Currrent Business Problems: Case Studies: Lehman Brothers, British Petroleum, Monsanto, Merck

Prepare: In your first post in this discussion, you will identify and apply one ethical theory of your choosing to a current problem in business, also of your choosing. Start by reviewing your notes on the Week One course material and your completed work for Week One. Then, choose one of the three ethical theories—i.e., utilitarianism, deontology, or virtue ethics—on the basis of your thoughtfully considered preference in general and independent of the business problem that you will select here. Keep in mind that you will employ this ethical theory for supporting your position not only for this discussion, but also for this week’s assignment and the Final Project.

To prepare for your selection of the current problem in business, look at the list of required articles and multimedia which are divided in the six case-categories as follows:

• Banking (Lehman Brothers)
• Environment (BP)
• GMOs (Monsanto)
• Pharmaceuticals (Merck)
• Gender Discrimination (Goodyear)
• Factory Farms (Perdue)

Choose the case-category that you find the most interesting and note that each category also corresponds to one particular case. Please choose carefully because your choice for this discussion will establish the case that will be central to your argumentative essay this week as well as your Final Project in Week Five. It is recommended that you leaf through all the required resources indicated for the possible case-categories that you identify as possible contenders before making your final choice.

Reflect: Once you have selected your ethical theory and your case category, articulate the characteristics of the economic system (or combination of both systems) that serves as the setting for the case presented in the case category sources. Given this context, examine how the nation’s laws affect the operations of the business.

Next, identify the characteristics of your chosen ethical theory and its notion of the moral good. For the latter, you will need to review again the PowerPoint that was introduced in Week One, which is also listed in this week’s Required Resources and it is titled The Moral Good in Three Traditional Ethical Theories. Then, think how you would apply the ethical theory to the specific problem presented in the case category sources.

Start your post by (a) identifying the issue or problem that you want to address in the case that you have selected and providing an impartial presentation of the controversy, (b) articulating briefly the characteristics of the economic system that serves as the setting, and (c) examining the laws that affect the operations of the business.

The following illustration should help. Consider, for example, the case of Uber that we examined in Week Two. If the California decision establishes a precedent for similar claims, then Uber would have to do business as an employer and not merely as a service that pairs consumers with ride sharing services by means of a unique phone app. Accordingly, the law would require Uber to reimburse its drivers for certain costs and perhaps offer benefits. Take in consideration, then, the legal setting for the case that you have chosen. Does the case take place in the United States or another country? What are the laws that are relevant to the problem under examination? Keep in mind that all laws are constraints on our actions, whether those by individuals or corporations. The relevant laws, then, will be (a) any laws that present not only a constraint on the company’s operations, (b) any laws that are being violated by the corporation, or (c) any laws that unfairly limit the goods and services that can be offered to and are demanded by consumers.

In a second paragraph, formulate a sentence that presents the moral position that you want to defend in regard to the issue or problem introduced in the previous paragraph.

In the same paragraph, present the ethical theory that you choose to employ. Your choices are utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics, and the necessary material is included in the required readings and media. Make sure to identify the characteristics of the ethical theory, and include in-text citations and full references in APA form at the end of the post. Once you have done this, apply the ethical theory to your selected case by explaining how it lends itself to the moral position that you are defending.

400 words

Cochrane, J. H. (2009). Lessons from the financial crisis. Regulations, 32(4), 34-37. Retrieved from http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/regulation/2009/11/v32n4-6.pdf

• This article examines what we can draw from the banking crisis.
• Barrett, P. (2015, April 16). The BP oil spill cleanup isn’t a disaster: Five years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, recovery is progressing better than expected. Bloomberg Business. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-16/the-bp-oil-spill-cleanup-isn-t-a-disaster
  • This report explains why the initial worries with regard to the consequences of the oil spill were not realized.

    Accessibility Statement does not exist.

• Cherry, M. A., & Sneirson, J. F. (2010). Beyond profit: Rethinking corporate social responsibility and greenwashing after the BP oil spill. Tulane Law Review, 85(4), 983. Retrieved from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Papers.cfm?abstract_id=1670149
  • This is a law review article on the BP Deepwater oil spill.
• Friedman, M. (1970, September 13). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved from http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0073524697/910345/Appendices.pdf
  • Friedman presents a two-part clarification of what we may understand as social responsibility. The first part states that the responsibility of business is to its shareholders by using its resources to increase profits. Most stop here and assume that Friedman is advocating an ethics of egoism. But the important second part is that Friedman argues that business must be bound by the law and rules of honesty and decency toward others.
• Hill, T. E. (1983). Ideals of human excellence and preserving natural environments. Environmental Ethics, 5(3), 211-224. Retrieved from http://www.shodor.org/ncssm/elc/content/attachments/EnvironmentalEthics-Hill.pdf
  • The question under examination in this essay is what kind of person would destroy natural environments, or see their value solely in terms of cost/benefit analysis.
• Sandler, R. L. (2013). Environmental virtue ethics. The International Encyclopedia of Ethics. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781444367072.wbiee090/pdf
  • This article defines and explains environmental virtue ethics.

    Accessibility Statement does not exist.

• Smith, L. C., Smith, L. M., & Ashcroft, P. A. (2011). Analysis of environmental and economic damages from British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Albany Law Review, 74(1), 563-585. Retrieved from http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Murphy_Smith/publication/228264531_Analysis_of_Environmental_and_Economic_Damages_from_British_Petroleums_Deepwater_Horiz
  • This is an in-depth report of the environmental and economic damages of thee BP Deepwater oil spill.
• Thompson, A. (2015, April 20). Five years after the BP oils spill, questions linger in the Gulf. Retrieved from http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/20/five-years-after-bp-spill-questions-linger-in-the-gulf.html
  • Five years after the BP spill, restoration projects are underway and ecosystems are coming back. Although the results to the environment and business do not reflect the disaster previously expected, there is a noticeable change in the direction of business.

    Accessibility Statement does not exist.

• • Bratspies, R. (2013). Is anyone regulating? The curious state of GMO governance in the United States. Vermont Law Review, 37, 923-956. Retrieved from http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=cl_pubs
    • A critical view of GMOs that claims that public decisions are being left to private agents with private interests.

• • Carpenter, J. (2010). Peer-Reviewed surveys indicate positive impact of commercialized GM crops. Nature Biotechnology, 28, 319-321. doi:10.1038/nbt0410-319. Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v28/n4/full/nbt0410-319.html
    • This is a study of commercialized genetically modified crops that presents positive effects.

• • Friedman, M. (1970, September 13). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved from http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0073524697/910345/Appendices.pdf
    • Friedman presents a two-part clarification of what we may understand as social responsibility. The first part states that the responsibility of business is to its shareholders by using its resources to increase profits. Most stop here and assume that Friedman is advocating an ethics of egoism. But the important second part is that Friedman argues that business must be bound by the law and rules of honesty and decency toward others.

      Accessibility Statement does not exist

• • Gilbert, N. (2013, May 2). Case studies: A hard look at GM crops. Nature, 497(7447), 24-26. Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/news/case-studies-a-hard-look-at-gm-crops-1.12907http://www.nature.com/news/case-studies-a-hard-look-at-gm-crops-1.12907
    • This article examines three of the most commonly accepted myths about genetically modified crops and attemts to confirm or dispel these.

• • Hindo, B. (2007, December 6). Monsanto: Willing the ground war. Business Week. Retrieved from http://library.wur.nl/WebQuery/file/cogem/cogem_t48f4a5b8_001.pdf
    • This article reports the success of the Monsanto genetically modified seeds.

      Accessibility Statement does not exist.

• • Klümper, W., & Qaim, M. (2014, November 3). A meta-analysis of the impacts of genetically modified crops. PLoS ONE, 9(11), 1-7. Retrieved from http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0111629
    • This is a report on the impact of genetically modified crops.

      Accessibility Statement does not exist

• Rettner, R. (2015, August 19). New GMO controversy: Are the herbicides dangerous? Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/51917-gmo-herbicides-health.html
• Friedman, M. (1970, September 13). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved from http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0073524697/910345/Appendices.pdf
  • Friedman presents a two-part clarification of what we may understand as social responsibility. The first part states that the responsibility of business is to its shareholders by using its resources to increase profits. Most stop here and assume that Friedman is advocating an ethics of egoism. But the important second part is that Friedman argues that business must be bound by the law and rules of honesty and decency toward others.

    Accessibility Statement does not exist.

• Rea, P., Zhang, V., & Baras, Y. (2010, July-August). Ivermectin and river blindness. American Scientist, 98, 294-303. Retrieved from http://izt.ciens.ucv.ve/ecologia/Archivos/ECO_POB%202010/ECOPO6_2010/Rea%20et%20al%202010.pdf
  • This is a report of how Merck brought together science and philanthropy in order to put an end to river blindness.

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