Business 100

Environmental Analysis

Used by manages to gather information about external issues and trends

Business Ethics

Application of general ethical idea to business behavior

B Corporations

A business that explicity seeks to blend its social objectives with its financial goals

Trade Associations

A coalition of companies in the same or relate industries seeking to coordinate their economic or political power to further their agenda

Ethics

A conception of right and wrong conduct, serving as a guide to moral behavior

Ethics and Compliance Officer

A manager designated by an organization to investigate breaches of ethical conduct, promulgate ethics statements, and generally promote ethical conduct at work

Ethical Egoist

A person who puts his or her own selfish interests above all other considerations

Public Policy

A plan of action undertaken by government officials to achieve some broad purpose affecting a substantial segment of a nation's citizens

Economic Leverage

A politcal tool where a business uses its economic power to threaten to relocate its operations unless a desired political action is taken

Advocacy Advertising

A political tool used by companies to promote their viewpoint through the media

Ethics Reporting Mechanisms

A program that enables employees, customers, or suppliers to report an theca concern directly to someone in authority

Bribery

A questionable or unjust payment to a gov't official to ensure/ facilitate a business transaction

Social Audit

A systematic evaluation of an organization's social, ethical, and environmental performance

Cost-Benfit Analysis

A systematic method of calculating the costs and benefits of a project or activity

Ethics Policies or Codes

A written set of rules used to guide managers and employees when they encounter an ethical dilemma

Stakeholder Power

Ability of one or more stakeholders to make an event happen/ secure a desired outcome. Five types are: Voting, Economic, Political, Legal, and Informational

Environmental Intelligence

Acquisitions of information gained from analyzing the multiple environments affecting organizations

Issue Management

Active management of public issues once they come to the attention of a business organization

General Systems Theory

All organisms are open to and interact with their external environment

Stakeholder Coalitions

Alliances among stakeholders to pursue a common interest

Board of Directors

An elected group of individuals who have legal duty to establish corporate objectives, develop broad polices, and select top-level personnel for a company

Human Rights

An ethical approach emphasizing a person or group's entitlement to something or to be treated in a certain way. ex: rights to life, safety, or to be informed

Justice

An ethical approach that emphasizes whether the distribution of benefits and burdens among the people are fair, according to some agreed-upon rule

Political Action Committees (PACs)

An independently incorporated organization that can solicit contributions and then channels those funds to candidates seeking political office

Super PACs

An organization that raises and spends money focusing on political issues but its not directly affiliated with any political campaign; also called an independent expenditure- only committee

Ethical Relativism

Belief that ethical right and wrong are defined by various periods of times in history, a society's traditions, the specific circumstances of the moment, or personal opinion

Corporate Culture

Blend of ideas, customs, traditional practices, company values, and shared meanings that help define normal behavior for everyone who works in a company

Proxy Access

Changes in the nomination process for a company's board of directs that allows stakeholders to nominate their own candidates

Interactive social system

Closely intertwined relationships between business and society

Stakeholder Networks

Connected assembly of concerned individuals or organization defined by their shared focus on a particular issues, problem or oppurtunity

Stakeholder Dialogue

Conversations between representatives of a company and its stakeholders about issues of common concern

Boundary Spanning Departments

Departments/ offices within an organization that reach across the dividing line that separates a company from groups and people in the society

Reputation

Desirable or undesirable qualities associated with an organization or its actors that may influence the organization's relationships with its stakeholders

Utilitarian Reasoning

Ethical approach that emphasizes the consequences of an action and seeks the action/decision where the benefits out outweigh the costs

U.S Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

Federal law that prohibits executives of U.S based companies from paying bribes to foreign gov't officials, political parties, or political candidates

Institutional Investors

Financial institution, pension fund, mutual fund, insurance company, university endowment, or similar organization that invests it accumulated funds in securities offered for sale on stock exchanges

Issue Management Process

Five step process where managers identify the issue, analyze, generate options, take action, and evaluate results

Virtue Ethics

Focuses on character traits to define a good person, theorizing that values will direct a person towards good behavior

Stakeholder Materiality

Focuses on the importance or significance of stakeholders for the firm

Stock options

Form of compensation. Options represent the right to buy a company's stock at a set price for a certain period of time. The option becomes valuable to its holder when and if the stock price rises above this amount

The Business Roundtable

Founded in 1972, an organization of chief executive offices from leading corporations involved in various public issues and legislation

Monetary Policy

Government actions that affect the supply, demand, and value of a nation's currency

Social Assistance Policies

Government programs aimed at improving social welfare in such areas as health care and education

Stakeholder Map

Graphical representation of the relationship of stakeholder salience to an issue

Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Greatly expanded the powers of SEC to regulate information disclosure in the financial markets and the accountability of the organization's senior leadership regarding the accuracy of the disclosure

Ethical Principles

Guides to mora behavior, such as honesty, keeping promises, helping others, and respecting others' rights

Society

Humans and social structures they collectively create

Corporate Social Responsibility

Idea that business should act in a way that enhances society and their stakeholders and be held accountable for any of its actions that affect people, their communities, and their environment

Market Failure

Inability of the marketplace to properly adjust prices for the trues costs of the firm's behavior

Public Issue

Issue that is of mutual concern to an organization an its stakeholders

Enlightened Self-Interest

It's in a company's self-interest in the long run to provide true value to its stakeholders

Anti-Trust Law

Laws that seek to preserve competition in the marketplace and prohibit unfair anticompetitive practices by business

Shareholder Lawsuits

Lawsuit initiated by one or more shares of stock in a corporation; the legal owners of the business

Public Affairs Department

Manages an organization's interaction with gov't at all levels to promote the firm's interests in the political process

Salience

Markets a stakeholder as important and gets a manager's attention. based on power, legitimacy, and urgency

Stakeholder Interests

Nature of each stakeholder group, its concerns, and what it wants from its relationship with the firm

Conflict of Interest

Occur when an individual's self-interest conflicts with acting in the best interest of another, when the individual has an obligation to do so

Insider Trading

Occurs when a person gains access to confidential information about a company's financial condition and then uses that info, before it becomes public knowledge, to buy or sell the company's stock; general illegal

Economic Regulations

Oldest for of regulation in the U.S. Aimed at modifying the normal operations of the free market and forced of supply and demand

Stakeholder Engagement

Ongoing process of relationship building between a business and its stakeholders

Business

Organization thats engaged in making a product/ providing a service for profit

Private Equity Firms

Organizations that manage pools of money invested by very wealthy individuals and institutions

Dodd-Frank Act

Passed in response to the financial crisis, reformed the regulation of financial institutions (banks, credit rating agencies), established new consumer financial protection bureau, changes corporate governance and executive compensation rules

Stages of Moral Development

Pattern of how people grow and elope their moral thinking, starts with concern for the self and growing to concern for others and broad-based principles

Internal Stakeholder

People employed by the firm

External Stakeholder

People that have important transactions with a firm but aren't employed by the firm ex: customers

Stakeholder

Person/Group that affects or is affected by a corporation's decisions, policies, and operations

Spirituality

Personal belief in a supreme being, religions organization, or power of nature/ some other life- guiding force

Dark Money

Political Contributions made to tax-exempt organizations that are not required to report the donor's name and size of contribution to the FEC

Hedge Funds

Pools of private capital, so-called because of the aggressive strategies used to earn high returns for their investors

Stakeholder Analysis

Process used by managers to identify relevant stakeholders in a specific situation and try to understand their interests, power, and coalitions

Employee Ethics Training

Programs developed by businesses to further reinforce their expectation for their employees

Corporate Social Reporting

Public reporting of information collected by the organization of another party during a social audit

Corporate Citizenship

Refers to the actions corporations take to put their commitments to corporate social responsibility into practice worldwide

Social Regulation

Regulations aimed at important social goals such as protecting consumers and the environment, promoting equal employment opportunity, protecting pension benefits, and providing healthcare for citizens

Social Responsibility Shareholder Resolutions

Resolution on an issue of corporate social responsibility placed before shareholders for a vote at a company's annual meeting

Lobbying

The act of trying to directly shape or influence a gov't official's understanding and position on public policy issue

Laws

Society's formal written rule about what constitutes right and wrong conduct in various spheres of life

Nonmarket Stakeholders

Stakeholder that isn't part of the economic transactions but still affects/is affected by its actions

Market Stakeholders

Stakeholder thats part of the economic transactions with a company

U.S Corporate Sentencing Guidelines

Standards that help judges determine the appropriate penalty for criminal violations and provide strong incentive for businesses to promote ethics

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

The US federal Gov't agency whose mission is to protect stockholder's rights by making sure that stock markets are run fairly and that investment information is fully disclosed

Regulation

The action of government to establish rules by which industry or other groups must behave in conducting their normal activities

Iron law of Responsibility

The belief that those who do not use their power in ways that society considers responsible will tend to lose their power in the long run

Corporate Power

The capability of corporations to influence government, economy, and society based on their resources

Revolving Door

The circulation of individuals between business and gov't positions

Bundling

The collection of political contributions made by an organization's stakeholders to increase the organization's ability to influence a political agent

Integrated Reporting

The combing of legally required financial info with social and environmental information into a single report

Executive Compensation

The compensation of corporate executives, including salary, bonus, stock options, and various benefits

Reregulation

The increase or expansion of government regulation on activities, especially in areas where the regulatory activities has previously been reduced

Focal Organization

The organization from whose perspective a stakeholder analysis is done

Fiscal Policy

The patterns of gov't collecting and spending funds intended to stimulate or support the economy

Performance-Expectations Gap

The perceived distance between what a firm wants to do/ is doing and what the stakeholders expect

Predatory Pricing

The practice of selling below cost to drive rivals out of business

Corporate Governance

The process by which a company is controlled or groveled

Stakeholder Theory of the Firm

The purpose of the firm is to create value for society

Ownership Theory of the Firm

The purpose of the firm is to maximize the long-term return for its shareholders

Deregulation

The removal/scaling down of regulatory authority and actives of gov't

Competitive Intelligence

The systematic and continuous process of the gathering analyzing and managing external information on the organization's competitors

Social Investment

The use of stock ownership as a strategy for promoting social, environment, and governance objectives

Corporate Political Strategy

Those activities taken by an organization to acquire, develop and use power to achieve a political advantage

Say-On-Pay

U.S regulation requiring public companies to hold an advisory shareholder vote on executive compensation at least every 3 years; also required in several other countries

Soft Money

Unlimited political contributions made to a political part by individuals or organizations; but not by businesses or labor unions, to support party- building activities

Ethical Climate

Unspoken understanding among employees of what is and isn't acceptable behavior based on the expected standards or normal used for ethical decision making

Negative Externalities

When the manufacturer or distribution of a product gives rise to unplanned or unintended costs borne by consumers, competitors, neighboring communities or other business stakeholders

Natural Monopoly

Where a concentration of the market is acquired by a few firms due to the nature of the industry rather than because of company practices

Citizens United Decision

a U.S Supreme court ruling that allowed corporations and unions to contribute directly to candidates for public office

Shareholders

person, group, or organizations owning one or more shares of stock in a corporation; the legal owners of the business