Washburn University

BU 355

Chapter 5

1)Which of the following is most likely to be considered unethical?

2. Elephas Inc. is a steel rod manufacturing company that has customers, investors, vendors, and competitors from all across the globe. Of the following business associates, who would fall into the category of internal stakeholders?

3. Neon Synergy Inc. operates in three different countries, and is headed by a CEO who believes that the best approach to ethics is cultural relativism. In this context, which of the following statements is most likely to be true regarding Neon Synergy?

4. The CEO of United Synergy Inc., a company in its embryonic stage, believes that unethical behavior will result in premature decline of the company. In order to ensure that the company starts operating in the most ethical manner, the CEO should:

5. Which of the following best exemplifies noblesse oblige?

6. Due to certain strict environmental and employment standards in its home nation, Taurus Inc. has shifted its operations to developing nations. Hence, the firm has now been able to gain competitive advantage by avoiding costly pollution controls. This strategic move of Taurus Inc. will be considered:

7. The first step in an ethical algorithm is to identify those common resources that are not owned by anyone in particular but are used by everybody.

8. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act was subsequently amended to allow for speed money or grease payments, which are payments made to:

9. An organizational culture that requires all decisions to be purely economic allows unethical behavior to flourish and persist.

10. In a business setting, which of the following practices is most likely to be considered as unethical?

11. The CEO of Gold Chip Software engages in corruption and uses his power in the company to enrich himself and his family members. Consequently, his employees also engage in the same behavior. In this case, the roots of unethical behavior can be traced to:

12. Green Quantum Inc. has research and production units all across the globe. The company expects its expatriate managers to adopt the ethics propagated by the culture in which they operate their respective units. Even in situations when others consider certain actions as unethical, the company allows its managers to pursue such actions if they are permitted in the host nation. Green Quantum is most likely following:

13. According to Rawls, which of the following principles would be unanimously accepted by people under the veil of ignorance?

14. A righteous moralist claims that while operating in a foreign country, a multinational company should follow the ethical standards of the host country.

15. Which of the following statements is true about the Sullivan principles?

16. In order to build large production units and expedite certain routine government actions related to this, Scorpius Inc. made legal payments to the government officials of a host nation. Such payments are typically referred to as:

17. Which of the following occurs when a resource held jointly by all, but owned by no one, is overused by individuals, resulting in its degradation?

18. Which of the following best exemplifies the global tragedy of the commons?

19. Which of the following statements is true of facilitating payments?

20. Ten years after he proposed what came to be known as Sullivan's principles, Leon Sullivan concluded that following his principles:

21. Davis is the manager of a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in a developing country. The manufacturing unit does not meet the acceptable standards of the manufacturing facility in the home nation. He knows that demanding a better manufacturing unit will raise the cost of the drugs mainly exported to other less developed countries, and hence its price. But he also realizes that by not demanding a better unit, the employees are prone to serious health issues. Davis is facing:

22. Which of the following is most likely to lead to unethical behavior in a business setting?

23. Enterprises headquartered in a country which scores high on masculinity and power distance measures are more likely to behave ethically than enterprises headquartered in a culture where individualism and uncertainty avoidance are strong.

24. Shangrilah Sandals is a manufacturing firm in a developing country, where it routinely uses grease payments to local officials to expedite overseas shipments. It has decided to open a plant in the United States, and has determined that it would not offer any facilitating payments to U.S. officials. Shangrilah's behavior illustrates the straw man approach of:

25. According to Milton Friedman, businesses should undertake social expenditures beyond those mandated by the law and required for the efficient running of a business.

26. A righteous moralist claims that while operating in a foreign country, a multinational company should follow the ethical standards of the host country.

27. Maverick Stars Inc., a U.S.-based multinational company, applies its home-country standards of employment and production in its manufacturing facilities located in some less-developed host nations. In this context, the company is most likely to be criticized for:

28. Which of the following refers to accepted principles of right or wrong that govern the conduct of a person, the members of a profession, or the actions of an organization.

29. An American manager of a multinational company who is working in one of the company's production plants located in the country of Cadmia employs child labor at the manufacturing unit he is in charge of. On being criticized as unethical, the manager argues that such actions are ethically defensible because everyone in Cadmia is doing it. Which of the following straw men approaches to ethics is most likely demonstrated by the manager?

30. The practice of "gift giving" between the parties to a business negotiation is considered right and proper behavior in many Asian cultures. However, some Westerners view the practice as a form of bribery, and therefore unethical, particularly if the gifts are substantial. This reflects that:

31. Brain Wing Inc. has won the bid to build airplanes for a host country government. However, the execution of the contract has been delayed due to certain unproductive, bureaucratic procedures in the less developed nation. In order to legally overcome this problem, Brain Wing Inc. could resort to the payment of:

32. Three Torque Inc., a U.S.-based multinational company, allows its managers to make facilitating payments in host countries to expedite government formalities. However, in countries where such payments are considered as unethical, the company restricts its managers from indulging in such activities. This behavior of the company illustrates the straw man approach of:

33. Silver Meteorite Inc. is a multinational company whose home country, Palumbia Republic, considers grease payments as both illegal and unethical. Hence, the company has a zero-tolerance approach toward grease payments irrespective of any of its host nations' perspectives toward such payments. In this context, Silver Meteorite Inc. is following the approach to ethics known as:

34. The term global commons refers to:

35. According to the concept of cultural relativism, a firm, while operating in any host country, should adopt the ethics of the culture that is predominant in its home country.

36. In the modern world, corporations can worsen the global tragedy of the commons by:

37. Jonathan is the manager of his company's facilities in the Philippines. He believes in ensuring the exact same standards of working conditions, wages, and labor management in the Philippines as practiced by the company's corporate office in its home country, the United States. His policy does not always lead to profits because of the vast cultural differences between the two nations. Which of the following straw men approaches to ethics is most likely being adopted by Jonathan?

38. The code of ethics of a company draws heavily upon documents such as the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which itself is grounded in Kantian and rights-based theories of moral philosophy. In the context of this information, this company is most likely to:

Which of the following is most likely to be a function of ethics officers in firms?

39. Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights implies that it is unethical to employ child labor in sweatshop settings and pay less than subsistence wages, even if that happens to be common practice in some countries. This is in contrast to:

40. The Sullivan principles attempted to fight against:

41. Multinational corporations do not qualify to act as moral agents within the framework of rights theories.

42. The Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions:

43. Cadmium Technologies Inc. believes that the sole purpose of its existence is to maximize profits for its stockholders. The firm has often been criticized for not engaging in any social investments. However, the firm has been appreciated for abiding by the laws while earning profits. According to this information, which of the following approaches to ethics is most likely being adopted by Cadmium Technologies?

44. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act does not allow for "facilitating payments."

45. Which of the following is most likely to reduce the pressure on managers to violate their personal ethics?

46. Unipeg Corporation has uniform high sales targets for its employees all across the globe, regardless of the environmental constraints in each market. Employees are penalized for any shortfall. This has caused many employees to falsify the values of their sales. In this context, the roots of unethical behavior can be traced to: