Ethics and Social Responsibility, Strict Government Reg
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A. Ethics and social responsibility play important roles in today's business world and are impacted by movement regulations. For your paper, select one of the following statements:
1) "Since the goal of the public corporation is to maximize shareholder wealth, management should take any action necessary to achieve this goal so long as no law is violated."
2) "It is acceptable to sell products banned in the United States in other countries (i.e., where permitted by other countries due to differences in national policies)."
3) "Strict government regulations are necessary to make companies behave ethically."
b. Do a paper in which you:
1) Examine the chosen statement in the context of ethics and social responsibility.
2) Examine the impact government regulations have on business ethics and social responsibility in the example you choose.
3) State why you agree or disagree with the thesis or premise behind the statement you select.
Please cite references.
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Solution Summary
A discussion of strict government regulations' effects upon business ethics.
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Strict government regulations are necessary to make companies behave ethically.
Over the course of our nation's business history, there have been countless examples of businesses and business executives who have abused their power and/or behaved in an otherwise unethical manner for personal gain. WR Grace and company dumped all sorts of illegal chemicals (including tannin) into streams and rivers in an effort to reduce their disposal costs creating an environmental disaster for nearby communities. Enron created offshore accounts and fake companies to aid in tax evasion and to artificially inflate profits in an effort to drive up stock prices in the short term allowing executives with insider information to rake in billions in capital gains before the system collapsed in on itself. Typical investors, including Enron employees and the general public, had no such knowledge and, as such, lost investments made in the company. Some, former employees with retirements tied to the company, lost significant portions of their portfolio with the collapse and, too, their retirement incomes.
Example after example exists demonstrating how some companies and their executives have acted unethically. While government regulations were in place during most of these incidents, the companies ignored them and gambled that they would never be caught. As such, many might form the opinion that governmental regulations do little or nothing to help stop this sort of behavior. After all, the artificial offshore companies set up by Enron were illegal and the executives who created them knew this. So, the law against doing this was already in place ...
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