Question

1.) What was the point of the opening story about the prevalence of bribery in Iraq?

2.) According to Corngold, the second speaker, why are governments often less able to confront issues like human trafficking and labor rights? Who does she believe is more able to confront these issues, and why?

3.) In the podcast, one speaker talks about a "corporate idealist." What is a corporate idealist?

4.) One example in the podcast covers the struggle to change one particular corporation's standard from having no more than 8 annual fatalities to having zero fatalities. What was the root of the struggle here that could apply to other similar human rights-related ethical issues? How did the speaker ultimately work through the issue?


5.) A major argument of the podcast is that corporations have the power to change their employees behaviors and even how they see the world, and that's how they can achieve social change- at a grassroots level. How does this relate to your own understanding of business ethics, and do you think it makes sense to look at corporate's capacity for global change at this level? Why or why not?

Answer 1

1A) the point behind the opening story being about the prevalence of bribery in Iraq because it not only sets the plot of the audio, but if you read the details below it also goes with the question “Can today’s multinational corporations be a force for social good?” The opening of this helps the listeners to understand how different corporations work and really think about the questions in the details below.

2A) Governments are often less likely or able to confront issues like human trafficking and labor rights because they have not been able to solve cross border issues, if and when they try to work together than cannot come to a reasonable and or actionable agreements, so instead confronting issues such as human trafficking and labor rights they let them be. Corngold believes that only multinational corporations are able solve issues like that of human trafficking and labor rights. She believes this because they have the resources, the global footprints, and the incent of profits to solve such challenges.

3A) A Corporate idealist are the employees of a particular business that pay remarkably close attention to the financial performance of their companies, and the ethical, environmental consequences as well. (they also pay close attention to the societal consequences to their companies)

4A) The root of the struggle here that could apply to other similar human rights-related ethical issues would be the fatalities dampens human rights such as freedom to life, and to good health. The speaker ultimately worked through the issue by telling the company the particular human rights they are violating, from here getting the number of fatalities from 8 to 0.

#5 is your understanding of business ethics, thin about the question and go from there

you are free to use my answers as examples. Hopes this helps you out