...in the news for raising the price of prescription drugs. The price of Daraprim, a drug to treat toxoplasmosis, was increased by over five thousand percent. The increase has sparked people from both the AIDS and cancer organizations to reach out and attack the ethics of Chief Executive Officer, Martin Shkreli through social media. The increase in price may prevent hospitals from having treatment available for patients who need it. The practice of price gouging prescription drugs has now become an important political topic many candidates running for President of the United States in 2016 will be talking about. Significance of a Solution Recognizing that developing, manufacturing, and marketing pharmaceuticals is a very profitable business, the case of Turing Pharmaceutical’s purchase and marketing of the drug Daraprim spotlights a potentially serious issue with the way some companies “repackage” existing drugs to create higher profit margins. Daraprim (Pyrimethamine) was originally approved January 23, 1953 for the treatment of toxoplasmosis, an infection caused by a very common parasite (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, n.d.). Because most people never exhibit symptoms of this disease, sales of this drug were very small; and, no generic drug company ever bothered to duplicate the formula (Mayo Clinic, 2015). Seizing the opportunity to “corner the market” on this drug, Turing Pharmaceuticals purchased the rights and immediately raised the price from $13.50 per tablet to...
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...The Influence of Law in Business Practice Intro to Business & Technology March 23, 2014 The Influence of Law in Business Practice There are several laws in the United States that are meant to set a standard for fair, balanced, and competitive business practices. These are, by design, a way to ensure that trade- international as well as domestic- is done in a reputable and progressive fashion. There are many aspects that come in to scrutiny in considering whether a business is operating in a way that is fair: one view on this subject I found was related to The Eagle and The Condor Theory. “There is no universally recognized definition of Fair Trade, but its principles and practices include fair wages, cooperative workplaces, consumer education, environmental sustainability, direct trade with producers, financial and technical support for producers, community development, respect for cultural identity, and public accountability through transparency.” (Stenzel, 2012). Related to this description of fair trade, there are laws in the U.S. that aim to regulate business. One such law is the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914. The Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914 was set up to prevent unfair competition among businesses. It also allowed for a Commission (The FTC, or Federal Trade Commission) to be formed to regulate businesses and enforce the Act, which oversees many different things- from false advertising to false claims related to where a product is made. The...
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...rocket scientist to know that the drug epidemic has destroyed many dreams and lives of people of all ages and races. Just about anyone can become an addict when trying out a drug. Most people already know that pain medication is prescribed and available easy and too much and in turn this is creating addicts. In the year of 2010 pharmacies dispensed something like 42 tons of hydrocodone and 69 tons of oxycodone. That’s enough drugs to give each human being in the United States of America 24 Vicodins and 40 Percocet’s. Prescription drugs are exceeding all drugs in levels of abuse. The rates are staggering with deadly results all across the nation DRUGS The drug problem is not an enemy that can be easily vanquished. A side effect is usually regarded as an undesirable secondary effect which occurs in addition to the desired therapeutic effect of a drug or medication. Side effects may vary for each individual depending on the disease state...
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...In order to bring about the changes necessary for customers to receive reasonably priced and faster internet, a significant shift in public attitude must occur, and it must be made evident to governing bodies of the United States. The battle for net neutrality was more or less won by a series of awareness and letter-writing campaigns to representatives and legislators from several activist groups. These actions were started in part by websites encouraging activism, including domains such as savetheinternet.org, and even on the whitehouse.gov website. Online communities like Reddit set posts and discussions of net neutrality in front of all of its viewership, encouraging users to step up against ISPs lobbying against net neutrality. The success of this online movement with regard to defending net neutrality demonstrates that these techniques are very effective; in February of 2015, the FCC voted 3-2 to pass some regulations of internet service, despite fervent...
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...Pharmaceutical prices in the United States of America are among the highest in the world. To this day, prescription drug prices are one of the only facets in healthcare that remain up to the manufacturer to determine. There is no regulation by the United States government or any healthcare entity in America that is preventing large pharmaceutical companies from driving up costs for profit potential. Pharmaceutical companies argue that this high cost is to help maximize research and development efforts. While the United States accounts for roughly 5% of the world’s population, 36% of pharmaceutical research and development stems from American-funded pharmaceutical companies. According to these companies, prices must remain inflated in order...
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...Trade and Finance Speech By: Lauren Peters February 27, 2014 ECO/372 Hello every one today we will be discussing the United States macro economy. I will go into some detailed avenues helping to break down and explain everything into laymen’s terms. I hope from today’s interview you are able to get the information you need for your article. I am going to be discussing the government’s surplus of imports, international trades and affecting the GDP along with domestic markets, and university students, Government choices on tariffs, and quotas, foreign exchange rates, and why we don’t restrict goods imported from China. I will break down into answering and addressing each of these issues, and question that you all are wondering and having questions about. You probably are all wondering what happens when there is a surplus of imports brought into the United States? When we have surplus and a deficit within the economic trading community, it must maintain a balance. When an import surplus happens this creates a trade deficit. This means that the country is consuming more than it produces and exports. Since we are discussing our economy the United States has issues of consuming certain products than what it does in exports. For Example we have a high demand for gasoline within our country. This opens us up to inflation on gasoline prices, and price gouging due to the high demand and consumption of gasoline within this country. Since this type of product is imported into our country...
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...of a Hurricane on the Principles of Supply and Demand Econ 365 Jacob Owen The principles of supply and demand state that supply is the availability of a good or service desired by a consumer. Demand is a measure of the public’s desire for that good of service. As a rule of thumb, if something is very popular, or very necessary, it generally will be in high demand. The demand for a specific good or service can literally change overnight. Case in point when a hurricane enters the Gulf of Mexico, certain products become in high demand especially along the United States Gulf coast. Sudden increases in demand can have both positive and negative results for the producer as well as the consumer. Some of the products that will suddenly go into high demand are batteries, flashlights, gasoline, gas cans, canned food etc. With this sudden increase in demand, producers will likely order and stock more of these items than they normally would. This sudden change in demand makes the usual supply decrease. This results in the suppliers having to increase their production numbers. With a sudden increase in demand and decrease in supply this sometimes leads producers to increase their prices as a result. While the price increase is sometimes necessary to handle the sudden change in demand, some produces engage in “price gouging,” that is artificially inflating prices to take advantage of the increased demand which is highly illegal. Sometimes, when a hurricane makes landfall...
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...For example, in an article from npr.org about the pros and cons of the merger, they brought up the issues that,“‘DirecTV, for instance, might favor Time Warner content, crowding out or refusing to carry alternative and independent programming that viewers might prefer,’ advocacy group Public Knowledge has argued, also positing that AT&T might try to toy with prices to drive customers to its platforms or exclude Time Warner content from data caps on its broadband networks.” AT&T could now very easily lessen competition by engaging in price gouging, price fixing, market allocation, and...
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...this may be the case to strengthen your position. Provide at least one example of a case where having a monopoly or oligopoly may actually benefit the society. Based on your findings to the questions listed above, write a report with a minimum of 300 words in essay format in APA style (use the APA template in Doc Sharing), using correct economic terms covered in the discussions. If you ONLY write 300 words, you probably won’t be able to fully answer the questions. Key concepts to include in your paper include the following. Monopoly Market Structure Oligopoly Market Structure Barriers to Entry Into the Market Natural Monopoly Government Monopoly Downward Sloping Demand Curve Economies of Scale Price Fixing Collusion Monopoly Pricing Price Maker Market Power Economic Profits Imperfect Competition Rent-Seeking Behavior X-Inefficiency Deadweight Loss to Society Marginal Cost Marginal Revenue Antitrust You must use at minimum at least one article from the DeVry Online Library. Note: Although your textbook is a good source of knowledge, it is NOT an article and cannot be the only source for the assignment. Cite all your references in APA format. You can use the Citations & Bibliography function of Microsoft Word, which is found under the References tab. The U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against AT&T on Wednesday...
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...(Propane Education and Research Council, 2014). In fact, more than “14 million families across the U.S. use propane to fuel their furnaces,” (Fieldstadt, 2014) according to the Propane Education and Research Council. Due to extreme winter weather conditions this season, parts of the U.S. are experiencing a severe propane shortage. The supply of propane stock in many states have hit extreme lows this winter. As continued severe cold temperatures and accumulating winter storms blanket much of the northern half of the United States, supplies will continue to suffer and millions of Americans will be without heat. Government officials in 17 states have taken swift action to focus on getting much needed propane to homes and businesses. In Ohio, the governor declared an energy emergency that “permits propane shippers from other states to drive more hours” (Fieldstadt, 2014). This move was implemented in hopes that the residents of Ohio will be resupplied with propane to heat their homes. Governor Kasich was not the only official to recognize the need for relaxed rules for propane distribution. 17 other states have declared similar energy emergencies effective through January to loosen rules related to...
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...The price variable in the marketing mix is a critical element. Price can, by itself, communicate much about a product or service. For example, what would you think of buying an engagement ring at Bob’s Really Good, But Cheap, Jewelry Store, or for that matter, at a yard sale. Most consumers link price with quality and there are many organizations that carefully reinforce the quality of their product, using price as a surrogate cue (or substitute indicator) for quality. For example, check out the websites of marketers of prestige items and observe how the price variable is used to indicate quality). Check out BMW’s website and watch on of the movies there. (http://www.bmw.com/bmwe/index.shtml). When the pricing decision is made, the organization must consider several factors. These factors are as follows: a. Supply (or cost) b. Demand (or revenue) c. Perceptions in the marketplace d. Competition and Competitors’ pricing strategies e. Government Regulation f. Company’s desired pricing position Supply (or cost) If there is an abundant supply of a product or service, it may not be a candidate for being approached as a product or service for sale. For example, we don’t consider air to breathe as being a commodity we must buy. Of course, that is only because there is a plentiful supply. Of course, in Colorado, many people find that the air supplied by the great outdoors is not sufficient in oxygen, thus, they must buy air that is rich in oxygen by renting...
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...Wal-Mart: The Main Street Merchant of Doom In small towns there was a time when rural communities were highly subject to price fixing and price gouging from the local merchants. There was really a no competition and the local merchants priced their items however they wanted to and charged their customers very high for their products. Samuel Moore Walton helped fixing this problem by creating is own brands stores in this small rural towns. Sam Walton originally wanted to go in to these small rural towns that had like about ten thousand people or less and put in his brand name stores so that they could go his store rather then being charged exclusively high by their local merchants. Samuel Moore Walton was born on Match 29, 1918 in Kansas. He began his college career in 1936 at University of Missouri and graduated with a degree in business administration. His very fist job that he found after college was at JCPenney where he worked several years and lived by their core values. Later in 1962 when he was at age of 44, Sam Walton opened his very first own brand store name Walmart in Rogers, Arkansas. As I have mentioned before that What Sam first did was he targeted small rural towns with populations of no more then about ten thousand people. The response that they got from people was very positive and Walmart was very successful that Sam expanded his company into the larger cities. Now everywhere we go we see Walmart By the time 1981, Walmart had become America’s largest retailer...
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...The United States has some of the highest percentage rates; when it comes to the cost of medication, compared to other countries. It is 35-55 percent cheaper to buy medicine in other modern day countries than in the United States (Baker 2004). That is a staggering 45-55 percent difference in the cost of getting the same drug from another country. So, are these drugs equivalent and how can one know but rely on the source of where the medication is coming from? Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Mark McClellan said “there is no evidence that unapproved imported drugs are becoming any safer or more reliable” on why the United States does not buy drugs from other countries (Badger 2004). The FDA argues they are not the same...
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...landing a man on the moon.”1 That’s exactly what Webb McKinney, the general manager of the Home Products division wrote. Indeed, making money in the PC business was hard. (Almost as hard as landing a man on the moon. Hewlett-Packard’s Home Products Division in Europe had a lot to learn about when they were doing business with Europe. Even today, there are many challenges to international brands in the European markets compared to that of the United States. The way Hewlett-Packard’s Home Products Division is organized is through functional lines (the home PC market) and geographic lines (European Division). Also, they were very centralized with a high degree of observing customs. When Hewlett Packard first started working with Europe, they applied the same strategic management knowledge they had from the United States to that of the European markets. They thought that the identification and evaluation of alternative strategies were intimately connected to existing strategies, which they had learned here in the United States....
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...Short Essay Craig L. Weng The University of Redlands BUSB300 Ethical and Legal Environment of Business [ March 20, 2013 ] Prof. Jeffery D. Smith Ethics in business is in fact about following the law. If a business from the top down believes that ethics is a matter of following the law then, that's what needs to be stated in its Standards of Conduct, Bylaws, Governing documents etc..., so that everyone involved or that wants to be involved has a clear and concise understanding as to how the business intends to conduct its day to day activities from the board members to the janitorial staff. With that, there comes a certain feeling of commitment. A commitment not only to keeping your companies' profit margin up, but a commitment to the employees who got your company to that bottom line and beyond, to the community that allowed your company to root itself with the hopes of hiring it's residents and boosting their economy as well as the shareholders and senior managements bottom line. I believe that ethics in business is more than just following the law. It's about caring how you conduct your business and caring more about the business a whole vice just the financial aspect. Ethics: the moral values and principles used to make evaluative judgments about individual conduct and the social arrangements of a community, usually reinforced through cultural norms and social institutions (e.g., family, religion, civil associations, schools, political parties). Aaron Feuerstein...
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