Business Ethics, Environmental Sustainability and Governance
QUESTIONS:
SECTION 1 (45 points)
- Define the concept of Code of Ethics, and critically evaluate its effectiveness in managing business ethics (15 points).
- Define what Agency Theory is and critically evaluate its possible problems. (15 points)
- Critically evaluate what Sustainability marketing is, and what makes it important? (15 Points)
SECTION 2 (55 points)
(Read the below case carefully, and answer the questions followed.)
CASE:
You are the board director of Z-Med, a multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in London, UK. The company’s Research & Development department is working on a novel breast cancer drug. The drug could provide breakthrough treatment for millions of women in the company’s core markets in Europe and the US and is likely to be a source of high revenue for Z-Med which has recently seen a fall in profits and resulting drop in share price.
In order to have approval, company still needs to conduct further trials to test for the effectiveness and safety of the drug. However, in Europe these kinds of clinical trials are rather lengthy and very costly to conduct, due to the strict regulatory environment.
In a board meeting, the CEO of Z-Med suggests carrying out a large part of the trials in country X, a developing country in Asia, whose government provides more favourable conditions for clinical trials. The government of country X regards international drug trails as a cheap way of providing treatment for poor people who cannot afford to buy drugs or other kinds of medical treatment. Furthermore, in country X, a significant proportion of poor women suffer from breast cancer; and therefore, it will be relatively easy to recruit participant for the trial.
The company has no plans to make the drug available below market price in country X after its approval. Also, at the current stage of the drug’s development the Research & Development department cannot yet rule out the occurrence of harmful side effects, even though they believe that the likelihood of this happening is very low.
The CEO’s suggestion sounds like a tough call for you to endorse!!!
Questions:
2.1 Identify key stakeholders in the above case and explain what the ethical issues around each stakeholder are. (10 points)
2.2 Critically evaluate the case using TWO of the following ethical theories: Utilitarianism, Kantianism, Rights and Justice, Virtue ethics. (30 points)
2.3 If you were the board director, what would you do? Explain your opinion with proper justification. (15 points)
