...Textbook case study 3.1. The Rise and Fall of Four Loko 1) Are these drinks as dangerous as the critics maintain? How much of the problem is due to the high levels of caffeine, how much is due to the labelling and marketing and how much is caused by irresponsible behaviour on the part of the young drinkers? Are companies like Joose and Four Loko being singled out for social problems that are much wider in scope, in particular, alcohol abuse by young people? These drinks have been proven to be as dangerous as claimed because they contain caffeine, which is a stimulant hence keep you awake, while being mixed with alcohol, which is a depressant that slows down the body and brain; together this ‘tricks’ the mind into thinking that you are awake and ready for more alcohol. The cases of New Jersey students being hospitalised due to “serious alcohol poisoning” proves the real potential risks of consuming this beverage. In the case study it states that the caffeine content was boosted from 54mg to 156mg and had 12 percent alcohol, and these figures may not appear to be very high but after multiple drinks in a short amount of time it adds up and most young people simply do not acknowledge or care about these numbers. Personally, I do not think that the under-aged or young people who drink are to blame because it is common for people growing up to be curious and to experiment with things like this, however, there needs to be more work done on the education and awareness of alcohol...
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...Journal of Business Ethics (2007) 74:303–314 DOI 10.1007/s10551-007-9517-y Ó Springer 2007 Stakeholder Capitalism R. Edward Freeman Kirsten Martin Bidhan Parmar ABSTRACT. In this article, we will outline the principles of stakeholder capitalism and describe how this view rejects problematic assumptions in the current narratives of capitalism. Traditional narratives of capitalism rely upon the assumptions of competition, limited resources, and a winner-take-all mentality as fundamental to business and economic activity. These approaches leave little room for ethical analysis, have a simplistic view of human beings, and focus on value-capture rather than valuecreation. We argue these assumptions about capitalism are inadequate and leave four problems in their wake. We wish to reframe the narrative of capitalism around the reinforcing concepts of stakeholders coupled with value creation and trade. If we think about how a society can sustain a system of voluntary value creation and trade, then capitalism can once more become a useful concept. KEY WORDS: capitalism, stakeholder, ethics, economics, free market Introduction1 We live in the age of markets. While markets have been around for thousands of years, we are just beginning to understand their power for organizing society and creating value. In the last 200 years markets have unleashed a tremendous amount of innovation and progress in the West. The industrial revolution, the rise of consumerism, and the dawn...
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...What are Business Ethics? Meaning Ethics is a branch of social science. It deals with moral principles and social values. It helps us to classify, what is good and what is bad? It tells us to do good things and avoid doing bad things. So, ethics separate, good and bad, right and wrong, fair and unfair, moral and immoral and proper and improper human action. In short, ethics means a code of conduct. So, the businessmen must give a regular supply of good quality goods and services at reasonable prices to their consumers. They must avoid indulging in unfair trade practices like adulteration, promoting misleading advertisements, cheating in weights and measures, black marketing, etc. They must give fair wages and provide good working conditions to their workers. They must not exploit the workers. They must encourage competition in the market. They must protect the interest of small businessmen. They must avoid unfair competition. They must avoid monopolies. They must pay all their taxes regularly to the government. In short, business ethics means to conduct business with a human touch in order to give welfare to the society. Need or Importance of Business Ethics Stop business malpractices : Some unscrupulous businessmen do business malpractices by indulging in unfair trade practices like black-marketing, artificial high pricing, adulteration, cheating in weights and measures, selling of duplicate and harmful products, hoarding, etc. These business malpractices are harmful to...
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...Assignment On Capitalism Program: M.com (2)years Smester: 3rd (Evening) TABLE OF CONTENTS · Introduction Of Capitalism. · Capitalism vs Socialism. · Capitalism vs Communism. · Types Of Capitalism. · Advantages Of Capitalism. · Disadvantages Of Capitalism. · Criticism On Capitalism. CAPITALISM An economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, especially as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth. It is easy to forget that capitalism was coined not so long ago, in the mid-19th century, when the Industrial Revolution was in full swing, and individual entrepreneurs were creating new industries and amassing wealth. Terms for the other two major competing economic systems of the past two centuries— socialism and communism—were also coined around the same time. Also, about the same time it became common to designate all such coinages as “isms”: terms formed by adding the suffix -ism to a root word in order to expand its meaning to encompass a related system, theory, or practice. Thus from a fairly old word, capital, the relatively newer word, capitalism, was formed to describe the then emerging economies of the West. On the surface, the meaning of capitalism seems straightforward, referring to an economic system in which private individuals, rather than governments...
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...online discussion we discussed whether "capitalism benefits everybody". Purpose of this discussion was to analyse the importance of sociological imagination and ethical reasoning for better understanding of business, society and government relationship under capitalism, it was valuable to know each other's opinions, knowledge and understanding on the topic. Sociological imagination can be defined as the social analysis of behaviour and traits of business, society and government that assist us in representing images from our previous experience and knowledge, because of each other's uniqueness it was interesting to discuss about this topic and to get a broader response. After participating in the online discussion I can define capitalism as an economic and political system in which a county's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit rather than by the government. There are both advantages and disadvantages to capitalism in Australia but it truly benefits everyone including the Business sector, Government and Society. Since the economic and political systems are controlled by the private sector to gain profit, it'll encourage the owners and the employees to be efficient and produce quality goods and services. This will increase GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in Australia, and therefore it will also increase the country’s economy which will benefit both the government and the society. As most of us have discussed capitalism definitely benefits the society, because...
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...Capitalism & the Invisible Hand Throughout the history of civilization have been two forms of social administrations: Individualism which has taken the form of capitalism and collectivism which has taken many different forms, each form different from one another, such as socialism, communism, nazism, and etc. Capitalism is an economic system in which most of the means of production and distribution, such as businesses or factories, are not owned by the government but by the private individuals who operate them for profits. (“13b. Comparing Economic Systems.”) In the center of the free-market capitalism is the individual who has four basic rights: • The right to own private property. • The right to own a business and to keep the profits made by operating his business. • The right to freedom of competition. • The right of freedom of choice. (Nickels, Understanding Business) On the other hand, socialism is an economic system that calls for putting most of the means of production in the hands of government which will share the wealth and income more equally among people.( Nickels, Understanding Business) The main goal of socialism is to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor. Thus, the government has the responsibility to evenly distribute the wealth in order to make the society just and fair. (“13b. Comparing Economic Systems.”) An individual attempts to become wealthy, which explains why his focus is only on profits, but to achieve this goal he has to exchange...
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...property, and recently, capitalism. Capitalism is a system where trade and industry is in the hands of private owners and not the state.Although people claim that capitalism gives people more freedom over their wealth, it is one of the many forms of oppression as it is the cause of exploitation of labour and resources. Capitalism leads to the exploitation of human resources. According to David William Pear, Henry Kissinger states that, “Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole...
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...which is based on quality academic journal articles, texts and research institutes’ materials. The report clarifies each member’s interaction and its power residents. This power resident and relationship can be reformed through social agenda setting. There is possibility that power-balanced society in capitalism can be diminished through its change into neoliberalism agenda. This is examined through reviewing Japan’s development in last couple of decade. Contents Table 1.0 introduction..............................................................................................3 2.0 Role and power resident.........................................................................3 2.1 The role and power resident of Government.....................................................3 2.2 The role and power resident of Corporations....................................................4 2.3 The role and power resident of Citizens...........................................................5 3.0 An Interaction of Government, Corporations and Citizens…………6 4.0 Character of social context (capitalism, neoliberalism)…………....7 4.1 A power interaction in Capitalism...................................................................7 4.2 A power interaction in Neoliberalism..............................................................8 5.0 Analyzing power relations in recent decades of Japanese society…10 6.0 Conclusion.................................
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...REACTION PAPER In the introduction of conscious capitalism, John Mackey gives us a brief history on how he established Safer Way which is now known as Whole Foods Market with no prior business education background. His intention was to create a business that was ethical and purpose driven. His insight on free enterprise capitalism is much focused throughout the introduction and first chapter, its importance and how it has changed the world. I agree with the findings because, it free enterprise capitalism has led to innovations and social cooperation that any other system. It has freed millions of individuals from extreme poverty and enabled businesses to open up around the world that have contributed to the welfare of humanity. Raj Sisodia, the co-author of the book together with Mackey, have pursued to change the way business is thought about, taught and practiced through their movement. This is both noble and I believe it’s our human responsibility to find solutions to the world and innovations that can take us to the next phase of how business is done. Capitalism has been misunderstood and has been tagged with bad titles such as crony capitalism, profit maximization for investors as top priority and unethical business activities as inferred by products from its activity. Crony capitalism is one of the most tagged names of big corporations because they have the financial resources to corrupt and bribe the government and inturn use this power for their own enrichment. Although...
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...Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” Max Webers “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” is an analysis as to the relationship between the emergence of the spirit of capitalism in the west and the ethics of Calvinism. He argues that Calvinism catalysed this creation of the capitalist spirit. His study arose when he asked himself why capitalism had emerged out of Western Europe before anywhere else in the world, even though the economic conditions seemed identical in many of these places. In this essay I will argue that this relationship between the two isn’t as paramount as Weber suggests, and in fact may be completely arbitrary. I believe this for a number of reasons including the distorting effect Webers use of a “ideal type” has and the fact that some areas where Calvinism was practiced heavily Capitalism developed a lot later in, while others with no Calvinist beliefs still did develop Capitalism. Weber starts his analyse looking at the intrinsic relationship between religion and business. He emphasises how sect membership is a sign that you are trustworthy and will be a good business partner, as admission to one of these congregations only happens after a careful probation, where your conduct, back to early childhood, is assessed and checked for any kind of frivolity. Admission therefore is a guarantee of the moral qualities of someone, it is a badge of honour showing you have those qualities that are required in business matters. As a result only those...
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...Sansbury (2009). Capitalism Capitalism according to Sansbury (Pg 128, 2009) didn’t emerge until the renaissance in Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Capitalism can be defined ideally as an economic system in which the major portion of production and distribution is in private hands, operating under what is termed a profit or market system (Barry, V,. Sansbury, G,. and Shaw, W.H. (2009) Moral Issues in Business, 1st ed. Cengage Australia, Melbourne). Most businesses in Australia, New Zealand and the United States are privately owned. The State doesn’t control these private businesses nor does it tell the owners how much to produce or caps their earnings. These Countries are examples of Capitalism at work amongst the many businesses. Capitalism didn’t wholly arrive until the renaissance in Europe till the 15th and 16th centuries. Capitalism that emerged around that time was called ‘Mercantile capitalism’, as Industrialization increased so did the size and power of business. As competition intensified an industry’s survival came to depend on its financial strength to reduce prices and either eliminate competition or absorb them. To shore up their assets, industries engaged in ‘financial capitalism’, characterized by pools, trusts, holding companies and an interpenetration of banking, insurance and industrial interests. The trend continued towards larger corporations controlling more and more of the country’s economic capacity. Capitalism increasingly...
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...Delivering Responsible Capitalism - The Growth of Employee Ownership Delivering Responsible Capitalism - The Growth of Employee Ownership In “Delivering Responsible Capitalism - The Growth of Employee Ownership” (Forbes, 2014), author shows that the author shows a considerable growth of worker participation in companies in a model called for him of “responsible capitalism”. The author supports the main idea using data based on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and examples of successful experiences of this model, named for him as an “alternative business model”. In 2008, Lehman Brothers, the second largest investment bank in the United States, founded 158 years ago, led the largest ever seen panic on Wall Street in decades. The announcement of the collapse of the Lemon Brothers caused instability in the pockets of the world, and forced everyone to seek new methods of capitalism. The idea thus of a responsible capitalism emerged, and it stabilizes the economy weakened by crisis again. According to the Refoy, " the profile of employee owned businesses has increased greatly in recent years, not only in the UK, but also in the US and Europe”. The fact is that is has become a viable option for ownership of the business, causing many enterprises to follow the same model. Furthermore, the increased focus and assistance from governments, especially the UK, by facilitating the business success. The new tax incentives took effect in the United Kingdom, from October 01, 2014, helped...
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...Business, Government Society Models Interactions among business, government, and society are infinite and their meaning is open to interpretation. Faced with this complexity, many people use simple mental models to impose order and meaning on what they observe. These models are like prisms, each having a different refractive quality, each giving the holder a different view of the world. Depending on the model (or prism) used, a person will think differently about the scope of business power in society, criteria for managerial decisions, the extent of corporate responsibility, the ethical duties of managers, and the need for regulation. The following four models are basic alternatives for seeing the BGS relationship. As abstractions they oversimplify reality and magnify central issues. Each model can be both descriptive and prescriptive; that is, it can be both an explanation of how the BGS relationship does work and, in addition, an ideal about how it should work. The Market Capitalism Model The market capitalism model, shown in Figure 1.2, depicts business as operating within a market environment, responding primarily to powerful economic forces. There, it is substantially sheltered from direct impact by social and political forces. The market acts as a buffer between business and nonmarket forces. To appreciate this model, it is important to understand the history and nature of markets and the classic explanation of how they work. Markets are as old as humanity, but...
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...The Morality of Capitalism 500520316 ENT 527 Ryerson University Dr. Jeffrey Overall Friday, January 23, 2015 Capitalism is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned. Through the capitalist system, state and economic affairs are completely separated, leaving the government with a single role to protect individual rights against those who pose a threat against others through physical force. Capitalism is diminishing as government regulations of most countries have increased with the intent to gain more revenue through the involvement of business affairs. Therefore, governments are subsidizing businesses through loans, bailouts and tax credits. Although laws and institutions are vital, capitalism is sustained by the more fundamental role played by basic human spirit of independence, initiative, and innovation conducted through entrepreneurship. Capitalism is the only social system that protects the human means of survival which consists of thinking and applying reason to produce material values or creating innovation. Capitalism is a system of freedom where individuals have a choice in work or business to be involved with and the choice to trade with others freely through mutual agreement. Capitalism creates better products, better production and better distribution processes through its system of competition and innovation, resulting in lower costs and prices. An example demonstrating...
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...Roots of capitalism have been debated by economists and social critics during and since the end of the industrial revolution. Capitalism is an economic system that allows consumers to determine which products to buy or sell while allowing firms to take full control of the business and production. Karl Marx and Adam Smith, highly known economic philosophers, challenged and supported the role of capitalism in the nineteenth century. Later, during the twentieth century, Robert Heilbroner introduced the traditional theory of capitalism where he identifies a division between ‘two realms of capitalism’. In his book, Twenty-First Century Capitalism, Heilbroner identifies the two realms of capitalism as “economic” and “political” and deliberates that...
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