting, financial, and operations, based on an industry.

Working for the Future

Working for the future: So many employees look at what they are going to get right now and do not look far into the future. Those who practice organizational citizenship believe there will be rewards down the road and do not focus on the short-term; rather, they focus on the long-term. This viewpoint also makes them long-term employees, which are desirable to any company.

Workplace Privacy

Workplace privacy is simply the right to privacy afforded to employees under the law at the workplace or while engaging in work activities.

World Trade Organization (WTO)

World Trade Organization (WTO), she will have to abide by the rules and regulations governing trade set forth under it. The World Trade Organization is an international organization that is involved in regulation of international trade. It helps administer international trade agreements and encourages international trade.

South Carolinas Colonial Assembly

Would you believe that way back in 1671, South Carolina's Colonial Assembly passed a law that stated, 'Should any person cause to flow into or be cast into any of the creeks, streams or inland waters of this State any impurities that are poisonous to fish or destructive to their spawn, such person shall, upon conviction, be punished.'

non-regulatory

You would assume correctly that the government wields a strong regulatory fist over business in the U.S. What might surprise you is that government influences business through non-regulatory ways that do not include government regulations. In this lesson, you will learn how the technology company, Pear Products, is affected by government non-regulatory means through a case study.

Caring

a caring ethical environment. Their CEO is concerned about employees' well-being and offers support in career development and other opportunities. This second type of ethical climate is based on excellent leadership, fairness, and goodness. Employees can thrive in this ethical type of environment as there is usually excellent communication between subordinates and superiors. One negative to a caring climate is that rules can be overlooked to help out employees or friends.

chief information officer (CIO)

a chief information officer (CIO) to handle the managing of security and privacy technology factors.

Hostile Work environment

a hostile work environment, as it relates to sexual harassment, happens when an individual must deal with advances, sexual comments or any type of offensive gender-related language that is beyond what could be defined as reasonable. Two words that we must remember when we talk about hostile work environments is the harassment must be serious or pervasive.

Bhopal Disaster

a leak caused a large cloud of poison gas and other chemicals to descend over Bhopal, a town in India, killing thousands. The company is Union Carbide. Tens of thousands more were disabled as a result. Even today, the company is heavily protested in India. As negligence was found to be the reason of the spill, the company's reputation was destroyed.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

a policy of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Corporate social responsibility is the idea that a business has duties and obligations beyond making profits for shareholders and includes responsibilities to other stakeholders, including society at large. Not all agree that a business has social responsibilities. Other people believe a business is in business to make money and nothing else. Bridget doesn't take this view and expects her company to operate in a socially responsible manner.

Trade protectionism

a policy of trade protectionism, which is a policy aimed at restricting imports of foreign goods into a country.

Strict Liability standard

a strict liability standard. This means that a manufacturer will be held liable if the manufacturer's defective product causes injury, regardless of fault. This wasn't the law in 1944, but it is today in many jurisdictions.

Ethics training program

an ethics training program. This program consists of the training of ethical policies as a foundation and then fosters a supportive environment through a few different ways. The first part of the training program is to ensure that every single employee is educated on the ethics policy and procedures. In addition, upper management should always act as role models by adopting ethical behavior. Crazi Toys rewards ethical behavior in its employees by linking good behavior to the job review and incentive program. The company also has a written report that details punishments for unethical behavior. Lastly, the company uses role play to analyze case studies to determine if employees can identify and respond correctly to ethical situations.

cost vs. benefit

approach to ethical decisions, when a company weighs the pros and cons of possible outcomes for a decision, is utilitarian in nature. Businesses often apply a cost vs. benefit analysis to determine what is ethical from a utilitarian standpoint. In this analysis, companies weigh the pros and cons of decisions by listing all possible outcomes for various decisions, assigning probabilities to each possible outcome, and weighing the negative probabilities against the positive ones in order to choose the decision that has the highest probability for positively impacting the greatest number of people.

Values

are aspects of life that we consider important and worthwhile. For instance, both philosophers and the general public are concerned with values such as love, freedom, justice, fairness, happiness, and security, for instance. These are a few examples of possible values.'

Laws

are the rules a country or community mandates its citizens follow in order to regulate society. Laws are not optional. They must be obeyed.

Authoritarian Rule

authoritarian rule, such as Pakistan. Countries in this system block society's right for cultural and religious freedom. This, in turn, can be a difficult environment for companies to flourish due to lack of human rights. The United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 was adopted by half of the countries in the world. Companies tend to look for countries that offer its citizens equality and fair treatment. Economic systems also impact the development of Pear Products' global business.

Utilitarianism

basically says that an act is morally correct if it leads to a net level of happiness rather than a net level of unhappiness. Let's look at a quick example. Let's say you are the CEO of a major drug company. The FDA has just approved one of your experimental drugs for the market. The drug will successfully treat a painful and terminal illness 55% of the time with only minor side effects, fail to cure the illness 45% of the time with only minor side effects, fail to cure the illness and cause serious and painful side effects 4% of the time and cause a painful death 1% of the time. Since the drug will create more good, or happiness, than bad, it is ethically permissible to sell the drug according to utilitarianism. You might have guessed that utilitarianism is more closely aligned with moral relativism than moral absolutism.

Bottom of the pyramid

bottom of the pyramid (meaning that they are the poorest but largest group within capitalism) as well as how companies are best interacting with them. First, let's make sure we all understand who we're talking about by being at the bottom of the pyramid. I'm not necessarily talking about the super poor, those unfortunate people who only make pennies a day. Instead, I'm referring to the global rising class, those individuals who have seen wages go from a dollar a day to much higher. Take China, for instance. A couple of decades ago, much of China's population couldn't afford a bicycle. Now they are a vibrant consumer economy. The same could be said of places like India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and others. For smart companies, finding ways to sell goods to these groups is a big step forward.

Social Responsibility

can be defined as a company, person or organization that, during the course of its business dealings, works with the benefit of society as a whole in mind. Thankfully, many companies have adopted a socially responsible stance when they conduct their business. It can be argued some do it for the positive public relations they receive, but we have to think that a majority of the companies out there are doing it because they generally care about the environment and want to make the world a better place. And while I have spoken a lot so far about environments, being socially responsible also branches out into helping individual people as well. Thus, the term encompasses a wide variety of actions and contributions, all designed to make the world cleaner while also helping individuals or specific causes.

Charitable donations

charitable donations, which consist of gifts of money

Ethical relativism

concedes that there are moral and immoral acts but argues that an immoral act may be considered a moral act in a different culture or under a different set of circumstances.

Constructive Engagement

constructive engagement, which means that Pear Products needs to conduct their operations overseas with a good moral and ethics code and try to engage change in the international countries.

Consumerism

consumerism has more than one definition. In business and economy, it means to promote the rights and safety of consumers.

conventional morality

conventional morality, which means behaving in accord with society's rules and expectations. This level is when a marketing manager would be concerned with breaking a law and how it could be viewed by outsiders. Another way to look at this is peer pressure or doing what others would do.

Corporate whistleblower

corporate whistleblower. These whistleblowers are employees of corporations or other private businesses that disclose statutory or regulatory violations by the employer. The Enron whistleblower was Sherron Watkins. She was an Enron executive when she discovered accounting irregularities showing that the company had purposely inflated the value of its stock. Enron was the seventh largest company in the nation at the time. As a result of the deceit, thousands of people lost jobs, pensions, retirement funds and other investments. Many of these people, like those holding investment portfolios through the University of California, weren't associated with Enron at all.

Corruption

corruption, or the abuse of power for financial gain in foreign countries

Defines the Boundaries

defines the boundaries for members of an organization. These invisible boundaries are the way members of an organization determine 'what makes us different' from other organizations. The culture of an organization gives members of that organization a sense of belonging to the group and a feeling that the organization they belong to is different than any other organization. This sense of belonging is strengthened when members of an organization observe contrary behaviors from members of an opposing organization.

Fraud

describes circumstances in which a company obscures the truth from public knowledge. As you'd imagine, fraud can happen on a lot of different levels. It could be as simple as a sandwich maker advertising 10-inch submarine sandwiches as being a foot-long or as complicated as making changes to accounting practices that result in more competitive interest rates and lower taxes.

Descriptive (Ethics)

descriptive ethics ask what do people think is moral? This branch of ethics does not actually claim that things are right or wrong, but simply studies how individuals or societies define their morals. What makes something right or wrong in a specific culture? descriptive ethics define morals in terms of their cultural or personal significance. Descriptive ethics defines morality as a subjective part of a culture, something that is created over time, like language. opposite of normative ethics is descriptive ethics, or the study of why people behave certain ways, what their moral beliefs are, and how they developed these beliefs. In short, in descriptive ethics you are not making moral judgments, and you're not claiming that people should act a certain way; you are simply observing how they act.

Discrimination

discrimination is the act of making a distinction between one thing and other. We discriminate between things on a daily basis. For example, in order for you to get dressed you have to discriminate among your pants so that you could find the correct pair to put on. You also have to be able to make a distinction between the socks in your drawers so that you could find a matching pair. In the legal sense, discrimination means something different. Discrimination is the unequal or unfair treatment of a person based upon some personal characteristic. It is important to note that not all forms of discrimination are illegal.

Dumping

dumping, which occurs when an exporter sells a high volume of products in a foreign country at a lower price than it charges in its own domestic market.

Duties

duties. Duties are import taxes and vary by the type of item and the quantity imported. Other imports may be prohibited or restricted.

Equal Pay compensation discrimination

equal pay compensation discrimination, because she did not offer both candidates the same pay even though they had the same experience. She also offended some of the interview candidates during the interview process.

Ethical policies

ethical policies within an organization. Crazi Toys refers to them as the core values that represent the company and the steps employees need to follow to act in an ethical manner. Crazi Toys has basic values in their ethical policy, such as to uphold customer safety and protect the environment. The steps within the policy further explain what employees need to do in order to support the company values. For example, Crazi Toys' value to uphold customer safety is further dissected with specific steps, such as asking employees to report any product issues to a superior immediately. The issue with the toy horse resulted in hotline workers receiving customer complaints. The workers then forwarded the problem through the correct channels. The ethical policy safeguard worked because the company had trained every employee on the steps to take when a problem arises.

Ethics

ethics is generally understood to mean the principles that govern a person's or group's behavior. Taking into account that every person has their own interpretation of ethics, we can see how this aspect impacts how a group works together. Decisions being made and factors that will be impacted will have an ethical component to them.

External Whistleblowing

external whistleblowing. This means that the whistleblower reports misconduct to a person outside the organization, such as law enforcement or the media.

Federal Whistleblowers

federal whistleblowers. These are government employees who reveal misconduct committed by their employers or can also be private-sector employees who inform about the misconduct of their employers that is committed in relation to the federal government

Free Enterprise Systems

free enterprise systems with countries that offer minimal regulatory restrictions and limited government ownership, such as the U.S. Pear Products is able to develop new innovations without government ownership and can sell their products directly to consumers

Hackers

hackers, or cyber criminals who break into companies' private data.

Ontology

he study of what is

Monopoly

hich is a total market share taken by one single company, making it impossible for other competitors to make a fair buck.

moral absolutism

holds that the same standards apply in every situation regardless of culture or other factors. Let's say you meet a woman from Sweden who thinks it is morally wrong for the United States to provide no public healthcare for its citizens. Even though many Americans have value systems that do not emphasize public care programs the way most Swedish people do, your new friend from Sweden believes that it is morally wrong for the U.S. to have no public healthcare system. The cultural differences between these two countries do not make a difference to her in this case. She is seeing the situation through moral absolutism.

deontological theory (duty)

holds that there are certain moral rules, also called moral duties, that must be followed. An action is moral if it complies with the duty. On the other hand, if you violate the duty, you commit an immoral act. For example, it's generally accepted that one has a moral duty to keep their promises. Thus, under a theory of deontology, a business breaching a contract would be an immoral act. This is because a contract is a promise and you have a moral duty to keep your promises.

Honeypots

honeypots, which is a system used by security professionals to lure hackers to a made-up website that can monitor all their movements and prevent another attack.

Import Quotas

import quotas that limit the number of imports permitted during a specific period of time. An import quota limits the quantity of specific products that can be imported into the country during a specific period of time. Sometimes import quotas are absolutely fixed. However, sometimes an exporting country can pay extra tariffs for imports that exceed the quota. Like tariffs, Cara can impose import quotas to help the development of her country's infant industries by reducing competition from imports.

Philanthropic responsibility

in that they subscribe to practices that benefit society, such as charity work at local homeless shelters, donation of money to help the environment and providing free services. Pear Products recently won CSR Company of the Year due to their donations of $20 million to provide clean water overseas and $25 million to a local U.S. children's hospital to build a state-of-the-art Autism Center.

Legal Responsibility

in which Pear Products is expected by customers, society and the government to adhere to national and state competitive, taxation and employment laws. Pear Products was slowly able to initiate sales their first few years as consumers grew to love the quality and innovation of their products. At times, the company faced challenges in abiding by legal responsibilities, but in order to remain ethical, they knew it was expected. For example, the company never used factories with child labor, did not offer deceptive products and practiced fair hiring of employees.

Incivility

incivility, which is rude communication and behavior that is disrespectful.

Instrumental

instrumental ethical climate by managing via ethical egotism. He feels that he has every right to make selfish decisions if they benefit either the company or even him personally. He even sabotaged one of his competitor's sales events so that they would take a hit in corporate morale. He then had recruiters steal away the biggest sales reps from his competition. This type of ethical climate has the highest amount of immoral and unethical business behavior due to self-interest being the driving factor in decision-making.

Interactive

interactive. This is where Munchie worked constantly with stakeholders to develop trust, honesty and participation. The company has been able to launch new products, build new factories and distribution centers, and has exceptional ties to their customers and local community.

Internal Whistleblowing

internal whistleblowing. This means that the whistleblower reports misconduct to another person within the organization

International Business

international business, or business transactions that take place between two or more countries outside their political boundaries

Trade secret

is any confidential business information that provides the business with a competitive edge. This includes things like sales methods, distribution methods, marketing methods, research methods, consumer profiles, advertising strategies, suppliers lists, client lists, firm software, and manufacturing processes. I never gave Wilma my client list, but she had access to it as an employee in my store. It looks like she took a copy of it when she left and is now using it to target my customers! This will be unfair competition and may even be a crime.

Prescriptive Morality

is focused on prescribing how a person should behave.

Moral Realism

is the philosophical belief that morals do exist. So, this is the claim that certain morals are simply true, the way a mathematical equation is true.

Theology

is the study of religious belief. Many people's morality is based in theology. Guilt, for example, is often associated with religion and the feeling that you have sinned. Theological approaches to morality focus on the way that religion shapes our moral behaviors. Let's go back to the grocery store. I want to steal food, but a little voice inside me reminds me that, if I do, I might not get into heaven. My religious belief is shaping my behavior.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR)

is the use of a business's resources to help solve social problems and achieve social goals. Companies are embracing this business philosophy in order to be profitable and attain respect from their stakeholders. There are four levels of CSR that companies progress through until they reach the top of the pyramid of social responsibility. The four levels are: Economic responsibility, which focuses on a company's obligation to fulfill consumers' needs with products and services. Legal responsibility is when a company is expected by customers, society and the government to adhere to national and state competitive, taxation and employment laws. Ethical responsibility is the ability of a company to conduct their business morally and treat their stakeholders ethically. Philanthropic responsibility is when a business subscribes to practices that benefit society, such as charity work at local homeless shelters, donation of money to help the environment and providing free services.

Law and Order

law and order climate is when precise codes of conduct are followed. This type of climate relies on the laws from outside sources, like actual state or federal laws. Conservative types of companies usually cultivate this type of ethical climate because they fear legal ramifications if they do not follow numerous codes. This type of climate can tend to ignore employee issues and only be concerned about specific codes.

Act utilitarianism

looks at each situation independently and evaluates each dilemma according to utilitarian principles. For example, when you look at your ethical dilemma, it's clear that getting the project done on time will cause the least amount of harm compared with protecting Tony's privacy. His privacy compared to people's jobs? No contest!

Mergers

mergers, where two or more companies merge to become one, are regulated under this act. The Federal Trade Commission must grant permission to merge. This keeps a company from buying competing companies to create a monopoly.

Military Dictatorships

military dictatorships, which are repressive regimes that are governed by dictators who maintain control through the military. Pear Products usually avoids this type of business environment as it is difficult to flourish with a dictator and military intervention. For example, Pear Products was considering expanding into Thailand, but after a military coup in 2014, they decided to avoid the country for now.

Mode of Social responsiveness

mode of social responsiveness and refers to how responsive a company is to social issues. A company can be proactive, accommodating, defensive, or reactionary. A socially responsive company will be proactive. Using Microsoft as our example, they act in a proactive manner since they aggressively exceed stakeholders' expectations versus wait for something to happen. For example, they have an initiative called Youth Spark, which helps young minorities gain experience in technology such as coding.

Economic Union

n the other hand, an economic union is like a common market, but the member countries also maintain a consistent monetary policy, fiscal policy and tax policy. The member countries act as a single economic unit in many ways. The European Union is an example of an economic union.

Bribery

occurs when payments are made to another party to ensure that a desired outcome happens. Sometimes companies even try to pay off governments. Think about it like this - if your company was about to get a $1 billion dollar contract, what does $16 million matter in order to make it happen?

R. Edward Freeman

one of the most important stakeholder theorists.

The Whistleblower Protection Act

or WPA, protects disclosures of misconduct. This law protects federal employees who disclose illegal or improper government activities. The WPA shields federal employees from retaliatory action once the employee voluntarily discloses information regarding dishonest or illegal activities within a government organization. The government can't take action against, or threaten to take action against, the employee. Generally, this means the government can't fire, demote, suspend, threaten, harass, or discriminate against a whistleblower. The WPA was enacted in 1989 and most recently updated through the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012. But, federal whistleblowers were around long before that. In 1966, a 27-year old epidemiologist working for the U.S. Public Health Service discovered the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment while conducting routine interviews on patients. Peter Buxtun uncovered information revealing that the federal government purposely denied medical treatment to black men, mostly sharecroppers, suffering from syphilis. Despite the invention of penicillin in the 1940s and widespread education on prevention in the 1960s, these men were allowed to suffer, infect their wives and children, and die so that the federal government could conduct autopsies for medical research. Almost 400 men unwittingly participated in the experiments between 1932 and 1972. Buxtun filed formal ethical complaints with the government two times before finally turning to the media four years later. After the public found out, the medical experiments were ended and medical research saw major overhauls. According to President Bill Clinton years later, 'the United States government did something that was wrong - deeply, profoundly, morally wrong. It was an outrage to our commitment to integrity and equality for all our citizens... clearly racist.

regulation

or controlling and managing an industry through laws.

altruistic

or focused on others or the greater good. Altruistic morals help preserve group unity and stability by teaching us to be humble and to put the greater good ahead of our own needs.

Applied Ethics

or the study of how people ought to behave in specific situations. To be clear, this one is unquestionably a field of normative ethics, but again it's often given its own distinction because it is so focused. Applied ethics are not concerned with greater questions of good or bad or universal morals, they just address this one question: how should someone morally act in this distinct scenario? Common areas of applied ethics include politics, criminal justice, medicine and environmental studies. In each of these, moral principles are studied exclusively in terms of answering specific questions about that field and developing practical, moral solutions.

Insider Trading

or using private knowledge for private financial gain in financial markets, is illegal. Even famous people can get in big trouble for this, like consumer goods mogul Martha Stewart, who spent months in prison after having been found guilty of insider trading.

Ethics of Care Theory (Carol Gilligan)

pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional. Within each stage, there are goals and specific transition points that move the individual through the stages. Gilligan suggests that these transitions are fueled by changes in the sense of self rather than in changes in cognitive capability. During the pre-conventional stage, the individual learns to care for oneself. The goal is individual survival. The transition is from selfishness to responsibility toward others. In the conventional stage, the individual internalizes norms about caring for others and tends to neglect oneself. The goal is self-sacrifice. The transition is from self-sacrifice to the truth that the individual is a person and should be cared for too. The final stage, post-conventional, is the point in which an individual becomes critical of the conventions they adopted in the conventional stage and learns to balance caring for self with caring for others. The goal is a principle of nonviolence: do not hurt others or self.

Privacy by design

privacy by design through the production of products that have built-in privacy for consumers. For example, the social network Google+ was designed to give the user the ability to create multiple circles to keep information private for family and/or friends.

Protectionist

protectionist strategies, which simply means trade policies that restrict the importation of goods and services produced in foreign countries. Some of the most common trade restrictions are referred to as tariffs, quotas, and embargoes.

ethical codes of conduct

provide guidelines on how employees should act at work.

Publicly traded companies

publicly traded companies are companies that offer shares of stock for sale to outside investors.

Regulatory Agencies

regulatory agencies. These agencies are known to pursue businesses that violate regulatory laws. He spent the most time briefing the marketing managers about three specific agencies.

Care ethics

reminds us that people are relational beings and require care in relationships. Adherents to this theory believe that there is no set of standards that define what is right or wrong. It is more about taking another person's feelings into consideration when making moral decisions.

Religion

s a structure of faith and worship. It's a belief system based on faith in a supernatural power.

Virtue Ethics

says that it is not a person's actions that determine whether he is moral or not; it is his character that should be taken into consideration when making judgment. A person who generally treats people well will be less likely to be judged as immoral when committing an act against society than someone who habitually and deliberately hurts others.

Consumer Product Safety Commission, or CPSC,

self explanatory

Rule utilitarianism

sets rules or laws based on what the most ethical thing is in most situations. In other words, you might ask yourself, 'In a situation like this one, what is usually the outcome that will cause the most benefit to the most people, and how can we set a rule to make sure people choose that outcome?' Let's go back to your work dilemma. Rule utilitarianism would look at the act of breaking into someone's computer and say, 'Most of the time, that will cause harm to people, so we should have a rule against breaking into others' computers.' In that case, if you don't follow the rule, you are not acting ethically. So even though breaking into Tony's computer in this one case might be better, according to rule utilitarianism, you still should not do it.

Sex Discrimination

sex discrimination, which is treating an individual poorly because of the person's sex. Martha admitted that she wanted females as subordinates, who would go to lunch and shopping with her. She felt that hiring a male candidate would leave her lonely at lunch. Unfortunately, Martha's discriminatory practices did not end at that point.

Adverse Impact

she was facing an adverse impact. This is when members of a protected group are treated unfairly by an employer's personnel action. Deema called for an investigation. She contacted the state agency who investigated Deema's claims and found out that she was correct in her assumption that the company was in violation of the guidelines established for affirmative action. Deema's experience should have been considered for the position, and her head attire should not have been a factor.

ethical nihilism

simply refuse to concede that there is such a thing as an intrinsically moral or immoral act. In the bluntest of terms, a nihilist doesn't believe that murder is either moral or immoral. A business that follows the view of ethical nihilism may pretty much refuse to accept the validity of any type of moral or ethical code. Instead, the business may just act as it sees fit to the extent permitted by law. Of course, the business may engage in conduct that many would consider quite moral, but our nihilistic business will simply refuse to concede that it is acting morally because it refuses to accept the premise that there are intrinsically moral or immoral acts.

Strategic Alliance

so, then, what's the difference between a joint venture and a strategic alliance? The difference here is that a strategic alliance is a short-term joint venture where neither company invests any money to form a third company. Typically, joint ventures are together longer than a strategic alliance. Basically, the two companies keep their identities and work together to make a product.

Universal Set of morals

some things are just right, some things are just wrong, no matter what. Despite the lack of evidence to support this idea, this is still the foundation for many systems of morality, both ancient and modern.

Stakeholder Dialogue

stakeholder dialogue, where his company and stakeholders meet face to face frequently to discuss issues and problems. For example, Nate holds employee open houses where employees can stop by and ask questions about any company issues. His plan was so effective that it provided Munchie with the final stage of collaborative relationships.

State Laws

state laws. Each state has different laws for companies to follow. For example, in California, the state has passed laws to lower energy consumption on an assortment of appliances. It is important to keep updated on state government changes within the state the business is located.

Subsidies

subsidies, which are a direct infusion of cash by a government to a business, for developing industries

the Caux Round Table

the Caux Round Table is a well-known and accepted formation of global ethical codes that Neon Garb subscribes to. It was formed by international special interest groups and business and political leaders whose purpose was to create a common code of global ethics

OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)

the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The OSHA assures a safe and healthy work environment and working conditions for men and women. The OSHA accomplishes this by providing training, education, and information for organizations to follow and practice at their locations. As it relates to management, it's vital an organization pays attention to these regulations because if they don't and they're found to be out of compliance, the OSHA has the power to close the facility until they get back in compliance. the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) maintains federal standards and regulations ensuring working conditions to protect employees. Recent news has focused on OSHA forcing companies to reinstate employees who were fired for acting as whistleblowers and alerting OSHA to safety concerns.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). It is responsible for policing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against an individual because of the person's race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information.

Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act

the Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which simply makes a private civil remedy available to plaintiffs due to any misleading advertising, false disparagement, trade symbol infringement, or other deceptive trade practice. The plaintiff can be a consumer or a competing business.

Trade Liberalization

the WTO works to ensure that trade between countries can flow freely. One of the ways to do this is through trade liberalization, which is the reduction of barriers on trade between nations. This can include the removal of a tax or duty on goods produced in a country or the removal of obstacles such as licensing rules or other requirements. This can help trade flow more freely.

Ethical Responsibility

the ability of a company to conduct their business morally and treat their stakeholders ethically. Pear Products treats all of their stakeholders with fairness. For example, a former employee offered to provide detailed product designs of a competitor's new smartphone so that Pear Products could beat the company to market. Pear Products refused the individual's solicitation. In fact, information was leaked to the public about the employee theft and Pear Products kept their ethical and trustworthy image intact.

Board of Directors

the board of directors. The directors are the managers, or trustees, of the corporation. The shareholders elect the board of directors. Generally, the corporation's bylaws will set out how many directors the corporation should have.

Jurisdiction

the official power to make decisions and judgments. Keeping things as simple as possible, sociologists argue that religion and morality have jurisdiction over a person's private life; the law does not. Revisiting our poor alcoholic, the law can't dictate what he does to himself. He can keep drinking until his liver gives up. However, the morality police can call him a drunk and exclude him from society's embrace. Morality and religion have authority over a person's private life. The law does not. Taking this a step further, religion claims authority not just over actions, but also thoughts.

Market Share

the percentage of the total amount of revenue generated from the sale of a product that is held by one single company, it would impact competition. Only a few companies would have the highest market share, leaving little to no room for others to enter into the market.

Moral Reasoning

the practical analysis of how someone morally ought to act. I'm not going to do this for you - you're on your own here, because moral reasoning takes a lot of thought and debate. But I will tell you that to support moral realism, the reasoning must be grounded in observable reality. After all, moral facts, like mathematical facts, are true because there is evidence of them all around us. But it's on us to add them together.

Vendor Relations

the relationship a company has with those that supply the products and services it needs.

Rules

the rules type of ethical climate is concerned with following rules, procedures, and policies established by the organization. In comparison to the laws climate, which depends on actual outside real laws, a rules climate relies on internal professional codes or policies. Employees and managers understand that varying from the rules could cost them their job. This can stifle creativity and can also ignore legitimate issues that employees may face. In addition, problems might not be solved because certain individuals are afraid to bend the rules even slightly.

Metaethics

the study of the meaning of ethical terms and the comparison of ethical theories. In metaethics, you are still searching for moral truths, still trying to define how people ought to act, so many classify it as a branch of normative ethics

Moral absolutism

there are universal and absolute moral rules that must be followed without exception. Since giving the unused food to the family would be a kind of theft, at least in the eyes of his employer, Dillon would be ethically prohibited from giving the family the food because doing so would violate the moral rule against stealing.

Green Taxes

therefore, environmental taxes are sometimes referred to as green taxes. Green tax revenues may be used to promote conservation efforts or to promote environmentally-friendly energy technologies, such as wind power. While taxes may not seem like an incentive, economic theory suggests that taxes on polluting emissions will reduce environmental harm in the least costly manner, by encouraging changes in behavior by those firms and households that can reduce their pollution at the lowest cost.

MFN (Most Favored Nation)

this trade agreement allows for the creation of the MFN (Most Favored Nation) designation, which permits the designated country to export goods with very low tariffs and other beneficial terms.

Slander

to verbally defame someone's character by making false statements that can harm a person's reputation

Water Pollution

water pollution occurs when companies release toxic chemicals into the world's waterways. Companies that pollute the waterways end up killing fish populations, destroying coral reefs and our world's fish food supply.

Global Society

we may actually be facing a true global society, or a unified social community that encompasses the entire world.

organizational relationship problems

which are problems that stem from a company not having a clearly stated mission, goals, and objectives. Employees need to put the company's goals ahead of their own personal agenda. Trendon's top executives stole millions from the company and then donated the money to their own charities to make themselves look impressive to their peers.

Economic Responsibility

which focuses on a company's obligation to fulfill consumers' needs with products and services

Misleading Advertising

which is misrepresenting a product or service in an unethical way. Companies that make illegal or unethical claims in their marketing and advertising can face the loss of customers and fines by the government regulators. Trendon was fined due to misleading consumer advertising aimed at supplying mortgages that were subprime and dangerous to consumers. Trendon's irate consumers filed a class action lawsuit, and Trendon lost billions in fines.

Service Principle

which is that the owners' purposes were to service society through the creation of profitable businesses. Robert Wood of Sears is an example of a business leader who subscribed to the principles. His views continue even today. Between 1900 and the 1960s, society started to doubt big business and wonder if they would offer any sort of responsibility towards improving and helping society as a whole. In America, between the 1960s and 1970s, most people felt that companies were only concerned with profits and did not care about society, whether it was ignoring social issues or contaminating the environment with production.

Sociology

which is the study of society.

Title VII

which protected against employment discrimination on the basis of race, ethnic background, gender or religious practices. The idea behind the legislation was that it would level the playing field and give everyone an equal opportunity

Globalization

you may have heard of the term globalization, or the integration of international economies, politics, and culture