Milton Friedman Essays (Examples)

Friedman is considered to be one of the more influential thinkers of his time and "Milton Friedman on Economics: Selected Papers," is a collection of much of his work. Many of the enclosed papers were originally published in the Journal of Political Economy. The work opens up with his 1977 Nobel Lecture and then spans a great part of his life and career. There were some works in the collection from as early as 1948 through 1990. Because he was so influential over the course of his career, this series of letters and works provides a great opportunity to not only get an introduction into his line of reasoning, it also provides a historic blueprint of detailed economic thought. Milton Friedman offers clues about the twentieth-century's economics and political policies.

Milton Friedman is considered to have been one of the great economic thinkers of our time and he was obviously…

References

Friedman, Milton, 1977. "Nobel Lecture: Inflation and Unemployment." Journal of Political Economy. 85, pp. 451-472.

Friedman, Milton. (2008). "Milton Friedman on Economics: Selected Papers." Chicago: University of Chicago Press Journals. (February 1, 2008)

Milton Friedman, "Social Responsibility"

Milton Friedman is absolutely blunt and direct in his 1970 critique of the notion that businesses have "social responsiblities" which require them to look beyond their balance-sheets at the real-world effects of their activity. The title of his article states his thesis outright: "The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits." Anyone who states otherwise, says Friedman, is "preaching pure and unadulterated socialism" and leans on ideas "that have been undermining the basis of a free society these past decades."

Yet I think that Friedman's argument hinges on his selective and highly tendentious definition of terms here. Friedman switches between political and ethical definitions of the various concepts, so "pure and unadulterated socialism" is used purely as a scare tactic in his opening: in reality, socialism (whether in diluted or concentrated form) has nothing to do with the public calls for businesses to increase…

Accounting and Ethics

The stakeholder model should be implemented in combination with Friedman's shareholder model

In his article, "The Social esponsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits" published in 1970's reputed "The New York Times" Magazine, Friedman debates in favor of precisely what the article's title states. He alleged that corporate social responsibility (CS) was a diversion from the economic rudiments of business that helps in capitalization of profits and yields to shareholders. In his article, when he raised the description of advocates of CS he stated, "The businessmen believe that they are defending free enterprise when they declaim that business is not concerned 'merely' with profit but also with promoting desirable 'social' ends; that business has a 'social conscience' and takes seriously its responsibilities for providing employment, eliminating discrimination, avoiding pollution and whatever else may be the catchwords of the contemporary crop of reformers (Kristin, 2009; pg 7)."…

References

Kristin, T. (2009). Corporate social responsibility. Baylor Business Review 27.2: 20-23. Accessed from:  http://search.proquest.com.vlib.excelsior.edu/docview/201178507/fulltext/C6BB33CFBD5D4C0EPQ/9?accountid=134966 

Coelho, P.R.P., McClure, J.E.; Spry, J.A. (2003). The social responsibility of corporate management: A classical critique. Mid - American Journal of Business 18.1: 15-24. Accessed from:  http://search.proquest.com.vlib.excelsior.edu/docview/214180754/fulltext/C6BB33CFBD5D4C0EPQ/7?accountid=134966 

Henry, M (2006). Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition, New York, N.Y: A.12.  http://search.proquest.com.vlib.excelsior.edu/docview/308654354/fulltext/C6BB33CFBD5D4C0EPQ/14?accountid=134966 

Lantos, G.P. (2001). The boundaries of strategic corporate social responsibility. The Journal of Consumer Marketing 18.7: 595-630. Accessed from:  http://search.proquest.com.vlib.excelsior.edu/docview/220124077/fulltext/C6BB33CFBD5D4C0EPQ/10?accountid=134966

CSR

Contrasting Different Vantage Points Regarding the Role of CSR and Business Ethics

Introduction to Corporate Social Responsibility

Review of the Variety of Ethical Systems

Contemporary Vantage Points

Corporate social responsibilities as well as business ethics have served as hotly contested issues over the last few decades. There has yet to be a consensus reached, to say the least, as to what there composition should look like or even if they are necessary academic pursuits at all. Research was conducted in regards to the various categories of ethical systems in existence and concluded that each system has merit under various sets of circumstances. Furthermore, contemporary individuals who have acted to influence business culture were identified, compared, and contrasted. It was found that there arguments were reasonable based on their assumptions however these assumptions are inherently flawed. The article concludes, that given the growing body of evidence that suggests that life-sustaining…

Works Cited

Alahmad, A. (2010). To Be Ethical Or Not To Be: An International Code of Ethics For Leadership. Journal of Diversity Management, 31-35.

Cavanagh, G., Moberg, D., & Velasquez, M. (1981). The Ethics of Organizational Politics. The Academy of Management Review, 363.

Drucker, P. (1981). What is Business Ethics? The Public Interest, 18-36.

Friedman, M. (1970, September 13). The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits. The New York Times Magazine.

However, a corporate executive, according to Friedman, would have to spend other people's money for a general social interest, by means of reducing returns to stockholders, lowering worker wages, or raising the price of products. However, herein lies the basic flaw of this author's reasoning, for the social responsibility of the business as it falls on the executive is to make sacrifices for the benefit of others. In a position of such power, a business executive needs to make policy decisions that might actually cut into his own profits, as opposed to the wages of the workers or the wallets of the consumers. While this author may argue that the only responsibility of the business is to make profits using all available resources, engaging in open and free competition without fraudulent activity, a business is a controllable extension of those who own and run it, and just as we have…

This is because they are interested in increasing their overall bottom line numbers at all costs. While, their American counterparts want to see an increase in market share and address a host of social issues. As they believe that the community is playing a vital role in helping to support the organization and its success. This is significant, because it shows how American entrepreneurs want to offer everyone some kind of program that will help to address a host of problems affecting their communities. (Studwell)

A good example of this can be seen by looking no further than idu.com. What happened was the firm was established by Google based on a desire to rapidly expand into China. At first, Google was considered to be the dominant player in the industry. However, the Chinese government began to impose a host of restriction on what content was available. Reluctantly, the company agreed…

Bibliography

Jeffries, Ian. Political Developments in Contemporary Society. New York: Rutledge, 2010, Print.

Studwell, Joe. Asian Godfathers. London: Profile Books, 2007. Print.

For example, AIG got into a lot of trouble during the Great ecession because it was paying retention bonuses so that people about to be laid off would stay on but this was controversial because AIG got bailed out by the federal government. Even though the bonuses were contractually obligated and evne though they served a specific purpose, the vitriol and invective was toxic. This despite the fact that government-serviced entities that were ALSO bailed out the government (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) did the same exact payouts for the same exact reason and the outrage for those firms was a lot less even though they cost the taxpayers a whole hell of a lot more money than AIG ever has or probably ever will. In short, businesses operating within the law should not be harassed or treated unfairly but it can happen.

Conclusion

In short, Mackey made some good…

References

Friedman, M. (1970, September 13). The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits. New York Times Magazine, 1, 1-5.

Mackey, J. (2005). Rethinking the Social Responsibility of Business. Reason, 1(1), 1-4.

ur place work . 4. 2 detailed examples organizations u friedmans theories applied.

Two of Milton Friedman's main points referred to the belief that all companies had the primary objective of registering profits, and also that it was normal and natural for unemployment to exist to a specific degree; it if were to be entirely eliminated, inflation would be created.

As opposed to Friedman's view, Archie Carroll believes that the primary scope of the economic agents in that of operating in a socially responsible manner. Additionally, the more modern economist states that the focus of corporate social responsibility is the natural response to the evolution in the society and the growing need of business agents to balance the needs of their multiple stakeholders (Carroll, 1991).

3.

If one were to select the principle to implement within the workplace, this would be the emphasis on corporate social responsibility, due to the…

References:

Carroll, A., (1991). The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders. Business Horizons. July-August

2012. Exxon Mobil. Source Watch.  http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Exxon_Mobil  last accessed on August 17, 2012

Website of Ben and Jerry's Homemade Holdings Inc.,  http://www.benjerry.com  last accessed on August 17, 2012

Another well-known economic analyst Milton Friedman, believed that everything wrong in the world could be righted with free market trade. He promoted such ideas of private utilities and removing government involvement from society and business in every conceivable area (the Great Experiment: The Facts About Globalization (http://www.americanassembler.com/issues/globalization/index.html).

ecent studies indicate that such ideas, while looking good in theory are not conducive to successful society. California is a classic example of what can happen if free market utilities are allowed to roam unfettered by government standards of any type.

Friedman believes that complete free growth opportunities without boundaries, such has been the case in some areas of globalization actually harm the worldwide economy and in turn society in general (the Great Experiment: The Facts About Globalization (http://www.americanassembler.com/issues/globalization/index.html).

Conclusion

While globalization has been occurring since the beginning of time the recent expansion of electronic communication has caused the concept to explode with…

References

History of globalization (Accessed 6-10-07)

 http://www.answers.com/topic/history-of-globalization 

The Adam Smith address: what difference does globalization make? - speech delivered at the 30th annual meeting of the National Assn. Of Business Economists, Sept. 10-13, 1995 - Transcript Business Economics, Jan, 1996 by Paul Krugman (Accessed 6-10-07)

 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1094/is_n1_v31/ai_17900497/pg_5

The authors use everyday examples, such as "investment in a newly formed small business" to make their economic processes more understandable to anyone who understands modern business, and this is one of the things that makes this book so readable, and so fascinating, even for someone who might not be that interested in economic theory and practice.

The Friedman's support many ideas that would reduce the authority of government in many economic areas, including the "negative income tax, the volunteer army, an improved method of auctioning Treasury securities, the monetary rule for achieving price stability; the voucher system for education, the flat tax, and flexible exchange rates" (Jordan et al. 199). It is quite amazing to see just how many of these Friedman ideas have made their way into our business and political world, including the volunteer army, the educational voucher system, and flexible exchange rates, to name a few.…

Works Cited

Economist of the Century." The Washington Times 3 Aug. 2002: A11.

Friedman, Milton and Rose. Free to Choose: A Personal Statement. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 1990.

Jordan, Jerry L., et al. "Milton, Money, and Mischief: Symposium and Articles in Honor of Milton Friedman's 80th Birthday." Economic Inquiry XXXI.2 (1993): 197-212.

Oi, Walter Y. "Milton Friedman, Starting His Ninth Decade." Economic Inquiry XXXI.2 (1993): 194-196.

Business Ethics

Drucker's approach to business ethics revolves around the belief that business people are rational actors who, as agents for the shareholders, will evaluate all decisions on a cost-benefit basis. His view of business builds upon and only somewhat contrasts with that of Milton Friedman, who in 1971 famously espoused that the "social responsibility of business is to increase its profits." This paper will analyze these two views, showing how they are similar and how they are different from one another.

Although Friedman's editorial has been distilled into its pithy headline, his view on the subject of business ethics was complex. Friedman viewed business managers -- executives -- under the agency theory whereby they would be accountable only to the shareholders. Under this view, managers would and should only focus on enhancing shareholder wealth as the underlying philosophy of their actions. Friedman allowed, however, that the actions under this…

Works Cited

Friedman, M. (1970). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved October 31, 2010 from  http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html 

Drucker, P. (1981). Can there be business ethics? The Public Interest (Spring, 1981).

A capitalistic society that provides open and free competition did not bring about Enron and similar debacles. It was the second part of Friedman's statement: "without deception or fraud" that led to such situations. It was the greed of several individuals who misreported their profits to get a larger part of the pot. Unfortunately, there will always be individuals like this -- it is human nature. That does not make the whole system corrupt. One can say that the competition inherent in the capitalistic enterprise encourages such behavior. Hoarding by one of the cave dwellers would never work. The hope is that lessons are learned from situations such as these -- that nothing works perfectly.

ichard E. Hattwick, professor at Western Illinois University and co-founder of the American National Business Hall of Fame concludes:

competitive market situations encourage the reasonably high standard of business ethics called the ethic of justice.…

References

Boatright, J.R. 1994. Fiduciary duties and the shareholder-management relation: or, what's so special about shareholders? Business Ethics Quarterly 4:393-407

Friedman, M. The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits. The New York Times Magazine. September 13, 1970. www.nobel.se/economics/laureates/1976/"  http://www.nobel.se/economics/laureates/1976// 

Hasnas, J. 1998 the normative theories of business ethics: a guide for the perplexed.

Business Ethics Quarterly. 8:19-42

Outsourcing and offshoring are two means by which a business can reduce its costs, and these tactics can also have strategic advantages as well. However, they also typically come at a cost, in particular to workers in industrialized nations. Offshoring in particular has become a political issue as well, cited as a reason for the decline of the middle class. This paper will look at these related issues through a number of different ethical lenses.

Outsourcing is the process of hiring a third party firm to perform tasks that were once performed in-house. Offshoring is the moving of a business function to another country. The processes that are driving globalization -- the regionalization of production, trade agreements, dramatically improved global communication networks -- have also led to increase in offshoring in particular. Outsourcing's growth is similarly related. Many business functions are so routine that there is no need for in-house…

References

Robertson, C., Lamin, A. & Livanis, G. (2010). Stakeholder perceptions of offshoring and outsourcing: The role of embedded issues. Journal of Business Ethics. Vol. 95 (2010) 167-189.

Cramer, C. (2002). Homo economicus goes to war: Methodological individualism, rational choice and the political economy at war. World Development. Vol. 30 (11) 1845-1864.

Denning, S. (2013). The origin of the world's dumbest idea: Milton Friedman. Forbes. Retrieved February 20, 2016 from  http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2013/06/26/the-origin-of-the-worlds-dumbest-idea-milton-friedman/#5dc7435b214c 

Sinnott-Armstrong, W. (2015). Consequentialism. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved February 21, 2016 from  http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consequentialism/

This kind of competition can prove to be more effective than governmental regulations since firms are reluctant to follow government mandates.

Methodology:

Secondary research has been used as the main tool. Important journal articles, case studies and analyses have been included to understand the concept of CS and its use in gain competitive advantage.

ANALYSIS and DISCUSSION

Social responsibility is closely connected with concern for financial growth. According to this belief, firms seek to maximize their profits by investing in a healthy environment and other public good projects. The firms that have successfully attained the prestigious image of being socially responsible follow this ideology. These firms choose to be more socially conscious not because of any real intention of creating a healthier society but because their actions seem to influence buyer behavior in a positive manner. Companies are thus rapidly developing serious CS policies with exclusive departments dealing with this.…

References

Miller, H. "Businesses don't have social responsibilities; people do." The Miami Herald 21 July 2004.

The Good Company." The Economist. 22-28 Jan. 2005: 11.

Braungart, M; McDonough, W. Cradle to Cradle. New York: North Point Press, 2002.

Aaronson, S; Reeves, J. Corporate Responsibility in the Global Village: The Role of Public Policy. Washington, DC: National Policy Association, 2002.

contract between society and business are, in fact, changing in substantial and important ways. Business is being asked to assume broader responsibilities to society than ever before, and to serve a wider range of human values...In as much as business exists to serve society, its future will depend on the quality of management's response to the changing expectations of the public."-from an editorial in Business Week Magazine

Discuss the social contract between society and business, and the arguments for and against corporate social responsibility. What is the purpose of a business? In your discussion be sure to focus on how Milton Friedman, Charles Handy, and Kramer/Porter differ in their answers to that question. Explain why Corporate Social Responsibility is a useful perspective and strategy for a corporate leader and manager to evaluate changes in social expectation and the resulting potential effects on the business (current & potential) by the changed…

There is a good case to be made for focusing on externalities and seeking to manage all of them in a social responsible manner, especially as the world becomes globalized and the key success drivers become relationships and information.

orks Cited:

Mintzberg, H. (1994). The rise and fall of strategic planning. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved May 16, 2010 from http://online.worcester.edu/external/evescio/Principles%20of%20Management/strategicplan.pdf

Friedman, M. (1971). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved May 16, 2010 from http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html

De Toni, a. & Tonchia, S. (2003). Strategic planning and firms' competencies: Traditional approaches and new perspectives. International Journal of Operations and Production Management. Vol. 23 (9) 947-976.

ettstein, F. (2010). For better or for worse: Corporate responsibility beyond "do no harm." Business Ethics Quarterly. Vol. 20 (2) 275-283.

Peng, M., ang, D. & Yi, J. (2009). An institution-based view of international business strategy: A focus on…

Works Cited:

Mintzberg, H. (1994). The rise and fall of strategic planning. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved May 16, 2010 from  http://online.worcester.edu/external/evescio/Principles%20of%20Management/strategicplan.pdf 

Friedman, M. (1971). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved May 16, 2010 from  http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html 

De Toni, a. & Tonchia, S. (2003). Strategic planning and firms' competencies: Traditional approaches and new perspectives. International Journal of Operations and Production Management. Vol. 23 (9) 947-976.

Wettstein, F. (2010). For better or for worse: Corporate responsibility beyond "do no harm." Business Ethics Quarterly. Vol. 20 (2) 275-283.

Introduction

Enron was one of the biggest business collapses, and one of the most egregious incidents during a period in the early 2000s when investor faith in the securities system was shaken by a series of scandals. The scandals varied in terms of their composition, but behind each of them was greed, the drive by senior management teams to defraud securities regulators and investors for their own gain. This paper will look at the Enron fraud in particular. This was probably the worst, for the bald-faced contempt that Enron management showed to securities regulators, and the biggest, as Enron was one of the stars of the stock market during its ride up, and crashed to worthlessness almost instantly.

Key Players

As with most cases of stock market fraud, the key players were the senior executives. At Enron, the key players were Kenneth Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, Andrew Fastow and the accounting…

Internal Environment

The estfield Group's success is predicated on its many strengths. One of the key strengths from which estfield derives competitive advantage is its human resources program. One of the key competitive drivers in the industry is knowledge, so estfield has made the development of knowledge, information and wisdom a cornerstone of its strategy. The company not only strives to identify, attract and hire the best talent, but it also has extensive programs in place to bring that talent along. There is a detailed training program, for example. The goal of estfield's human resources strategy is to grow and nurture key staff members. The firm believes that wisdom derives from experience, and therefore seeks to have executives with a significant amount of work experience and a long tenure with the company. Supporting the human resources strategy are tactics of open communication, fostering diversity, and encouraging the free flow of…

Works Cited

Some financial information from Reuters. Retrieved December 9, 2008 at  http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=WDC.AX 

Westfield Group 2007 Annual Report. Westfield Group. Retrieved December 9, 2008 at  http://westfield.com/corporate/pdf/reports/Westfield_Group_Annual_Report_2007_pdf.pdf 

Substantial information from Westfield.com Retrieved December 9, 2008 at  http://www.westfield.com 

Merger & competitor information from Investsmart.com.au. Retrieved December 9, 2008 at  http://www.investsmart.com.au/shares/asx/Westfield-Group-WDC.asp

hile some firms are content to subscribe to the bare minimum of ethical doctrines, others have pursued a broader stakeholder perspective. The stakeholder perspective posits that ethics derives from outcomes, which places it squarely in the consequentialist perspective, and that those outcomes be considered from the perspective of all stakeholders (Phillips, 2003). This represents an advancement on Friedman's theory, since he considered only the perspective of the firm's shareholders. Friedman's theory was built on the idea that the shareholders have put up their money to invest in the firm and allow management to build it, therefore management is an agent of the shareholder. The stakeholder perspective recognizes the contribution of all stakeholders. Employees also make an investment in the firm, and that investment may go beyond for which they are compensated. Customers, suppliers and other groups as well are invested to different degrees. The environment and society at large are…

Any effort that detracts from that objective -- unless that effort is explicitly authorized by the shareholders -- is therefore a breach of duty. The managers of the Company must therefore have the objective of upholding their duty to the shareholders, within the confines of the law. BP will therefore not be providing research funding, compensation or any other form of assistance to the fishermen, without judicial or regulatory order.

It is important that the Department understands the principles that underpin this decision. BP does not take this decision lightly, and understands that not all stakeholders will have their needs met as the result of this decision. e regret in particular if this decision causes problems for our steadfast partners at the Department of Environment. However, the managers of the Company has no choice but to undertake activities that fulfill their duty to the shareholders, and in this case that…

Works Cited:

Friedman, M. (1970). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved November 12, 2012 from  http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html 

Jacobsen, R. (2012). The gumbo chronicles. Outside. Retrieved November 12, 2012 from  http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/culinary/the-Gumbo-Chronicles.html?page=all 

Mauer, R. & Tinsley, a. (2010). Gulf oil spill: BP has a long record of legal, ethical violations. McClatchy News Services. Retrieved November 12, 2012 from http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/05/08/93779/bp-has-a-long-record-of-legal.html

chief economic principle that must be confronted in the horrifying picture Steven Brill paints in "Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us" is the devastating effect caused by economic monopoly. Brill tiptoes around the issue, and basically defines monopoly by the concept of "powerless buyers" -- -but the economic conditions that render buyers powerless are economic conditions that restrict a buyer's freedom of choice, which is precisely the problem with American medicine in Brill's article. Doctors -- or by extension the Medical Industry -- represent a monopoly. There may be a plethora of pharmeceutical companies that exist, and which ostensibly compete under heavily regulated industries (which include a close government supervision on potentially monopolistic new inventions, such that copyrights and patents in pharmaceuticals are guarded under law for a mere fraction of the time that the copyrights and patents, for example, involved with Walt Disney's trademark cartoon character Mickey…

This impacts the entire citizenry, not just the think tank or its backers. Again, we reach the intersection between classical ethics philosophy and economics. hether or not a think tank strives to eliminate bias from its published research, if that research influences public policy to the detriment of the populace, it would be considered unethical. Resnick (2007) promotes the idea that research ethics are important to maintain the trust of the public in such research. hen considering the outcomes of published research, we must then consider whether an economic think tank bears any duty of care towards the populace at large.

It such a duty of care is not owed to the populace, to whom is it owed? This brings back the question of motivation. Basic motivation theories such as Maslow's Hierarchy discuss motivation in terms of human needs (NetMBA.com, 2007). Applied to an organization, we find the heart of…

Works Cited

Broome, John. (1999). Ethics out of Economics. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved February 26, 2009 at  http://books.google.com/books?id=Nj0nBRX8pVsC&dq=ethics+economics&printsec=frontcover&source=bll&ots=rk9IvUym0q&sig=l8-MdbqiVZBnqacBGm7Rs0Zsc6g&hl=en&ei=W82mSfz-H4H8tgfA7MHXDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=11&ct=result#PPA2,M1 

Friedman, Milton. (1970). The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved February 26, 2009 at  http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html 

Resnick, David B. (2007). What is Ethics in Research and Why is it Important? National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Retrieved February 26, 2009 at  http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/bioethics/whatis.cfm 

No author. (2007). Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. NetMBA.com. Retrieved February 26, 2009 at  http://www.netmba.com/mgmt/ob/motivation/maslow/

8-15.6-15.6-15.5-15.6-15.6-15.8-16.1 Subtotal pre-1996 154 15.6-15.5-15.5-15.5-15.5-15.5-15.5-15.9 adapted from PriceWatersHouseCoopers 2008)

1996 Vintage Funds Onwards

No of funds to ec

To ec

Venture 72 -1.6 -0.6 -1.9 -2.4-8.7-29.7-42.0-86.7 Small MBO* 16 7.3-3.2-1.9-0.3-3.2-1.3-2.6 -14.2 Mid MBO 73-14.9-13.2-9.3-5.9-4.3-3.6-8.0-17.6 Large MBO 1-23.7-21.0-18.0-13.9-14.3-16.5-30.6-25.2 Subtotal 1996 onwards 182 18.9-16.4-13.2-9.4-9.7-1-1.7-19.8-25.9 Grand total all funds

336 17.3-16.0-14.4-13.0-13.6-14.6-16.2-16.4 adapted from PriceWatersHouseCoopers 2008)

Subcategories (All Vintages)

No of funds to ec

To ec

UK 252 14.6-14.4-14.0-13.6-14.1-14.5-15.4-16.2 Non-UK 84-20.2-1-7.9-14.9-11.8-12.6-15.1-18.7-17.5 Pan-European 77-21.6-19.7-17.4-14.0-14.9-16.9-20.9-20.4 Technology 95-0.1-1.0-0.1-0.9-7.4-10.7-12.1-12.8 Non-Technology 241 18.7-17.3-15.7-14.2-14.5-15.3-17.0-17.3

Includes development capital adapted from PriceWatersHouseCoopers 2008)

Vintage Year

No of to ec

No of funds to ec

To ec

1980-84-13 9.5-9.5-9.5-9.5-9.5-9.5-9.5-9.5 1985-89-68-13.8-13.8-13.8-13.8-13.8-13.8-13.8-1-3.8 1990 13-11.3-11.3-11.1-11.1-11.1-11.6-11.5-11.8 1991 14-23.4-23.4-23.4-23.3-23.3-23.3-23.3-23.7 1992 7-20.3-20.3-20.3-20.3-20.2-20.1-20.0-19.7 1993 10-15.3-15.3-14.8-14.0-14.6-14.6-14.6-16.0 1994 20-34.3-34.3-34.4-34.4-34.3-34.3-34.9-36.9 1995 9-23.1-22.2-21.9-21.9-21.8-22.8-25.7-32.1 1996 15-18.7-18.7-18.6-1-8.5-19.0-20.1-22.0-26.3 1997 25-15.6-14.7-14.9-14.3-14.3-13.7-17.6 n/a 1998 16-12.5-12.2-10.8-10.6-9.3-6.3 n/a n/a 1999 28-15.8-8.8-6.2-1.5 -2.0 n/a n/a n/a 2000 29-16.7-14.9-8.7-4.8 n/a n/a n/a / a 2001 29-29. 1-28.3-23.4 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 2002 20-32. 1-23.4* 22.2* n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a Total 336…

Drawing on its long experience of successfully bringing its unique skills to new markets, Apax Partners opened offices in Stockholm in 2004, Hong Kong in 2005, and Mumbai in 2006 (Apax Partners Story 2008).

Investments

One of Apax's success stories, Yell and Computacenter, a telephone directories group "had a strong run after joining public markets.." New Look, Similarly, a fashion chain, in a similar sense, projected to be sold or refloated at a huge profit this year,

Move From Canada

The author of this report has been asked to consider a question about whether a pharmaceutical company should move from its current location outside Toronto to the United States in light of a few factors. These factors include their land outside of Toronto being very valuable, the fact that the taxes and costs of doing business being higher in Canada, the lowered trade barriers that came from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and a few other reasons. While it may seem like an easy decision to make, the company should be diligent about whether they make the move or not because there are both financial and non-financial considerations that should be taken seriously.

Analysis

As noted in the parameters of the assignment, there are several reasons why a move from Canada to the United States, with the destination state being Colorado, would be a good…

References

Ferdman, R. (2014). We finally have an idea of how much money Burger King will save by moving to Canada. Washington Post. Retrieved 24 February 2016, from  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/12/11/burger-king-could-save-a-whopping-amount-of-money-by-moving-to-canada/ 

Friedman, M. (1970). The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits, by Milton Friedman. Colorado.edu. Retrieved 24 February 2016, from  http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html 

Mullin, E. (2016). Turing Pharma Says Daraprim Availability Will Be Unaffected By Shkreli Arrest. Forbes.com. Retrieved 24 February 2016, from  http://www.forbes.com/sites/emilymullin/2015/12/21/turing-pharma-says-daraprim-availability-will-be-unaffected-by-shkreli-arrest/#11db056c2e82

ealth does not equate to happiness, a sense of purpose, dignity or respect. One of the key underlying assumptions of neoliberal philosophy, as derived from Milton Friedman, is that financial wealth is the ideal end goal of all activity. hile financial wealth solves many problems it does not solve all problems. Opponents of globalization, whatever their other arguments, incorporate this understanding into their protestations.

Naomi Klein goes further, suggesting that the unequal wealth distribution in the globalized economy is deliberate. The march towards globalization is not an altruistic endeavor borne of a firm belief in the power of the free market, but is a calculated strategy on the part of the world's elite to seize the world's wealth and power at whatever expense is necessary. Indeed, any economic benefits realized by the masses are incidental. Casualties -- be they citizens of Iraq, indigenous peoples or indeed any of the world's…

Works Cited:

Harvey, D. (2007). A Brief History of Neoliberalism. New York: Oxford University Press.

Klein, N. (2007). The shock doctrine: The rise of disaster capitalism. Toronto: Random House.

Friedman, T. (1999). The Lexus and the olive tree. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.

Appiah, K. (2006). The case for contamination. New York Times Magazine. Jan 1, 2006.

In developing countries, consumers are more affected for two reasons. One is that consumers are more likely to buy raw ingredients. ithout manufacturing entities to absorb some of the commodity price increases, consumers are left to absorb almost all of the increase (Ibid.). As a result, food prices have increased more in the developing world than in the developed world. Additionally, consumers in these countries already expend a significantly higher percentage of their income on food than do consumers in estern nations. Thus, demand for food in the developing world is price elastic and consumers suffer because they are unable to meet their food needs.

In the developed world, increased food prices suppress demand in other sectors of the economy, which can cause minor shocks in employment and investment in some businesses and industries. In the developing world, food price shocks can result in starvation and civil unrest. The recent…

Works Cited

Lapidos, Juliet. (2008) "Why are Global Food Prices Soaring?" Slate. Retrieved December 4, 2008 at  http://www.slate.com/id/2187882/ 

Wiewel, Wim & Persky, Joseph. (2002) Suburban Sprawl M.E. Sharpe, Armonk NY, 2002.

Barnier, Michael. (2008) "Europe is Key to Solving Food Crisis" Tehran Times. Retrieved December 4, 2008 at  http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=184060 

Clayton, Mark. (2008) "As Global Food Costs Rise, are Biofuels to Blame?" Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved December 4, 2008 at  http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0128/p03s03-usec.html

Employment Discrimination at Wal-Mart

Foundation of the Study

This study examines the legislative and judicial climate that enables corporations like Wal-Mart to engage in practices that violate workers' rights. The popular consensus is that Wal-Mart, the largest retail store in the United States, displays an inordinate disregard for the human dignity and morale of its employees and, despite continual litigation, continues to blatantly violate the legal rights of its employees. Wal-Mart faces charges of violating The Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (2011) by asking management to adjust time sheets so that overtime will not need to be paid, and so that all employees will work under the hourly limit required by the union in order to obtain membership. Employees were insured, without their knowledge, against their death by Wal-Mart. The company was named beneficiary; following death of an employee, the entire benefit amount was retained by the corporation. Not a…

References

Business Day, Companies. (2011) The New York Times. Retrieved  http://www.nytimes.com/ 

2011/03/30/business/30aldi.html?ref=walmartstoresinc

Byrne, T.P. (2009). False profits: Reviving the corporation's public purpose. Discourse, 57 UCLA L. Rev. Disc. 25, UCLA School of Law, UC Berkeley, (Associate, Chadbourne & Parke, LLP). Retrieved  http://uclalawreview.org/?p=1056 

Clifford, S. (2011, March 29). Where Wal-Mart failed, Aldi succeeds. The New York Times. Retrieved

In other words, trading based on private information might benefit investors, as it stimulates a quicker absorption of new information into the markets, making them more efficient.

It is clear that insider trading continues despite vigorous enforcement of the existing regulations. This is because of the difficulties in detecting and prosecuting it. Further regulations will only add unnecessary complexity to market participants and eventually bind the already limited resources of enforcement agencies, which could be used more usefully. (Letters to the editor, 2007)

This novel (and presumably accurate) information will be beneficial because, these economists argue, markets are most efficient when there is the highest possible amount of information in circulation. The majority of economists, however, believe that insider trading is detrimental to the most efficient functioning of the marketplace -- as well as being detrimental to the most ethical functioning of the market.

Analysis and Discussion

Money, we are…

References

Fishe, R. & . Robe, M. (2004). The Impact of Illegal Insider Trading in Dealer and Specialist Markets: Evidence from a Natural Experiment. Journal of Financial Economics 71(3): 461-88.

Harris, L. (2003). Trading and exchanges. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Henning, P. (2011). Why insider trading is wrong.  http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/04/11/why-is-insider-trading-wrong/ .

Jones, T. (1991). Ethical Decision Making by Individuals in Organizations: An Issue-Contingent Model. Academy of Management Review 16(2): 231-248.

Thus, the authors do not advocate an ethical free for all, for they acknowledge certain ethical broaches can result in corporate legal costs, thus resulting in executives violating the ethics of their profession -- but this is a more important ethical standard than either laws or social responsibility, stress the authors.

The authors also acknowledge that in the current environment, government regulations must be obeyed by businesses, else they face the costs of litigation. But Macham and Chester also question whether this is a good, namely if too many regulations exist and ultimately hamper corporate profits. In fact, they believe that in the ideal business environment, other than protecting property, the government should not regulate business at all, and rather internal ethical systems should govern the organization, ideally in a Friedman-like utilitarian fashion, taking into consideration the fate of stakeholders only so much as need be, for the organization to…

Works Cited

Boaz, David Editor. Libertarianism: A Primer. New York: Free Press, 1997.

Friedman, Milton. "The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits." New York Times Magazine. 1 September 1970. Reprinted in Ethical Theory and Business, edited by Tom L. Beauchamp and Norman E. Bowie. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1993.

Macham, Tibor and James E. Chesher. A Primer on Business Ethics. Rowman & Littlefield: 2003.

Under Paul Volcker's chairmanship of the Federal eserve from 1979-1987, to uphold a philosophy Volcker identified as monetarist, the Fed would try to hit specified monthly targets for the growth rate of the monetary supply, "with operating procedures that emphasized control over a narrow and controllable monetary aggregate, non-borrowed reserves (i.e., bank reserves minus borrowings from the Fed)" (McCallum 2008).

After an initial painful period of recession, Volcker's actions had the desired effect upon inflation rates. However, both monetarists and non-monetarists were quick to point out that despite the attempt to hit monthly targets, "because growth rates of M1 fluctuated very widely on a month-to-month basis; the operating procedures in place were, because of lagged reserve requirements, extremely poorly designed for the control of M1; and the Fed never forswore discretionary responses to current cyclical conditions" (McCallum 2008). In fact, "Volcker's strategy to defeat double-digit inflation had been classically Keynesian:…

References

Kangas, Steve. (2010). Monetarism. Liberalism: FAQ. Retrieved March 2, 2010 at  http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/LiberalFAQ.htm 

McCallum, Bennett T. (2008). Monetarism. The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.

Retrieved March 2, 2010 at  http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Monetarism.html

CSR

Companies talk a lot about "corporate social responsibility," but quite frankly nobody really knows what the term means. Every company seems to interpret the idea a little bit differently. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but it raises challenges for managers trying to understand the concept and what relevance it has to their organizations. The best approach has to be to analyze the different elements of CSR individually, and see how they apply. This approach also allows for the organization to integrate each element with its strategy -- trying to shoehorn a notoriously vague concept into strategy either results in it not really happening, or it happens but distracts the company from what it really wants to achieve.

The first part of this paper will explore the different conceptions of CSR. This is absolutely essential. The "social" is CSR is the key term, and it implies an external…

Works Cited:

Agnew, M. (2010). The Corporate Social Responsibility Index and Southwest Airlines. Nuts About Southwest Retrieved April 14, 2012 from  http://www.blogsouthwest.com/blog/corporate-social-responsibility-index-and-southwest-airlines 

Carroll, A. (1999). Corporate social responsibility: Evolution of a definitional construct. Business Society. Vol. 38 (3) 268-295.

Daudigeos, T. & Valiorgue, B. (2011). CSR issues: A negative external effects framework. Business & Society. Vol. 50 (1) 28-49.

Friedman, M. (1971). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved April 14, 2012 from  http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html

If the enhanced stakeholder perspective is truly the best for corporate social responsibility, this has significant implications not only for management but also for corporate governance. hile Nohria (no date) argues that corporate governance is a hygiene factor in that its absence is a problem for companies but its presence did not correlate with improved performance, this is only for basic levels of governance. For a board to truly adopt a broad stakeholder perspective, it must be built better. Nadler (2004) argued that a well-constructed board will be one that helps to deliver superior results to the firm. Taking a broad stakeholder perspective, this means that the board should be capable of understanding the perspectives of different stakeholders rather than simply those of the shareholder. Building a board in this way, however, is constrained by the fact that the shareholders vote for the board. At times, other stakeholders may gain…

Works Cited:

Branco, M. & Rodrigues, L. (2007). Positioning stakeholder theory within the debate on corporate social responsibility. Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies. Vol. 12 (1) 5-15.

Friedman, M. (1970). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved March 2, 2011 from  http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html 

Nadler, D. (2004). Building better boards. Harvard Business Review. In possession of the author.

Nohria, N. (no date). What really matters? Harvard Business School. Retrieved March 2, 2011 from http://info.umuc.edu/mba/HBS/realmathi/index.html

Contemporary agency theory dictates that managers only act in the interest of maximizing shareholder (owner) wealth (Roberts, 2004). This standard can be reasonably viewed as the minimum ethical standard that the president of a company should have. Taking this view, Thomas Koltun is essentially in damage control mode. Because of the mistakes of the company in the past, Koltun is faced with significant downside risk from mishandling this situation. It could also be reasonably argued that Thomas Koltun still bears responsibility for the original ethical imperatives that the company has had all along as the result of bringing the Travel-Lite to market. If three-quarters of these products are as yet unaccounted for, then the company still bears ethical obligations as defined by the CPSC with regards in particular to consumers.

There are serious implications associated with a mishandling of these obligations. The company has suffered ethical failures in relation to…

Works Cited:

Health Canada. (2005). Recalling consumer products -- a guide for industry. Health Canada. Retrieved April 26, 2010 from  http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/advisories-avis/child-enfant/recalling-guide-2005-04-rappel-eng.php 

Rose, J. (2007). Communication styles. Suite 101. Retrieved April 26, 2010 from  http://trainingpd.suite101.com/article.cfm/communication_styles 

Johnson, R. (2008). Kant's moral philosophy. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved April 26, 2010 from  http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-moral/ 

Sinnott-Armstrong, W. (2006). Consequentialism. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved April 26, 2010 from  http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consequentialism/

Corporate social responsibility is a reflection of societal ethical norms. There is some disagreement in our society what the norms for corporations should be. A corporation is comprised of people, but the norms for corporations seem to be different from the norms for the people that comprise the corporation. This paper will explore these ideas to determine what corporate social responsibility is, and should be.

A corporation is a legal entity, but without the people that run it, a corporation is nothing. Thus, a corporation being a legal entity rather than a living entity -- the apparent exception to this reality in the United States notwithstanding -- a corporation cannot make decisions. It has no ability to conceive of anything, to have ethics, or indeed even to behave. In that sense, the idea of corporate social responsibility is an absurdity. A corporation has no greater capacity to make an ethical…

References

Friedman, M. (1970). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved May 30, 2015 from  http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html

It involves a new way of thinking and living "based on attention to people, and not primarily attention to goods" (Schumacher 70). Such a new system would prioritize the local community, would reinvigorate agriculture through the use of intermediate technology, would re-infuse rural life with dignity, and would stop depleting natural resources. He is fond of quoting the Gandhi dictum of "production by the masses, rather than mass production." Rather than pouring aid into developing nations, which has not be shown by positive economics to have any effect on reducing poverty, he believes there should be an emphasis on real education -- teaching people how to become sustainable with new affordable technology rather than just giving them factory jobs. The key is on making the technology affordable, which means relaxing the grip of capital and cost saving in view of the higher goal of helping human beings create fruitful lives…

Bibliography

Friedman, Milton. "The Methodology of Positive Economics." In Essays in Positive Economics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953.

Schumacher, E.F. Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered. New York: Harper & Row, 1973.

This school emphasizes finding the best ways to maximize motivation and the fulfillment of needs (Cole, 2004). Lin still emphasizes the need to achieve results, but is seeking to reduce the burn and churn element of the company. By taking a more humanist approach to management, she is operating under the assumption that this will keep the employees able to drive results over a longer time period.

It is difficult to determine which of these two approaches works better. Bossidy's approach is predicted to realize results in the short-term but may not be effective over the long-term. However, 29 quarters is over seven years, so there is merit to the argument that Bossidy's approach can be sustained. There are employees that thrive under such working conditions and if the rewards are sufficient, those employees will continue to be attracted to Allied Signal.

There have been studies that show that Lin's…

Works Cited:

Ghoshal, S. (2005). Bad management theories are destroying good management practices. Academy of Management Learning and Education. Vol. 4 (1) 75-91.

Cole, G. (2004). Management theory and practice. Cengage.

Friedman, M. (1971). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved May 15, 2010 from  http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html 

Bruch, H. & Menges, J. (2010). The acceleration trap. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved May 15, 2010 from  http://hbr.org/2010/04/the-acceleration-trap/ar/1

double check word count after revising and fill in missing reference information such as year published for McMurtry, thanks

In Charles Handy's 2002 article, What's a Business For?, he essentially argues, like McMurtry, for a social economy built from businesses that see themselves as communities with a higher purpose (Handy, 2002; McMurtry). McMurtry defines a social economy as one in which "economic activity is neither controlled directly by the state nor by the profit logic of the market, activity that prioritizes the social well-being of communities and marginalized individuals over partisan political directives or individual gain" (McMurtry).

Handy has come to his conclusion -- favoring a social economy -- based on the recent decline of the American economy and demise of the capitalist corporate image (Handy, 2002). As Handy notes, there are rules and laws in a market economy, but even those rules and laws depend upon some basic trust…

References

Friedman, M. (1970). The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Profits. The New York Times Magazine .

Handy, C. (2002). What's a Business For? The Big Picture, 49-57.

McMurtry, J. Introducing the Social Economy in Theory and Practice.

Noya, A., & Clarence, E. (2007). The Social Economy: Building Inclusive Economies. OECD.

BP Deepwater Horizon

In April, 2010, Gulf of Mexico oil rig Deepwater Horizon, managed by British Petroleum (BP) suffered an explosion, sank to the bottom of the sea and precipitated an oil leak that would take months to cap (Pagnamenta & Goddard, 2010). The disaster was costly for BP both financially and reputationally, and the company's responses have not engendered much faith among the general public with respect to BP's ethics or its willingness to address the concerns of those whose lives have been devastated by the disaster. The company's strategy throughout the course of the disaster from the point prior to the disaster to its handling of the legal actions taken against it, has drawn the ire of many observers.

This paper will analyze BP's strategy, in particular with respect to its balance between the public relations issues and the financial issues. BP's approach appears to be internally consistent,…

Works Cited:

Friedman, M. (1970) The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved May 1, 2011 from  http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html 

Holt, R. & McNulty, T. (2008) Securing the license to act: a foundational capability. Journal of Strategy and Management 1 (1) 72-92.

Pagnamenta, R. & Goddard, J. (2010). Pollution disaster as Deepwater Horizon oil rig sinks into sea. The Times. Retrieved May 1, 2011 from  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7105649.ece 

Peel, M. (2010). Opposition grows to BP's strategy. Financial Times. September 15, 2010. In possession of the author.

Managing Out -- the Public Sector in the Community

Two major economic positions have dominated the public sector for more than a decade. One side believes that the government should take primary responsibility for the welfare of its citizens, while the other contends that greater reliance on the private sector is the method by which an economy can be more effectively managed. The first idea has largely been gleaned from the works of Keynes. He was an economist who believed that government intervention was required to maintain a stable economy and that the state was better equipped to be the central figure in economic management because it has a duty to the citizens which the private sector does not (Pressman, 2011). The counter to this politically liberal position is that of Frederich Hayek. He believed that free markets were the best regulators of the economy ( Griffiths, 2007) and that…

References

Bhatti, Y., Olsen, A.L., & Pedersen, L.H. (2009). The effects of administrative professionals on contracting out. Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions, 22(1), 121-137.

Broughton, C., & Chalmers, J. (2001). Reconsidering the revolution? Australian public sector administration in 2000. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 60(1), 81-88.

Caldwell, B. (2011). Hayek on socialism and on the welfare state: A comment on Farrant and McPhail's "Does F.A. Hayek's Road to Serfdom deserve to make a comeback?" Challenge, 54(1), 82-97.

Davis, G., & Wood, T. (1998). Is there a future for contracting in the Australian public sector? Australian Journal of Public Administration, 57(4), 85-97.

Canadian Business and the Law

Does Canada have too much business law?

This is paper is based on the Canadian business law and all the information so mentioned are related to the book titled "Canadian Business and the Law" which is written by authors Dorothy DuPlessis, Steven Enman, Sally Gunz and Shannon O'Byrne. This text forms the single source of reference for this study.

Two topics will be discussed based on what this paper is about, and they will include; the most important aspects of the Canadian legal system for businesses operating there and secondly the relationship between business ethics and the law in business in the Canadian context.

Important aspects of the Canadian legal system for business

It is always an important topic when discussing about doing business in Canada; the legal system has a very huge impact on commerce in the country and generally it influences on how…

Work Cited

DuPlessis D., Enman S., Gunz S., O'Byrne S., (2011), Canadian Business and the Law, Nelson Education Ltd., pp 5-110

Job Creation and Government

JOB CEATION SHOULD NOT BE GOVENMENT'S ESPONSIBILITY

Government in all capitalist nations is actually responsible for efficient allocation and diversion of resources and not for creation of employment opportunities for the people. Capitalist countries thrive on the principle of entrepreneurship and in such countries corporations literally control all economic activity. For this reason, it is impractical to expect the government to intervene when employment opportunities are scarce. Instead government's intervention must be limited to efficient allocation of economic resources and regulation of financial markets through fiscal measures during times of economic slow-down. But under no circumstances, should the government be expected to raise employment level in the country because it is essentially incapable of carrying out the task successfully. It has been noticed that when government is assigned the task of job creation, it does so inefficiently usually hiring more people than needed for various government…

References

Milton Friedman, "Can Government Make Jobs?" Newsweek, December 13, 1982, p. 122.

open-ended question. I don't know about organizational thinking -- individuals think; an organization has no brain. I do know, however, that strategy is set within organizations on the basis of all manner of internal and external variables. Several frameworks have been developed to help understand how this process works, and if there are any differences between long-term and short-term approaches to strategy and environmental analysis. A dichotomous time-frame might be an oversimplification, since everything has a unique time-frame, but it works in a generic sense.

Environmental scanning is a critical element of strategic thinking at all levels of the organization. Porter (2008) devise the five forces that shape competitive strategy. These focus on competitive factors in the external environment, and competitive factors often reflect economic and social factors in particular. Intensity of rivalry, for example, derives largely from the competitive structure of the industry -- basic microeconomics. Social factors determine…

References

Berger, M. (1989). Giving women credit: The strengths and limitations of credit as a tool for alleviating poverty. World Development. Vol. 17 (7) 1017-1032.

Bhagwati, J. (2010). Why international assistance does not alleviate poverty: Review essay. Foreign Affairs. Vol. 89 (1) 120-125.

Friedman, M. (1970). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved January 14, 2014 from  http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html 

Grossman, G. & Kruger, A. (1995). Economic growth and the environment. The Quarterly Journal of Economics. Vol. 110 (2) 353-377.

Ethics are often stronger than the laws of the land. Laws are cobbled together by special interests and have little to do with right and wrong, or personal ethical codes. For most people, their own personal codes of ethics will be stronger than the laws. People are much less likely to violate their own personal ethical codes than the laws.

Morals are codes of conduct put forward by a society, often within the context of a cultural or social group. Ethics are, following the Aristotelian tradition, a general guide to behavior that an individual adopts as his own guide to life (Gert, 2011). The relationship between the two is self-evident: while ethics are individual they are often strongly influenced by society's moral context.

Kohlberg (1971) outlined morals are being pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional. Pre-conventional morals are in the obedience and punishment orientation and the self-interest orientation. Like when you learn…

References

Anderson, K. (2009). Ethnographic research: A key to strategy. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved February 17, 2014 from  http://hbr.org/2009/03/ethnographic-research-a-key-to-strategy/ar/1 

Gert, B. (2011). The definition of morality. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved February 17, 2014 from  http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/morality-definition/ 

Kohlberg, L. (1971) From Is to Ought: How to Commit the Naturalistic Fallacy and Get Away with It in the Study of Moral Development. New York: Academic Press.

Friedman, M. (1971). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved February 17, 2014 from  http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html

Stakeholder Theory

In business, there is a conflict of ideas between the competing ideas of shareholder theory and stakeholder theory. This paper will outline what each of these theories is, and underscore some of the issues in this debate.

Shareholder Theory

Shareholder theory is the idea that businesses work for the shareholders. The idea was perhaps most famously elaborated by Milton Friedman in 1970. Friedman, arguing at a time when the idea of corporate social responsibility was just becoming popular, made a case that the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. He offered the constraint that it should do so within the legal and moral context of the land, but the crux of the argument is that businesses do not have other responsibilities beyond the profit motive. At the heart of this theory is the idea that businesses are nothing more than a vessel by which investors…

References

Donaldson, T. & Preston, L. (1985). The stakeholder theory of the corporation: Concepts, evidence and implications. The Academy of Management Review. Vol. 20 (1) 65-91.

Friedman, M. (1970) The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved November 10, 2014 from  http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html 

Poteshman, A. & Serbin, V. (2001). Clearly irrational financial market behavior: Evidence from the early exercise of exchange traded stock options. OFOR Paper 01-02. Retrieved November 10, 2014 from  https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/3794/ofor01-02.pdf?sequence=2

In this world view, the Canadian system of business regulation is ripe for the pruning of its lower branches, where the most liberal, socially, and environmentally-friendly legislation has been enacted that has cut into the bottom line of businesses nationwide (DuPlessis, Enman, Gunz, O'Byrne, 2011). Often, the conservative perspective would like to give personal legal rights to businesses with less consideration put upon the responsibilities that arise from such a legal status. This is to say that businesses, like people, should be afforded rights as well as responsibilities as the cost of the rights granted and enjoyed.

From the other side of the tracks, from a more liberal perspective, business ethics and regulations are different hands on the same body. This is to say that this group of people believes that the more businesses are regulated and ethically fixed; the better off an economy is (DuPlessis, Enman, Gunz, O'Byrne, 2011).…

Works Cited

Anderson, Bruce. (2008). "Business Ethics v Business Law: Rules, More Rules, and Deliberation." Legisprudence. Vol. 2, No. 3. Pp. 217-230.

Carasco, Emily F. And Singh, Jang B. (2008). "Human Rights in Global Business Ethics Codes." Business and Society review. Vol. 113, No. 3. Pp. 347-374.

DuPlessis, Dorothy; Enman, Steven; Gunz, Sally; and O'Byrne, Shannon. (2011). Canadian Business and the Law, 4th ed. Nelson Education: Scarborough, on.

Husted, Bryan W. (2008). "Toward a Model of Cross-Cultural Business Ethics: The Impact of Individualism and Collectivism on the Ethical Decision-Making Process." Journal of Business Ethics. Vol. 82, No. 2. Pp. 293-305.

(Major Schools of Economic Thought) This theory was born from the crucible of a Great Depression and a orld ar. Chicago theorists vehemently disagreed. They made the argument that the wealth of nation's increase when the market is allowed to naturally price goods and services. Spending would unnaturally change the prices of these goods, thus changing the reaction of the market to the goods, causing a misallocation of wealth or goods.

According to the Chicago theorists, the role of a government was to make sure individual rights were not trodden upon during market interactions and to mitigate the damage of neighborhood effects. Neighborhood effects are defined by Milton Friedman, the godfather of Chicago Economists, as when, "the action of one individual imposes significant costs on other individuals for which it is not feasible to make him compensate them or yields significant gains to them for which it is not feasible…

Works Cited

Friedman, M. (1955). School Choices. Retrieved June 25, 2010 from the ROLE of GOVERNMENT in EDUCATION: http://www.schoolchoices.org/?roo/?fried1.htm.

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Fransisco. (2010). Retrieved June 25, 2010 from Major Schools of Economic Theory:  http://www.frbsf.org/?publications/?education/?greateconomists/ ? grtschls.html#a8.

Part 3: On the Subway.com website, Subway highlights some of its sustainability initiatives. The company works with Energy Star to reduce the energy usage of its stores by using more efficient light bulbs. The company does this in partnership with Philips, the manufacturer of the light bulbs.

Subway has a new store concept known as the eco-store. The first Subway eco-store opened in Kissimmee, Florida in 2007 and two more are open in Oregon. The eco-store is built according to standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council, including Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. Such features of these stores include high efficiency HVAC systems, remote condensing units for refrigeration and ice-making, high efficiency lighting, low flow water fixtures and decor made from sustainable resources, including recycled materials. hile there are only three eco-stores in existence, the company is developing more. At some point, Subway could take the…

Works Cited:

Fields, K. (2009). A new order. Eco-Structure. Retrieved May 3, 2011 from  http://www.eco-structure.com/retail-projects/a-new-order.aspx 

Friedman, M. (1970). The social responsibility of business is to increase profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved May3, 2011 from  http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html 

Greenopia. (2010). Fast food. Greenopia. Retrieved May 3, 2011 from  http://www.greenopia.com/usa/fastfood_search.aspx?category=Fastfood&Listpage=0&input=Name%25or%25product&subcategory=None&sort=ratingdesc 

Kamp, J. (2008). Can fast food be sustainable? Ode Magazine. Retrieved May 3, 2011 from  http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/52/can-fast-food-be-sustainable/

There are three main ways to analyze financial statements. They are ratio analysis, common size analysis and trend analysis. These three forms of analysis allow the firm's financials be compared to industry norms, to the firm's past performance and on a raw basis. By using these techniques, the analyst can gain a sense of where the firm stands today, where the firm has been in the past, and what the current trends of the business are.

Ratio analysis covers a wide range of ground, including liquidity, profitability, solvency and managerial efficiency (Leka, 2007). These ratios outline the financial condition the firm is in, and attempt to derive some understanding of how the firm got into that position. Trend and common-size analysis allow for better year-over-year comparison, while ratio analysis can facilitate analysis across different firms in the same industry.

In addition to performing these basic forms of analysis, it is…

Works Cited:

Friedman, M. (1970). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved December 15, 2009 from  http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html 

Leka, M. (2007). How to analyze financial statements. E-Articles. Retrieved December 15, 2009 from  http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/HOW-TO-ANALYZE-FINANCIAL-STATEMENTS/ 

Kolstad, I. (2007). Why firms should not always maximize profits. Journal of Business Ethics. Vol. 76, 2, 137-145.

Ribeiro, A. (2009). Understanding financial statements. Mint.com. Retrieved December 15, 2009 from  http://www.mint.com/blog/finance-core/understanding-financial-statements/

BP and how it can impact on the performanve of the firm

In the recent times, a number of people have opposed the strategies that have been developed by BP. The major strategies that have been opposed by individuals is that of stoping the case regarding oil spill in the gulf of mexico.Operational strategy and effectiveness are vital for superior performance which is usually the main aim of all enterprises and organizations. A firm may perform better than its rivals only if the organization is capable of establishing a difference it is capable of preserving. The firms have to deliver higher values to its customers. Besides, the organizations should be capable of creating comparable values at very low costs. Delivering higher values enables companies to charge higher unit prices. Similarly, very great efficiency and effectiveness will result into very low unit costs. Operational effectiveness (OE) implies performing same activities more…

References

Austin, E.W., & Pinkleton, B.E. 2006. Strategic public relations management:

Planning and managing effective communication programs (2nd ed). Mahwah,

NJ: Erlbaum.

Axson, A.J. 2003. Best practices in planning and management reporting. New York:

economic tools concepts to evaluate a current issue situation which exist today in the U.S. health care industry

Health Industry:

There are two sets of health issues and many players in the health industry. One set of paradigm deals with the public and private health care issues, and another the emerging trend of market oriented changes in the health care industry. Hitherto health care was a public service but has now transformed itself into a competitive industry. In other words it has become a part of the national economy and economic analysis is not only important to care givers and institutions, but is also important to doctors and medical workers because the health industry is highly competitive. The debate on public health issues changed in the past with more scientific developments and insight into community care and medicine. (Fox; Ludden, 1998)

Some of the modern developments of the end of…

Value creation to day is mostly done by pharmacy benefit managers -- PBMs and health maintenance organizations -- HMOs. The new healthcare players are thus in need of these tools to improve the medical cost management skills, and creating a competitive organizational culture. (Goh; Pritula, 1996) Another tool to analyze the economy of the health care industry is the way the demand for and the supply of the care grows or subsides. Today health-care markets like all others have been influenced by supply and demand, and the more competitive environment which has created purchasers like insurers and investors in the industry have now become beneficiaries of the market forces and the cost of health-care is now a great percentage of the gross national product -- GNP as a result of the interplay of demand and supply changes. (Fox; Ludden, 1998)

Here the supply and demand in the health industry is taken by the public and private sector, and this has paved way for the growth of medical science. For example the changes in the healthcare spending and patient revenue and hospital utilization shown in table one was computed by Sensenig et al. (1996). Likewise are the changes in consumer prices for medical care services. There are many other indicators which show the way the industry behaves given the specific economic condition. To this variables some specific conditions for example inflation, and other economic situations are detected and the comparison provides the mechanism why the health care expenditure change. The table 1 shows the fact that "Medical care prices are now growing at roughly twice the rate as overall prices." (Sensenig, et al., 1996)

Health care professionals now use concepts like Utilization review for case management and this analysis will be beneficial to social workers making them indispensable to the management and

As a society, we allow government to help companies from time to time with tax and trade policy, because those companies create jobs. Part of the social contract of Americans is that we shall help each other out in times of crisis. Yet, this nation is a democracy, and the laws of the land should therefore reflect the will of the people who elected the politicians who wrote those laws and appointed those judges. As such, the categorical imperative is equivalent to the laws, and there are no laws forbidding this outsourcing. Additionally, a case could be made that there exists no social contract to protect American jobs. Our society is a free one, where liberty is valued above all. Employees are hired "at-will" and they have freedom to sever the employer-employee relationship equivalent to the freedom held by corporations. There is no mutual obligation, in absence of a valid…

Works Cited:

Friedman, M. (1970). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved April 21, 2012 from  http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html

There has been little in the way of fiscal policy, and the result has been entirely predictable. ith no particular influx of spending into the economy, the recovery has generally been quite weak. ith no fiscal policy tools on the horizon, it is therefore unlikely that any improvement to the recovery will take place.

International business is also an option for a company to improve its situation. If a company wants to sell, for example, running shoes, it has a number of options for this. The company could make the shoes in one country and sell them around the world. The company could also make the shoes in a number of different countries for local sale. It is recommended that the country should take advantage of economies of scale and produce in one country. Then, the company should sell the shoes all over the world. It can use local help…

Works Cited:

World Economic Forum (2013). Global agenda council on the role of business. World Economic Forum. Retrieved May 5, 2013 from  http://www.weforum.org/content/global-agenda-council-role-business-2012-2013 

Friedman, M. (1970). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine Retrieved May 5, 2013 from  http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html 

Labonte, M. (2013). Federal Reserve: Unconventional monetary policy options. Congressional Research Service. Retrieved May 5, 2013 from  http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42962.pdf

Ethics

Cable provider Adelphia was one of the major accounting scandals of the early 2000s that led to the creation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. A key provision of the Act was to create a stronger ethical climate in the auditing profession, a consequence of the apparent role that auditors played in some of the scandals. SOX mandated that auditors cannot audit the same companies for which they provide consulting services, as this link was perceived to result in audit teams being pressured to perform lax audits in order to secure more consulting business from the clients. There were other provisions in SOX that increased the regulatory burden on the auditing profession in response to lax auditing practices in scandals like Adelphia (McConnell & Banks, 2003). This paper will address the Adelphia scandal as it relates to the auditors, and the deontological ethics of the situation.

Adelphia

Adelphia was once a…

Works Cited:

McConnell, D. & Banks, G. (2003). How Sarbanes-Oxley will change the audit process. Journal of Accountancy. Retrieved April 15, 2013 from  http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/issues/2003/sep/howsarbanesoxleywillchangetheauditprocess.htm 

Barlaup, K., Dronen, I. & Stuart, I. (2009). Restoring trust in auditing: Ethical discernment and the Adelphia scandal. Managerial Auditing Journal. Vol. 24 (2) 183-203.

Friedman, M. (1970). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine. Retrieved April 15, 2013 from  http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html

Ethics primarily acts as a check to ensure that the corporate strategy is enacted effectively. arely do firms take ethics into account as a key element of strategy, though it does happen once in a while. Generally, the role that ethics plays is tangential to strategy aside from its role as a check. obin and eidenbach (1988) elaborate further on this idea, noting that "without the integration of ethics at the very beginning of the planning process… the organizational culture may not provide the checks and balances needed…" Their argument is that while corporations tend to put the profit motive forward first, a lack of ethics can undermine the objective of maximizing shareholder wealth. Having a strong program of ethics built into the organizational culture reduces the risk of major ethical lapse.

A couple of recent issues highlight the importance of building an ethical culture to maximizing shareholder wealth. Enron…

References

Dahlsrud, A. (2006). How corporate social responsibility is defined: An analysis of 37 definitions. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management. Retrieved November 19, 2013 from  http://www.mcxindia.com/csr/newsarticle/pdf/csr_news45.pdf 

Davis, S. (2013). Examples of social responsibility strategies. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved November 19, 2013 from  http://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-social-responsibility-strategies-10633.html 

Friedman, M. (1970). The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits New York Times Magazine. Retrieved November 19, 2013 from  http://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html 

Robin, D. & Reidenbach, R. (1988). Integrating social responsibility and ethics into the strategic planning process. Business and Professional Ethics Journal Vol 7 (3-4) 29-46.

Educational Vouchers: Multiple Issues and Contradictory esults

The Merriman-Webster online dictionary offers three definitions for "voucher": "...a documentary record of a business transaction; a written affidavit or authorization; a form or check indicating a credit against future purchases or expenditures." None of the three even approaches the emotionally charged version of the term "voucher" when it comes to the current debate swirling around public vs. private schools. This paper digs into the "vouchers" - or "scholarships," or "subsidies," if you prefer - provided to families in several cities and states, to move their children from less desirable, academically troubled public schools to more desirable, for-profit private, mainly religious schools.

Long before there was any discussion about vouchers, Horace Mann of Massachusetts - the "Father of American public school education" - was in the vanguard of the movement (1837) to solidify support for quality public education, excellence in teacher training, and…

Reference

ABC News (June 27, 2002). [Online] "Divided Court: Voucher Program Victory  http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/scotus_vouchers020627.html .

American Federation of Teachers (2002). [Online] "Report Reveals Right-Wing Backers of BAEO" "Milwaukee Vouchers Cost Twice the Tuition Amount Charged Non-Voucher Students  http://www.aft.org/research/vouchers/ .

Friedman Foundation (2002). [Online] "School Choice Works http://www.friedmanfoundation.org/schoolchoiceworks/schoolchoiceresearch.html.

Greene, Jay P. (2002). [Online] "Vouchers in Charlotte" Education Next Magazine  http://www.educationnext.org/20012/46greene.html .

School Choice Program

This study aimed to determine the impact of school choice through a comparative study of two private schools, which serve primarily, or exclusively African-American students, and a public school.

Data in student achievement in math and reading and data on student attendance were used to determine the impact of choosing a school. Qualitative data derived from interviews with administrators and faculty as well as classroom observation were used to provide additional insight regarding the intellectual climate of the two private schools and the public school.

The focus of this study was on mathematics and reading in middle school students in both public and private schools in Milwaukee, as well as the focus of reform in the state -- reading in Michigan, writing in Vermont and California. This approach enabled me to adequately address my research questions and prove or disprove my hypotheses.

To begin, I conducted structured…

Bibliography

Brown, Andrew (1995). Organizational Culture. London: Pitman Publishing.

Dianda, Marcella. Corwin, Ronald. (February 1993). What a Voucher Could Buy: A Survey of California's Private Schools. Far West Lab for Educational Research and Development, San Francisco, California and Southwest Regional Lab Survey Results.

Fuller, Bruce. (1995). Who Gains, Who Loses from School Choice: A Research Summary. ERIC Document Reproduction Services No. ED385928.

Greene, Jay. Peterson, Paul. Du, Jiangtao. (1997). Effectiveness of School Choice: The Milwaukee Experiment. Occasional Paper 97, Program in Education Policy and Governance Center for American Political Studies, Department of Government, Harvard University.