Deck 12: Sustainable Value Creation

Question 1

Research indicates that values-based businesses ______.

A)are increasingly common
B)are much less profitable than other businesses
C)remain rare
D)are much more profitable than other businesses

Answer 1

C

Question 2

To make better decisions while insulating themselves from potential threats, firms should ______.

A)engage with stakeholders whenever possible and minimize the danger of stakeholder disillusionment
B)focus on profit maximization over profit optimization
C)recognize that some stakeholders are much more important than others
D)establish a public relations crisis team

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which business leader developed the principles of "conscious capitalism?"

A)Lee Iacocca
B)Steve Jobs
C)Phil Knight
D)John Mackey

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Enron is an example of a firm that ______.

A)had a strong corporate social responsibility position that translated into ethical practices
B)had a weak set of formal ethical positions but was an ethical firm nevertheless
C)a strong set of corporate social responsibility positions that were just greenwash
D)was the first firm to have a chief CSR officer

Question 5

What is the primary focus of business ethics?

A)macro perspectives of firm behavior
B)individual behavior and decision-making
C)both the macro and micro levels of behavior
D)a comprehensive management philosophy of the firm

Question 6

With their ice cream firm, Ben and Jerry sought to ______.

A)foster a culture of religious tolerance
B)be a concerned and responsive employer
C)pay top management and the owners many multiples of the lowest-level worker's pay
D)support religious values by holding frequent prayer meetings

Question 7

Firms, like Enron, that ignore their ______, eventually are held accountable for their actions.

A)CSR threshold
B)CSR reporting
C)primary stakeholders
D)executive accountability

Question 8

"Why does the business exist?" is a question that illustrates what principle of conscious capitalism?

A)higher purpose
B)stakeholder independence
C)conscious leadership
D)conscious culture

Question 9

Companies need to understand the importance of a culture that is defined by ______.

A)profits
B)values
C)ethics
D)rules

Question 10

A ______ is a for-profit firm that is founded on a vision and mission defined by a strategic CSR perspective.

A)social enterprise
B)stakeholder-based business
C)sharia-compliant business
D)values-based business

Question 11

Creating products durable enough and timeless enough that people could replace them less often, reflects the business philosophy of ______.

A)Howard Schultz
B)Yvon Chouínard
C)Bill Gates
D)John Mackey

Question 12

When we teach children not to steal, we are teaching them ______.

A)ethics
B)individual ethical decision-making
C)morality
D)ethics and morality

Question 13

The MBA Oath was written in ______ by a group of Harvard Business School students who wanted to develop a professional vow similar to the Hippocratic Oath taken by medical professionals.

A)1909
B)1939
C)1979
D)2009

Question 14

______, a values-based business, states that its goal is to "find new measures of success that do not depend on selling an ever increasing number of goods and services."

A)Ben & Jerry's
B)Patagonia
C)The Body Shop
D)Zappo's

Question 15

Who famously noted, "Profit for a company is like oxygen for a person.If you don't have enough of it, you're out of the game.But if you think your life is about breathing, you're really missing something?"

A)Peter Drucker
B)Milton Friedman
C)Charles Handy
D)Jack Welch

Question 16

What does "Ben & Jerry's law" do?

A)It requires that the company's ice cream use only non-GMO ingredients.
B)It gives the firm's directors the legal protection to reject a takeover offer based only on financial grounds.
C)It gives the firm's directors the legal protection to accept a takeover offer based only on financial grounds.
D)It requires that CEOs be paid no more than 20 times the average pay of all other employees.

Question 17

Values-based businesses view CSR as ______ rather than as ______.

A)an opportunity; a way of doing business
B)a cost; an opportunity
C)an opportunity; a cost
D)a way of doing business; an opportunity

Question 18

______ is the generation of a perceived benefit for an individual or a group, as defined by that individual or group.

A)The CSR advantage
B)The shareholder advantage
C)The stakeholder advantage
D)Value creation

Question 19

Since the 1930s, the average life (in years) of a Fortune 500 company has ______.

A)increased slightly
B)fallen slightly
C)increased significantly
D)fallen significantly

Question 20

Focusing on organizational goals, such as quarterly earnings, rather than individual actions can lead to ______.

A)greater short-term profits
B)greater awareness of the ethical implications of actions
C)a loss of awareness of ethical implications
D)weaker short-term profits

Question 21

A stakeholder perspective is an integral part of a comprehensive, strategic approach to corporate social responsibility.

Question 22

What does it mean for an organization to be ethical? What is the difference between an unethical and an illegal act?

Question 23

The underlying principles of strategic CSR suggest that any problem with capitalism, as currently practiced, is the pursuit of profit over nonfinancial considerations.

Question 24

John Mackey, founder and co-CEO of Whole Foods Market, is a leading proponent of ______.

A)conscious capitalism
B)stakeholder activism
C)the gig economy
D)values-based business

Question 25

To illustrate how doing good is good business, if you invested in Starbucks the day it went public (June 26, 1992), your stock would be up ______.

A)20%
B)100%
C)500%
D)2,000%

Question 26

What are the principles of conscious capitalism and how do they affect how a firm should operate?

Question 27

In your view, what does a values-based business look like? Think of an example you have seen or read about in the news: What makes you believe this firm is a values-based business? What do you think would be different about working for a firm like that?

Question 28

Which of the following is NOT a principle on which conscious capitalism is based?

A)higher purpose
B)stakeholder independence
C)conscious leadership
D)conscious culture

Question 29

As a values-based business, in 2008, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz resisted the call of investors to ______.

A)reduce the number of Starbucks franchises
B)eliminate plans to expand globally
C)cut back substantially on health-care coverage for his workers
D)significantly downsize his workforce

Question 30

In 1989, Ben & Jerry's was the first major corporation to ______.

A)allow an independent social audit of its business operations
B)use only fair trade goods in all of its products
C)be purchased through a hostile takeover for other than financial reasons
D)introduce the concept of a living wage for all its employees

Question 31

One approach a firm may take is to pay employees as little as possible if unemployment is high enough that if one employee leaves, another can be hired.Another approach is to pay employees a living wage because it raises morale and productivity while decreasing turnover and the hiring costs associated with replacing workers.Which position do you take on this issue? Support your answer with specific examples.

Question 32

The notion of businesses founded on values is not new.It is likely that the earliest author to espouse this view was ______.

A)Milton Friedman
B)Adam Smith
C)Edward Freeman
D)Peter Drucker

Question 33

The ethics and morals of an organization start with the ethics and morals of the group of people in the organization.