MGMT 4850 - Chapter 9 Final
Studies done on the correlation of between good corporate behavior and good financial performance have generally found
a small positive correlation
A company that sets aside 2 percent of its pre-tax profits to build and then fund a cancer-recovery facility for teens is an example of a corporate social responsibility action to:
support philanthropy
Good corporate citizens
A. go beyond meeting society's expectations for ethical strategies and business behavior by fostering social benefit and balancing the interests of all.
Which of the following is an activity a company engages in to enhance the quality of life for its employees in an attempt to fulfill its corporate social responsibility?
It provides work-at-home opportunities
The notion of social responsibility as it applies to businesses is concerned with
a company's duty to operate in a honorable manner and provide good working conditions for employers
Which of the following builds a moral case for corporate social responsibility and environmentally sustainable business practices?
a strong commitment to socially responsible behavior reduces the risk of reputation-damaging incidents
The strength of integrated social contracts theory is that is
accommodates the best parts of ethical universalism and ethical relativism
According to integrated social contracts theory, the ethical standards a company should try to uphold
are governed both by a limited number of universal ethical principles and the circumstances of local cultures, traditions, and shared values
Ethical principles in business
are not materially different from ethical principles in general
Notions of right and wrong, fair and unfair, moral and immoral, ethical and unethical
are present in all societies, organizations, and individuals
The essence of socially responsible business behavior is
balancing strategic actions to benefit shareholders against the duty to be a good corporate citizen
The moral case for why a company should actively promote the betterment of society and act in a manner benefiting all its stakeholders
boils down to "its the right thing to do"
When high ethical principles are deeply ingrained in the corporate culture of a company, culture can function as a powerful mechanism for all of the following EXCEPT
boosting short-termism
Which of the following is most likely to be morally valid from the perspective of ethical relativism?
bribing a government official in an underdeveloped country to obtain a permit to build a hospital
Cultural demands to employ unethical means if circumstances become challenging can prompt:
clever ways to operate outside established policies to boost profits
Which of the following companies incurs mainly internal administrative costs due to unethical practices?
company D must retrain its employees who are using their Twitter accounts to post workplace frustrations.
Ethical principles as they apply to the conduct of personnel and business decisions
deal primarily with the company's duty to comply with legal requirements and conform to ethical norms of society, in general
The contention that since there are cross-country or cross-cultural differences in ethical standards, it is appropriate to judge behavior as ethical/unethical in the light of local customs and social mores should take precedence over a single set of ethical standards or what may be applicable in a company's home market
defines what is meant by ethical relativism
Which of the following would increase the likelihood of ethical lapses as well as poor long term company performance?
dramatic cuts in research and development expenditures in years when low earnings are reported by the company
The "triple bottom line" referes to what three performance metrics a company should simultaneously succeed in?
economic, social, & environmental
Multinational companies that forbid the payment of bribes and kickbacks in their codes of ethical conduct and that are serious about enforcing this prohibition
face a particularly vexing problem of losing business to competitors that have no scruples - an outcome that penalizes ethical companies and company personnel
The business case for why companies should act in a socially responsible manner includes such reasons as it
generates internal operating benefits (as concerns employee recruiting, workforce retention, employee morale, and training costs)
The contention that ethical standards should reflect the collective views of multiple societies in establishing a set of universal ethical principles (that are widely recognized as laying legitimacy to ethical boundaries on actions and behavior in all situations) and in allowing inclusions of a set of prevailing customary actions of local cultures or groups *with their traditions and shared values), that further prescribe to what represents ethically permissible behavior and what does not, constitutes the basic principles of
integrated social contracts theory
The contention that ethical standards should be governed both by (1) a limited number of universal ethical principles that are widely recognized as putting legitimate ethical boundaries on actions and behavior in all situations and (2) the circumstances of local cultures, traditions, and shared values that further prescribe what constitutes ethically permissible behavior and what does not are the basic principles of
integrative social contracts theory
Following a public outcry, the CEO of a nationwide consumer bank was forced to apologize to and recompense customers for whom the bank had set up false credit card and auto loan accounts, over 100,000 account managers were terminated, and the company's stock price also sharply declined. Which of the following did the company incur?
internal administrative costs, tangible costs, and intangible costs
The degree of cross-country variability in paying bribes and kickbacks to grease business transactions
is one of the thorniest ethical problems that multinational companies face because paying bribes is normal and customary in some countries and ethically or legally forbidden in others
How does a company's unethical behaviors risk doing direct damage to a company's creditors?
it could lead to default on loans due to potential business fallout
The strength of the beliefs underlying ethical universalism is that
it draws upon the collective views of multiple societies and cultures to put some clear boundaries on what constitutes ethical business behavior and what constitutes unethical business behavior no matter what country or culture a company is operating in
A company's strategy needs to be ethical because
it is good business and in the best interest of shareholders
What is the function of the Global reporting initiative?
it promotes greater transparency and facilitates bench-marking CSR efforts across firms and industries
When a company's social responsibility initiatives become part of the way it operates its business everyday, these initiatives are
likely to be fully effective in creating a competitive advantage
Triple-bottom-line (TBL) reporting is emerging as an important way for companies to
make the results of their CSR strategies apparent to stakeholders and for stakeholders to hold companies accountable for their impact of society
Companies that adopt the princple of ethical relativism in providing ethical guidance to company personnel
may quickly find themselves on a slippery slope with no higher order moral compass if they operate in countries where ethical standards vary considerably from country to country
An environmental sustainability strategy consists of a company's deliberate actions to
meet the current needs of customers, suppliers, shareholder, employees, and other stakeholders in a manner that protects the environment, provides for the longevity of natural resources, maintains ecological support systems for future generations, and guards against ultimate endangerment of the planet
A company's environmental sustainability strategy consists of its deliberate actions to
operate the business in a manner that promotes the longevity of sustainability effects
Unethical managerial behavior tends to be driven by such factors as
overzealous or obsessive pursuit of personal gain, wealth, and other self interests; a company culture that puts the profitability and good business performance ahead of ethical behavior; and heavy pressures on company managers to meet or beat performance targets
Sourcing a supply from a small, women-owed business is an example of a corporate social responsibility action to
promote workforce diversity
A company that promotes carpooling among its employees, has cut its printer-paper usage in half, and has installed solar panels on its roof is an example of a corporate social responsibility action to:
protect and sustain the environment
The theory of corporate social responsibility concerns
the company's responsibility to balance between strategic actions to benefit shareholders against the duty to be a good corporate citizen
THe litmus test of company's code of ethics is
the extent to which it is embraced in crafting strategy and in the day-to-day operations of the business
The school of ethical universalism holds that
the most fundamental conceptions of right and wrong are universal and apply to members of all societies, all companies, and all business-people
Senior executives can ensure compliance with the ethical code of conduct by considering whether
the proposed action is fully compliant and in harmony with the code of ethical conduct and whether stakeholders would consider anything ethically objectionable
The contentions that (1) many of the same standards of what's ethical and what's unethical resonate with peoples of most societies regardless of local traditions and cultural norms and (2) to the extent there is common moral agreement about right and wrong actions, common ethical standards can be used to judge the conduct of personnel at companies operating in a variety of country markets and cultural circumstances are defining beliefs of which of the following?
the school of ethical universalism but not the school of ethical relativism
Short-termism is defined as
the tendency for managers to focus on immediate performance objectives at the expense of longer-term strategic objectives
How do good corporate citizens function?
they pursue discretionary activities that contribute to the betterment of society, especially in areas where government has chosen not to focus its efforts or has fallen short
A manufacturer and marketer of prescription pharmaceuticals decided to raise the price of its anti-malaria drug from $15.00 per dose to $750.00 per dose, a price increase of 5,000%. Following a public outcry, the CEO was forced to resign, the company was forced to retract the price hike, and the company's stock price sharply declined. Which of the following has the company incurred?
visible and intangible costs
A multinational automobile manufacturer issues a public statement that the company's vehicle emissions tests had been falsified to meet environmental compliance standards over recent years using software specifically designed for that purpose. Following the news, the CEO is replaced, vehicle sales plummet, and the company's stock price sharply declines. Which of the following has the company incurred?
visible and intangible costs
Striving to be socially responsible entails touching such bases as
what, if any, actions to take to protect or enhance the environment (beyond what is legally required)
The school of ethical relativism holds that
when there are cross-country or cross-cultural differences in what is deemed ethical or unethical in business situations, it is appropriate for local moral standards to take precedence over what the ethical standards may be elsewhere
A belief in ethical relativism leads to the conclusion that
whether the use of underage labor and the payment of bribes/kickbacks should be deemed ethical or unethical depends on the moral standards, values, and business norms that prevail in particular cultures, societies, countries, or circumstances
