Deck 10: Business Ethics, Social Responsibility, and Environmental Sustainability

Question 1

Bad ethics can derail all but the best strategic plans.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Many people consider it unethical for a firm to be socially irresponsible.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Primary responsibility for ensuring ethical behavior rests with middle- and low-level managers, since they are in a position to influence many employees.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

A rising tide of consciousness about the importance of business ethics is sweeping the United States and the rest of the world.

Question 5

CEOs and business owners should delegate the responsibility for ensuring that high ethical principles are espoused and practiced in an organization.

Question 6

Whistle-blowing refers to policies that require employees to report any unethical violations they discover or see in the firm.

Question 7

According to a study by the Institute of Business Ethics, companies that do not display ethical conduct consistently outperform companies that show a clear commitment to ethical conduct.

Question 8

Periodic ethics workshops can help sensitize people to workplace circumstances in which ethics issues may arise.

Question 9

Social responsibility refers to actions an organization takes that are legally required to protect or enhance the well-being of living things.

Question 10

Dumping banned or flawed products in foreign markets is considered to be an unethical business practice.

Question 11

More and more firms believe that ethics training and an ethics culture create strategic advantage.

Question 12

A new wave of ethics issues has accentuated the need for strategists to develop a clear code of business ethics.

Question 13

Some of the largest payouts for class-action legal fraud suits ever were against Enron ($7.16 billion)and WorldCom ($6.16 billion).

Question 14

History has proven that the lower the trust and confidence of people in the ethics of an institution or society, the greater its economic strength.

Question 15

Most firms warn managers and employees that reporting an ethical violation by others, also known as whistle-blowing, could cause them to be discharged.

Question 16

Business ethics can be defined as principles of conduct within organizations that guide decision making and behavior.

Question 17

Good ethics is not a prerequisite for good strategic management.

Question 18

Having a code of ethics ensures ethical business behavior.

Question 19

Sustainability refers to the extent that an organization's operations and actions protect, mend, and preserve rather than harm or destroy the natural environment.

Question 20

Moving jobs overseas is not considered to be an unethical business practice.

Question 21

Integrating ethical decision making into the performance appraisal process is one way that firms can align ethical and strategic decision making.

Question 22

European firms are increasingly adopting explicit, American-style sexual harassment laws.

Question 23

A recent Wall Street Journal article reported that 80 percent of all firms sampled had no restrictions on relationships between a supervisor and a subordinate.

Question 24

Avon Products is being investigated for bribery charges related to their winning the first direct-sales license awarded by China to a foreign company.

Question 25

A bribe is a gift bestowed to influence a recipient's conduct.

Question 26

Firms should strive to engage in social activities that have no economic benefits, to avoid their being viewed as public relations ploys.

Question 27

The first social responsibility of any business must be to make enough profit to cover the costs of the future because if this is not achieved, no other social responsibility can be met.

Question 28

Corporate social policy should be designed and articulated during strategy formulation.

Question 29

Some strategists agree with Ralph Nader, who asserts that organizations have no obligation to do any more for society than is legally required.

Question 30

Corporate social policy should be reaffirmed or changed during strategy implementation.

Question 31

In 2012, Chinese firms dominated Fortune magazine's list of the least admired companies from a social responsibility perspective.

Question 32

Ralph Nader believes that big firms like ExxonMobil, which has more assets than most countries, have an obligation to help society cure its many ills.

Question 33

In 2012, GDF Suez, Marquard & Bahls, and RWE were the three most admired socially responsible companies according to Fortune magazine.

Question 34

The EEOC recovers about $500 million on behalf of office romance victims.

Question 35

Monitoring departmental and corporate performance regarding ethical issues can cause firms to misalign ethical and strategic decision making.

Question 36

After decades of debate and struggle, firms have finally definitively determined the appropriate social policies.

Question 37

In some foreign countries, paying bribes and kickbacks is acceptable.

Question 38

In Europe, romantic relationships at work are frowned upon, and most firms have policies prohibiting the practice.

Question 39

Social policy concerns what responsibilities the firm has to employees, consumers, environmentalists, minorities, communities, shareholders, and other groups.

Question 40

In order to be considered bribery, the gift offered must be either money or a physical item.

Question 41

According to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), more than 25,000 elephants are killed each year for their ivory-even though international trade in ivory has been outlawed since 1989.

Question 42

Like the United States, Japan is eager to rely on large-scale immigration to bolster its workforce.

Question 43

Orphan drugs offer pharmaceutical companies no economic incentive for profitable development and distribution.

Question 44

Unlike the USA, Japan has no law against discrimination based on age.

Question 45

Workplace romance and sexual harassment are synonymous.

Question 46

Companies such as Walmart are now monitoring not only the prices its vendors offer for products, but also how those products are made in terms of environmental practices, as well as safety and infrastructure soundness.

Question 47

ISO, the world's largest developer of sustainability standards, is legally authorized to enforce their standards.

Question 48

New Jersey's goal is to obtain 3 percent of its electricity from the sun and 12 percent from offshore wind by 2020.

Question 49

While it is socially responsible to be a good steward of the natural environment, doing so will not enable a firm to gain competitive advantage.

Question 50

Sustainability reports reveal how a firm's operations impact the natural environment.

Question 51

California is the nation's second-largest producer of solar energy.

Question 52

ISO 14001 is a technical standard and as such replaces technical requirements embodied in statutes or regulations.

Question 53

It has gotten easier for firms to get away with placing "green" terminology on their products and labels because there are still no legal or generally accepted definitions of terms like "organic," "green," "safe," or "earth-friendly."

Question 54

The ISO 14000 family of standards concerns the extent to which a firm minimizes harmful effects on the environment caused by its activities and continually monitors and improves its own environmental performance.

Question 55

There is no country that favors or engages in commercial whaling today.

Question 56

The percentage of persons age 65 or older will reach 20 percent in the United States in 2018.

Question 57

Employee wellness cannot be a part of sustainability.

Question 58

Some ways in which firm's are working to be more environmentally responsible include using solar power and selling organic and environmentally friendly products.

Question 59

The percentage of persons age 65 or older exceeds 20 percent in Japan, Italy, and Germany.

Question 60

Japan is providing incentives for its elderly to work until ages 65-75.

Question 61

Bribery involves

A) bestowing a gift to influence the recipient's conduct.
B) requiring employees to report any unethical violations they discover or see in the firm.
C) prohibiting love affairs between bosses and their subordinates.
D) encouraging firms to play a role in curing society of its ills.
E) forcing companies to take responsibility for the impact their actions have on society.

Question 62

________ are the individuals primarily responsible for ensuring that high ethical principles are espoused and practiced in an organization.

A) Non-management employees
B) Mid-level managers
C) Shareholders
D) Strategists such as CEOs and business owners
E) Governmental regulatory bodies

Question 63

Which of the following companies ranks among those against whom some of the largest payouts for class-action legal fraud suits ever were judged?

A) AOL Time Warner
B) Walt Disney
C) Starbucks
D) Herman Miller
E) Edison

Question 64

Firms can align ethical and strategic decision making by

A) omitting ethical considerations from long-term planning.
B) excluding ethical decision making from the performance appraisal process.
C) discouraging whistle-blowing.
D) monitoring departmental and corporate performance regarding ethical issues.
E) All of the above

Question 65

The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and a new provision in the Dodd-Frank financial regulation-law allows company employees who bring cases of financial fraud, such as bribery, to the government's attention to receive ________ percent of any sum recovered.

A) less than 10
B) exactly 20
C) up to 30
D) about 40
E) at least 50

Question 66

All of the following business actions are considered to be unethical EXCEPT

A) moving jobs overseas.
B) preventing environmental harm.
C) overpricing.
D) sexual harassment.
E) insider trading.

Question 67

Sustainability refers to the extent that an organization's operations and actions ________ the natural environment.

A) protect
B) mend
C) preserve
D) reflect good stewardship of
E) All of the above

Question 68

Business ethics, ________, and sustainability issues are interrelated and impact all areas of the comprehensive strategic-management model.

A) social responsibility
B) social networking
C) fiscal irresponsibility
D) cultural indifference
E) None of the above

Question 69

Which of the following is NOT a way that companies can help create an ethical culture in their organization?

A) Outlining ethical expectations
B) Giving examples of ethical situations that commonly occur in their businesses
C) Providing code-of-conduct manuals
D) Creating interactive exercises that pose hypothetical ethical dilemmas
E) Discouraging whistle-blowing

Question 70

Bad ethics can ________ strategic plans.

A) derail all but the best
B) derail even the best
C) derail only poorly-intentioned
D) derail only ill-conceived
E) never affect

Question 71

Workplace romance

A) is defined as unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature.
B) is defined as illegal by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
C) should be strictly forbidden by organizations.
D) simply happens so organizations should determine how to best manage the phenomena.
E) is an intimate relationship between two employees, one of whom is not consenting.

Question 72

A code of business ethics is

A) sorely needed in light of a new wave of ethical issues including product safety, employee health, and sexual harassment.
B) concerned with what responsibilities the firm has to employees, consumers, environmentalists, minorities, communities, and other groups.
C) a report that reveals how the firm's operations impact the natural environment.
D) a set of strict regulations requiring firms to conserve energy.
E) a series of voluntary standards in the environmental field.

Question 73

Responsibility for encouraging ethical decision making and ensuring ethical behavior in a firm lies with

A) only a firm's strategists.
B) only a firm's managers.
C) only a firm's shareholders.
D) both a firm's strategists and its managers.
E) neither a firm's strategists nor its managers.

Question 74

________ refers to policies that require employees to report any unethical violations they discover or see in the firm.

A) Whistle-blowing
B) Bribery
C) Adultery
D) Sustainability
E) Stewardship

Question 75

The United Kingdom's new Bribery Law

A) is less stringent than the similar U.S. FCPA.
B) carries a minimum 10-year prison sentence for those convicted of bribery.
C) allows foreign companies doing business in the UK to bribe officials if that is their national convention.
D) stipulates that failure to prevent bribery is an offense.
E) All of the above

Question 76

Ethics training programs should contain which of the following?

A) Messages from the CEO or business owner emphasizing ethical business practices
B) The development and discussion of codes of ethics
C) Procedures for discussing unethical behavior
D) Procedures for reporting unethical behavior
E) All of the above

Question 77

Simply having a code of ethics

A) will ensure ethical business behavior.
B) eliminates the need for periodic ethics workshops.
C) is all that is necessary to sensitize people to workplace circumstances in which ethics issues may arise.
D) is insufficient to guarantee that employees behave in an ethical manner.
E) secures an ethics culture in the workplace.

Question 78

Unethical activities that plague online commerce include all of the following EXCEPT

A) inappropriate gifts.
B) spreading viruses.
C) identity theft.
D) Internet fraud.
E) hacking into company computers.

Question 79

More and more firms believe that ethics training and an ethics culture

A) are socially irresponsible.
B) are admirable but damage a firm's competitive positioning.
C) are costly and provide no practical benefit to the company.
D) create strategic advantage.
E) can tarnish the reputation of a firm.

Question 80

Which of the following business actions is considered to be unethical?

A) Having satisfactory product or service safety
B) Selling products in foreign markets
C) Providing equal opportunities for women and minorities
D) Filing expense accounts
E) Misleading labeling