Transcript Assignment #3 - Tennessee Tech Blogs

Managing Ethical and Social
Responsibility Challenges in
Multinational Companies
Assignment #3
September 20, 2016
Ethics Case Part 1
Rex Lewis is a 25 year-old manager for ICS Corp., a small U.S. manufacturer of
dietary supplements. After graduation, Mr. Lewis worked at company
headquarters in Lexington, Nebraska in a variety of positions. As an
international business major, Mr. Lewis jumped at the chance to take a
position as country manager in Matinea. Mr. Lewis studied the Matinean
language for four years and visited the country for a summer while an
undergraduate. He feels confident that he can handle this position because he
has both the managerial and cultural experience.
Ethics Case Part 2
ICS’s major product is SUPALL, a dietary supplement that is inexpensive to
produce and that can provide children with all of their basic nutritional needs.
This product is very attractive to poor countries such as Matinea, where
agricultural production is not sufficient to feed the population and recent
droughts have made the situation even worse. Although cheaper than a wellrounded basic diet, one child’s monthly supply of SUPALL costs about onequarter of an average worker’s salary at current prices, and most families are
quite large.
Ethics Case Part 3
In his first week in Matinea, Mr. Lewis makes a variety of startling discoveries.
In spite of the relatively high price of SUPALL, demand in the Matinean market
is strong. Moreover, ICS is making a 50% return on the product. Now, Mr.
Lewis realizes why the revenues from SUPALL have been able to support his
company’s crucial R&D research on other products. When he worked back in
the United States, the CEO told him personally that if ICS doesn’t come up
with new products soon, the big companies will soon have a SUPALL-type
product, and the price will fall drastically.
Ethics Case Part 4
Mr. Lewis begins to wonder whether the price is fair for the Matineans. The
price of SUPALL is cheaper than food, but it takes virtually all of a family’s
income to buy it. Yet ICS needs the profits to survive. Mr. Lewis has the
authority to set prices in the country, but he must justify his decision to
headquarters back in the United States.
Questions
1.
What should Mr. Lewis do if he is obliged to follow the moral language
assigned to you on the next slide?
2. What moral language would you personally adopt in this situation and
why?
3.
If what you prescribed in question #1 is the moral language of ICS Corp.,
can you reconcile this with your answer to #2? If so, how?
Moral Language Assignment
Moral Language Assignment
Student Numbers
Virtue and vice
24, 22,2, 17, 23, 9, 25
Self-control
15, 39, 3 20, 28, 40, 18
Maximizing human welfare
37, 4, 5, 31, 21, 10, 41
Avoiding harm
12, 34, 11, 36, 32, 19, 30
Rights and duties
14, 35, 38, 8, 7, 33, 6, 43
Social contract
29, 27, 16, 26, 1, 13, 42