1. "In America, for instance, shareholders have a comparatively big say in the running of the enterprises they own; workers. . . have much less influence. In many European countries, shareholders have less say and workers more . . . [I]n Japan . . . managers have been left alone to run their companies as they see fit-namely for the benefit of employees and of allied companies, as much as for shareholders".
The Economist. 1992. [Corporate governance special section] September 11: 52-62.
1.1 Discuss how you would identify stakeholders and what role you would give them in a company in which you are the CEO.
1.2 Discuss the economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities you would have to consider in managing the business and suggest reasons you would provide to the board as to why Corporate Social Responsibility is important to incorporate into the strategic plan of the organization.
2. It has been said that the most thoughtful analyses of why stakeholder management might be related to corporate performance in due course resort to normative arguments in support of this view. There are those who thus suggest that the decisive justification for the stakeholder theory is to be found in its normative foundation which is concerned with supplying and justifying a coherent moral system of thinking and judging; In any event, the most conspicuous alternative to the stakeholder theory (i.e., management serving only the shareholders as per Milton Friedman's theory of profit maximization) is morally unsustainable.
2.1 Discuss the above statement and suggest what you believe to be the role of shareholders and investors in an organization and state how you would deal with them as you seek sustainability.
2.2 Explain the conventional approach to business ethics and discuss the role of the law with its ‘codified ethics' and suggest how these may affect ethical judgment in any organization irrespective of its size.