QUESTION 1
Susan Sharpe, an amateur but very smart stock trader, by means of properly analyzing public sources of information and using her native intelligence and keen deductive powers correctly reasons that Big Oil Company has discovered oil in its holdings off Vietnam. In fact, the company has discovered oil, a lot of oil, but that information is kept highly confidential in the company. Susan buys shares of stock in Big Oil based on her deductions alone. She is correct in her deductions and as a result makes a great deal of money when the oil discovery is announced by Big Oil and its stock prices soar. Susan can best be described as acting:
a.Illegally since she is a misappropriator of insider information who wrongfully purchased stock based on the inside information.
b.Illegally since the level-playing-field theory is the prevailing legal theory of insider trading and obviously Susan had more and better information than the people she purchased the stock from.
c.Legally since she is a very smart, and perhaps a bit lucky, trader.
d.Immorally pursuant to Machiavellian ethics since she took advantage of someone who was ignorant and thus she committed a traditional bad act.
QUESTION 2
Which is an accurate statement about the modern business corporation|
a.The corporation, once approved by the state and given a corporate charter, is a legal actor and artificial "person" endowed with legal and certain constitutional rights.
b.According to the traditional, conservative, Milton Friedman, organizational view of the corporation, it is only a legal actor and has no moral or social responsibility and just must obey the law and pay taxes.
c. A true corporate code of ethics today must have some provisions that go "above and beyond" the law; that is, an ethics code cannot be a mere "restatement" of the law.
d. All of the above.
QUESTION 3
Maria owns her own business and has just attended a cash flow management seminar where it was suggested the businesses should delay paying their suppliers as long as absolutely possible even if doing so violates the stated payment terms. Maria decides to continue paying her supplies on time in accordance with their payment terms because Maria would like her customers to pay her on time. Maria has reached her decision primarily in accordance with:
a. Ethical relativism
b. Utilitarianism
c. Corporate social responsibility
d. Kantian ethics.
QUESTION 4
CEO Alfredo is a devout believer in freedom of contract and the free use of one's private property. Considering these facts, which of the following may best be classified as an accurate statement about Alfredo?
a. He will always follow the Utilitarian approach to the resolution of moral issues in business.
b. He is a socially responsible "satisfier" rather than a profit-maximizer.
c. He is not a Natural Rights believer.
d. He is not disqualified from being an ethical thinker and actor concerning business-related moral issues.
QUESTION 5
Which of the following is a FALSE statement?
a. A Utilitarian analysis could morally support the closing of a plant in the U.S. and the outsourcing of the jobs to India if the good consequences resulting from the closure and outsourcing outweighed the harms to the U.S. employees and local community.
b. Kant would not be concerned with a company doing anything for downsized, displaced, and dislocated U.S. workers as a result of a plant closure and downsizing and outsourcing of their jobs overseas since everyone knows that "things are tough" in a global economy.
c. Pollution not only has a legal dimension but also a moral one due to the effects of pollution on the environment, human beings, and other sentient creatures.
d. A Utilitarian would be likely to approve the pollution credit plan because a greater good of less pollution for society is achieved; whereas a Kantian would be likely to disapprove it because some local communities are suffering "legal" pollution.
QUESTION 6
CEO Cleo believes her corporation must consider what effects corporate actions may have on the company's stakeholders. Which of the following theories is NOT part of Cleo's approach to business?
a. Corporate "Good Citizenship"
b. Stakeholder Interest
c. Legal Nonfeasance
d. Social Responsibility
QUESTION 7
Biotech Research Associates asks it employees to consider ethical behavior from the Categorical Imperative perspective. This ethical approach
a. Allows a person to legally control the behavior who behave unethically
b. Does not permit individuals to engage in socially responsible actions
c. Focuses primarily on personal advancement
d. Forces a person to consider what would happen as the result of one's action if everyone behaved in a similar way.
QUESTION 8
A war against the repressive government erupts in Country X. The U.S. Congress wants to draft U.S. citizens into the military to help the people of Country X fight for independence. Members of Congress believe that although some U.S. troops may die, hundreds of thousands of people in Country X will be given freedom. The President of the U.S., however, believes that individuals should have the right to choose from themselves whether to fight or not and thus opposes the idea of a draft. The President's feelings closely mirror
a. Kantian ethics
b. Utilitarianism
c. Corporate social responsibility
d. Plato's ethics.
QUESTION 9
Private sector employer monitoring, surveillance, and searches of employees is:
a. Legal constitutionally when the employer is a private sector one and not a government employer.
b. A legal invasion of privacy and thus an intentional tort if conducted in a very intrusive manner which infringes on the personal privacy of the employees.
c. A moral wrong according to Kant if conducted in a disrespectful and demeaning manner.
d. All of the above.
QUESTION 10
A problem with the Last Resort principle when applied to business is:
a. Does business have the capability to help and to aid the community and local charities?
b. Is business the last real alternative to help and to aid the community and local charities?
c. Are there potential legal liability issues for helping, aiding, and rescuing?
d. All of the above.