College of
Business
Administration
College of
Business
Administration
Newton & Ford, Chapter 1
1. Is capitalism the best route to achieving happiness? Does capitalism have anything to do with happiness?
2. Given the capitalist system within which we live, how, and to what extent, is it feasible for a corporation to behave in a manner that will allow it to survive in a capitalist system without ultimately constructing a socialist system?
Dienhart, Chapter 4
3. Is the Internal or External approach to the relationship between ethics and economics most applicable to an organization driven by the delivery of shareholder value? Why?
4. What are Constitutive and Regulative rules/principles? How do Regulative rules/principles impact ethical decision-making within a corporation?
Dienhart, Chapter 5, and George Soros, “The Capitalist Threat”
5. Soros takes issue, indirectly, with Smith’s Invisible Hand, and directly with various claims of laissez-faire capitalism. The market no longer simply responds to the demands of the public, he claims, as much as it helps to shape them. Considering this molding of desire/demand, is a moral responsibility toward society at large entailed on the part of the corporation? Should this entail a legal responsibility? What lengths should be gone to in order to “legislate morality”?
6. In his essay, Soros bemoans the fact that capitalism has devolved into a potential war of all against all. Specifically, he notes this possibility on the international front. “Sovereign states,” Soros claims, “pursu[e] their self-interest to the detriment of the common interest.” Based on any knowledge that you have of international business, is Soros’ concern a worthwhile one? Do you feel that organizations such as GATT (Dienhart, p. 205-206) do enough legislatively to ensure Soros’ vision of a healthy international market?
Craig Dunn, “Are Corporations Inherently Wicked?”
7. Given the article and the readings for this facilitation, do you feel that corporations are, in fact, inherently wicked? Why or why not?
8. Society has only recently felt it necessary to intensify sanctions against corporate wrongdoing. Why might this be so? Why is this attitude changing recently?
Milton Friedman, “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits”
9. In his essay, Friedman promotes the ideal that the Invisible Hand of the market should go unchecked by any sentiment of social responsibility. Detail as many problems as possible with such a scenario. Discuss the potential advantages of such a possibility.
10. Friedman suggests, “Whether blameworthy or not, the use of the cloak of social responsibility, and the nonsense spoken in its name by influential and prestigious businessmen, does clearly harm the foundations of a free society.” True? If so, in what way does the notion of corporate social responsibility “harm the foundations of a free society”?
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