...Monsanto and the Moral Challenge Surrounding Genetically Modified Products Ethics and Humanity: Company Case Briefing Monsanto and the Moral Challenge Surrounding Genetically Modified Products The “good company” operates with four pillars in mind, each a different level for the firm to exhibit its corporate social responsibility. First, the company must ensure its commitment to the health, safety, productivity and profitability of its own employees. Second, the company must be actively customer-focused, establishing clear and open lines of communications and trust, while also demonstrating a duty of care in their operations. Third, the company must be globally-oriented towards the industry as a whole. And fourth, the company must display an investment in their own community. At each of those levels—the individual employee, the customer, the industry and the community, the “good company” should endeavor to uphold its own corporate pledge to deliver results while also taking responsibility for its activities. Applying this framework to Monsanto is a precarious task, but below we will examine the moral challenge that the company faces currently, identifying key stakeholders, and discerning the possible moral outcomes to its many challenges. Monsanto Company provides agricultural products for farmers in the US and abroad. With nearly 23,000 employees, the company has a history of producing and marketing...
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...don't seem to coincide with those ideals. It is exactly what people hope to see when reading any company's code of ethics. Upon researching Monsanto and it's ethical issues, I have come to the conclusion that I do not believe them to be very ethical actors, or at the very least, they know how to operate in gray areas. While they do donate to charities, those donations seem to have motivation beyond altruism. To me, their donating seeds to third world nations is really only an attempt to get in to an untapped market that will eventually rely on them. The reason I believe this is because they have shown through past actions that their main goal is to control the majority of the world's GMO supply whether it is seeds or Prosilac, the hormone used to produce more milk in cows, or any other product they produce. They sued DuPont, a competitor, for trying to create their own seeds that could withstand Roundup (a Monsanto product that has all but completely saturated the marketplace). If DuPont didn't try to engineer seeds that could withstand Roundup, they literally wouldn't be able to compete as Roundup is so widely used. Their seeds would not produce crops and they wouldn't have customers. Also, the fact that their customers cannot reuse seeds from year to year shows profit motivation. Obviously, businesses rely on profit, but I feel like Monsanto has abused the power it has secured over the food supply. If their goals were simply to wipe out world...
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...Case 1: “Monsanto Attempts to Balance Stakeholder Interests” Dr. Obradovich Case 1: “Monsanto Attempts to Balance Stakeholder Interests” Harry Stevenson September 15th, 2015 Monsanto is one of the world’s largest industrial agriculture businesses, especially focusing on genetically modified products. The company specializes in biotechnology, modifying crops and genetic manipulation of organisms. These modifications help farmers by using less land and creating more crops, which equals more profits. Genetically modified (GM) food also helps create solutions to world hunger problems and is a rapidly growing product for famers. GM products have stirred up controversy everywhere they are distributed, and Monsanto, being a huge multinational corporation and a major producer, is at the center of the debate. Throughout the company’s history, Monsanto has been attacked with criticisms from governments, farmers and activists groups because of their controversial products. This case deals with the ethical implications of producing and selling a product without understanding the environmental and physical implications of the products. Monsanto claims that its products are safe, and the FDA has proclaimed that GM food is safe to consume but critics are not convinced and continue to try and stop the use of GM products. Monsanto has showed a clear disregard for ethical obligations in its history and continues to downplay the importance of environmental and physical risks to the...
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...along with its benefits. The fact that not everything is known about GMOs, and that large corporations use it to make a profit, is scary for many people. The recent technology of genetically engineering crops, which involves modifying their genetic structure, has led to benefits for farmers and everyday people; however, there are also numerous concerns due to the fact that the long term results are unknown, the possibility of dangerous accidents, and the danger of increased chemical usage. One benefit of GMOs is that they can potentially produce higher crop yields. As stated by Bartlett and Steele, “farmers believe that GM seeds increase crop yields, save money, and are more convenient.” Especially if you’re using seeds from Monsanto. Before Monsanto became the...
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... |3 | |Question 2 |6 | |Question 3 |8 | |Islamic Perspective |12 | |References |16 | CASE ANALYSIS: MOSANTO BALANCES WORLDWIDE STAKEHOLDER CONCERN. Monsanto company is a multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation which is based in U.S as a headquarter. It is the leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate around the world. The corporation was founded in 1901 by John Francis Queeny, and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. It operates in agricultural biotechnology products such as Herbicides, pesticides; crop seeds. The company previously involved chemicals and later switched its business to biotechnological foods. The revenue of the company in 2008 was $11.365 billion where net income from this revenue was $2.024 billion and these earnings ware generated by 21,700...
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...The Monsanto company is the largest seed company, with sales of more than $11.5 billion (Ferrell and Hartline, 2014). 90 percent of the world’s genetically modified seeds are sold by Monsanto or by companies that use Monsanto genes. They also hold 70 to 100 percent market share on certain crops (Ferrell and Hartline, 2014). But, Monsanto has been criticized by stakeholders as diverse as governments, farmers, activists, and advocacy groups. The critics accused the multinational giant Monsanto of trying to take over the world's food supply and destroying biodiversity. The criticisms did not deter Monsanto from becoming one of the world’s most successful companies (Ferrell and Hartline, 2014). In 1970 Monsanto went through major legal issues...
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...Monsanto Attempts to Balance Stakeholder Interests Course: MAN 3065 Group#: 1 Date Submitted: Oct. 2, 2014 Member: Evelyn Arfaro Reference#: 810149 Member: Claudia Calmet Term: 2014-15 Member: Claudia Castro Days: T & Th Member: Loanny Martinez Time: 7:05 pm – 8:20 pm Member: Jeanette Ramos Prof: Hoa N. Burrows, CPA, MBA Monsanto is one of the largest seed company in the United States and was found by John F. Queeny in 1901 in St. Louis, Missouri. The Monsanto company has created a variety of products to include the artificial sweetener saccharine used by Coca-Cola. Due to past major legal obstacles (Orange Agent) they shifted their efforts from the chemical realm to an organization focused on biotechnology. Their past history has generated a consensus on the possibility of how biotechnology might affect the environment and peoples’ health (Ferrell 302). In order to look at stakeholder’s interest we must look at whether Monsanto maintain an ethical culture that effectively responds to various stakeholders; we must compare the benefits of growing GM seeds for crops with the potential negative consequences of using them; and how should Monsanto manage the potential harm to plant and animal life from using products such as Roundup. Who are Monsanto Stakeholders? Monsanto Stakeholders are their employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders, communities and investors...
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...Monsanto is a large publically traded multinational agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation. Founded in 1901 with around 22,000 employees, there net income is over two billion dollars and total assets 20.6 billion dollars. Monsanto is known for their scientists in the chemical company due to their many breakthroughs. They are also known for their production of controversial products such as Agent Orange, DDT, PCBs and bovine growth hormone. Agent Orange was one of the herbicides used by the United States military as apart of the herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand. Monsanto was contracted by the United States Department of Defense to produce a defoliant so the military would be able to better see the enemy...
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...genetically engineered growth hormone "Posilac", or bovine somatotropin (BST). Monsanto couldn't tell me. It might be 7 per cent, it might be 15, it might be 30. Anywhere from 700,000 to three million cows receive it, and their milk is not labelled, nor is the cheese or yoghurt that's made from it. An estimated 45-50 million acres of GM crops (ofthe 69.5 million planted globally) now grow in the US. These, too, go unnoticed by the average citizen. They are grown on huge, isolated farms and then sold in bulk to distributors and processors from where they slip undeclared into all manner of products - as soy beans into sauces, as potatoes into chips at McDonald's, as corn into tins of minestrone, as cotton into garments. According to Monsanto, this is because GM crops are safe and desirable. According to their detractors, they do so because of decades of political cosiness between government and agri-business. Both sides agree, though, that Monsanto won the first round of the battle in 1993, when BST became, in Monsanto's words, "the first product of biotechnology approved for commercial sale". Ronnie Cummins, director of the Campaign for Food Safety, a pressure group based in Minnesota and Washington, DC, is still fighting its use. "It's crack for cows," he says. "You can make some money if you're going to discard your cows after two or three years. The only reason Monsanto keeps it on the market is that it would be a disaster to admit that it was wrong...
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...Francisco, CA 94107 tel: (415) 293-9900 fax: (415) 293-8394 info-ca@fwwatch.org www.foodandwaterwatch.org Copyright © 2013 by Food & Water Watch. All rights reserved. This report can be viewed or downloaded at www.foodandwaterwatch.org. A CORPORATE PROFILE Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Company History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Modern-Day Monsanto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Monsanto’s Environmental Impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Market Share . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Figure 1. TIMELINE: A Selected History of Monsanto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Influence on Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Figure 2. Monsanto’s Interlocking Board Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Figure 3. Monsanto’s Revolving...
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...Modified Organisms (GMO) are the result of splicing foreign genetic material, like a transgene, into a target organism’s DNA to create an organism showing at least one new genetic characteristic. With the world’s population continuing to increase, farmers and their crops will be heavily relied on to produce the worlds agricultural needs. As one of the leading agricultural company in the world, Monsanto is focused on sustainable agriculture and has been one of many company that has assisted farmers in developing seeds that can lead produce the necessary result the world needs. One of the ways they do this is by creating genetically modified seeds such as the Roundup Ready Wheat seeds that can yield increase crops and be safe for consumption. However, because of opposition to GMO from other countries and organizations, Monsanto has the answer the moral question of whether or not to introduce the wheat or delay it or drop it entirely. I think Monsanto should introduce the wheat but only on a trial and timed basis. II. Significant Facts – Monsanto’s Roundup Ready Wheat Monsanto is one the of the world’s largest agricultural companies that specializes in both conventional and genetically modified organism (GMO) seeds and other products. They pride themselves in respecting all those that are affected by their actions, including making better seed. They create seeds that are engineered to fit environmental places which have limited choice in areas incapable of sustaining...
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...Monsanto Paper By Raikirat Sohi MBA 505 Foundation of Management A. Hetro Jay S. Sidhu School of Business and Management November 18, 2014 COMPANY HISTORY AND PROFILE Monsanto is one of the Fortune 500 Company with its headquarters located in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. It employs 21183 employee globally providing 146 facilities in In USA alone, it employees 10277 employees distributing 404 facilities over 66 countries (Monsanto, 2014). It is an American multinational agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation. It serves its customers with products ranging from agricultural and vegetable seeds, plant biotechnology traits to crop protection chemicals. In present times it is the leading manufacturer of genetically engineered seeds and herbicide glyphosate marketed under brand name round up (Monsanto, 2014). It was founded in 1901by John F. Queeny with his wife Olga Monsanto Queeny. The first produce that was manufactured by this company was saccharin (the artificial sweetener) that was sold to Coca-Cola Company. By 1905, Monsanto benefitted ad progressed through the sale of vanillin and caffeine. During the time of World war 2 Monsanto was unable to import chemicals that were needed by them from Europe so in order to compensate that it started producing chemicals on its own. Monsanto went public in Stock exchange in 1929. During this era of 1920’s Monsanto expanded in chemical industries producing sulphuric acid and PCB’s. Monsanto’s first PCB manufacturing...
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...controversy over GMOs not many people know what and how dangerous GMO’s are. GMO’s are organisms produced from crops whose genetic makeup has been altered through a process called recombinant DNA, or gene splicing, to give the crop a desirable trait (Bren). Genetic engineering is also defined as the copying of a gene from one plant or animal and adding it to another plant or animal. Monsanto is one of the large producers of GMO seeds. Monsanto offers farmers a wide range of GMO corn, soybean, cotton, wheat, canola, sorghum and sugar cane seeds. Theses seeds have been genetically altered to produce a pesticide, yields more per seed, and withstand harsher weather conditions. Some of these plants are now, what is called, roundup ready (Monsanto). Roundup ready plants can be sprayed with roundup and not be effected by it. Due to the use of Roundup ready plants farmers are not having to be as careful when spraying these plants and more often then not they spray more roundup on them then needed. Roundup Ready Soybean (RRS) is "an intelligent solution in favor of the environment," claims Monsanto, the agricultural chemical company that makes genetically engineered RRS (Greenpeace). Likewise, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) claims "it [Roundup Ready Soybean] does not require premarket approval" and "the special labeling [of it] is inappropriate" (Whitmore). Currently, up to 85...
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...An Introduction to the topic of GMOs Ruby Gutierrez Adventist University of Health Sciences Abstract GMOs are a promising and exciting revolution in agriculture. The technology, if safe, could allow humanity to make hunger a thing of the history. On the other hand a technology as powerful as GMOs also has the potential of changing our lives and ecosystems irreversibly. This paper is a basic introduction into the topic of genetically modified organisms and the concerns consumers and advocates around the world have about this technology, its approval, and future impact in the environment and societies around the world. Keywords: GMOs, FDA, agriculture, Monsanto, patents, corruption, environment. GMOs: An Introduction We live in an area where the acquisition of knowledge is only a few keystrokes away for any given subject. The pace at which new technologies are developed and become obsolete is unprecedented. Each new invention brings the hope and promise of a better tomorrow, an improved tomorrow. One of these revolutionary technologies are genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Companies that produce GMOs offer the technology as the answer to at least two of our most pressing issues, sustainable agriculture and world hunger. Both issues speak to one of humanity’s most basic biological needs, food. In effect, anything that affects this need should be treated with importance and urgency, because of the essential nature of food for human existence. ...
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...Communications in Business Critical Essay Monsanto A Review of Performance of Monsanto On Genetic Modified Planets to Environment and Mankind Boyang Xu 16004593 Semester Two 2012 Bentley Campus Tutor: Wisdom Jo Tutorial Time: Thursday 14:00-16:00 Email: xby_remind@msn.cn The past century saw huge changes in the business world. The challenge of business is changing rapidly over time. Nowadays, companies are attaching greater importance to their Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) instead of focusing on seeking greatest profits only. Customers are becoming more and more concerned with large multinational companies' performance in respective of their social responsible manner,especially those multinational companies such as Monsanto.The Monsanto Company is an American based multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation,the world's leading producer of the Genetically Modified seeds (Monsanto, 2012a) This paper will review the social performance of Monsanto's various products to mankind, and analyze the impact of these performances on two key stakeholders: the communities Monsanto conducting business operations in and shareholders of the company. An on-balance conclusion about the company's performance in society will be provided at last. With regard to its social performance, Monsanto has always been devoted to the sustainable development of human beings. People around the world rely heavily on agriculture and the farmers working hard to satisfy their...
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