Multiple choice
1. Which of the following is a FALSE statement?
a. A Utilitarian analysis could morally support the closing of a plant in the U.S. and the outsourcing of the jobs to India if the good consequences resulting from the closure and outsourcing outweighed the harms to the U.S. employees and local community.
b. Kant would not be concerned with a company doing anything for downsized, displaced, and dislocated U.S. workers as a result of a plant closure and downsizing and outsourcing of their jobs overseas since everyone knows that “things are tough” in a global economy.
c. Pollution not only has a legal dimension but also a moral one due to the effects of pollution on the environment, human beings, and other sentient creatures.
d. A Utilitarian would be likely to approve the pollution credit plan because a greater good of less pollution for society is achieved; whereas a Kantian would be likely to disapprove it because some local communities are suffering “legal” pollution.
2. Payments by representatives of Western Technology, Inc. to foreign government officials in exchange for favorable business decisions in foreign countries are best described as:
a. Always illegal under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act since bribery is a serious legal wrong
b. Legal if they are “facilitating and expediting” payments
c. Always immoral based on ethics since bribery is a serious ethical wrong.
d. Legal if the foreign government official tells the company representatives that the payment is legal under the official’s country’s laws.
3. Home Depot Corporation makes material civic and charitable contributions in the communities where it has its stores. In particular, the company contributes to local Habitat for Humanity organizations. The company executives who established this policy of corporate giving can be best described as acting:
a. Legally since the federal Department of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUD) requires that all “big-box” home supply retailers as a condition of getting their federal charter make civic and charitable contributions.
b. Morally since Home Depot is ethically the “last resort,” that is, the only alternative to house the homeless in the United States.
c. Socially responsible in a smart, shrewd, strategic, and long-term sense.
d. Immorally pursuant to Utilitarian ethics since the greater good of the executive stakeholder group is not being achieved since the money being given to charities could be going for executive bonuses.
4. Under Rule l0b-5, which is true about insiders?
a. Officers and directors are insiders, but employees who are not officers are not insiders.
b. Officers and directors are insiders, but lawyers and accountants which are hired only on a temporary basis are not insiders.
c. Employees at all levels in a company are insiders, as well as lawyers, accountants, and consultants even when hired only on a temporary basis.
d. Agents hired on a temporary non employee basis to provide services to the company are not insiders.
