Ethics

Question 1
1. Which of the following is a true statement?
A. Pursuant to a sustainability approach to social responsibility it would be inappropriate for a business to undertake charitable acts for the benefit of the community if doing so reduces profits in the short-term but increases profits in the long-term.
B. Social responsibility audits are not mandated for all corporations by the Federal Trade Commission.
C. Under a sustainability approach to social responsibility, the modern business corporation only owes any responsibility to the shareholders since they are the owners of the corporation.
D. One problem with a stakeholder approach to corporate social responsibility is that it is often difficult to determine how the interests of the different stakeholders should be balanced.
0.5 points
Question 2
1. University of Chicago Professor Milton Friedman famously said about social responsibility:
The social responsibility of business is to make money legally.
Big multinational corporations must solve all the social problems in the world.
Business is immoral for not helping out in the community.
When in Rome, do as the Romans.
0.5 points
Question 3
1. Lea, a vice-president of International Pharmaceuticals, Inc., does not apply Utilitarianism to business moral issues. One major problem with this ethical theory is that it
Advocates social change through violent revolution when people are not treated justly
Forces the individual to conform to the norms of society as to what it means to be socially responsible
Justifies human costs that some may find morally unacceptable
Promotes utopian societies such as Plato’s conception of the Just State.
0.5 points
Question 4
1. Social responsibility is best described as a company being:
Saintly in the moral sense
Helpful in a prudent manner in the community
Lawful only
Altruistic to all stakeholders.
0.5 points
Question 5
1. A conservative interpretation and definition of corporate “social responsibility” would typically reflect the view that:
Corporate social responsibility should be mandated and closely regulated by global organizations, such as the United Nations.
There is insufficient government regulation in the U.S. in place to deal with corporate socially responsible decision-making.
Social responsibility decisions in business should be decided according to philosophical Natural Law and Natural rights ethical principles.
It could in the long-term, self-interest of business to “get involved” in the community in a prudent manner.
0.5 points
Question 6
1. Nobel Prize winner Professor Emeritus Milton Friedman would favor a corporate code of conduct that would:
Maximize profits at all costs.
Maximize profits based on open and free competition.
Maximize profits as long as the corporation “plays within the rules” without fraud, deception, or other illegality.
B and C only.