SOLUTION: Business Ethics Task -2 Guide | My Assignment Tutor

Business Ethics Task -2 GuideRelevant Concept1. United Drags a Bloodied Passenger Off a FlightUnited Airlines felt the fallout worldwide when two security officers forcibly removed abloodied passenger off an overbooked United flight in April — and none too gently atthat. Video footage of the incident shows 69-year-old David Dao’s head smacking against anarm rest during the altercation, then his sweater hitching up to his chest to reveal his stomachand glasses askew as security dragged him supine down the aisle and off the flight.Consumers worldwide reacted with horror and quickly called for a boycott. Making mattersworse: United CEO Oscar Munoz apologized for the incident in rather sanitized corporatespeak, saying “this is an upsetting event to all of us here at United” — underestimating justhow viscerally disturbing the video had been, and how dissatisfied fliers were with the airlineindustry. Adding salt to the open wound, media reports revealed that Munoz had called Dao“disruptive and belligerent” in a letter to employees.While the incident wasn’t expected to hurt profits, the debacle struck a chord amongconsumers who have dealt with years of flagging service standards aboard flights.Even after Dao and United settled out of court, the frustrations unleashed upon airlines wouldnot stop, with complaints against airlines up 13% in the six months following the incident,according to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation.Investigative Concept: CSR & Sustainability2. 21st Century Fox and Bill O’ReillySexual harassment allegations plagued many companies in 2017, including entertainment giant21st Century Fox.Fox’s woes started in 2016, with former anchor Gretchen Carlson filing a lawsuit against FoxNews Channel’s news chief Roger Ailes, alleging sexual harassment. But it didn’t stop there. InApril, it was reported that star commentator Bill O’Reilly had paid five women millions to keepallegations of sexual harassment in the dark. Upon hearing the news, advertisers hastilysuspended their segments during the O’Reilly Factor. By April, O’Reilly was out.Still, the news was upsetting to shareholders who considered the multiple allegations a sign ofa company culture that allowed for sexual harassment. Adding fuel to the fire: Fox reportedlyknew of the claims against O’Reilly when it decided to give him a new contract in January.Thus, in November, Fox agreed to pay $90 million to settle shareholder claims related to theO’Reilly and Ailes scandal, and create a council focused on creating a proper workplaceenvironment.O’Reilly has denied any wrongdoing, and Fox has not admitted wrongdoing.Investigative Concept: Corporate Governance3. Alphabet and FacebookThe year following the presidential election became one for Congress — and internet titans— to rethink their role in the democratic process.Amid speculation that fake news spread on social media may have influenced the 2016elections, giants such as Facebook and Google appeared to dismiss the possibility.But that changed in 2017, with Facebook and Google — which derive a major chunk of theirrevenue from ad placements — both saying that they had found accounts tied to the Russiangovernment. Facebook reported some 3,000 Kremlin-linked ads aimed at dividing the countrythat had been bought on its platform. Google, meanwhile, found tens of thousands of adsbought by Russia-linked entities on YouTube and Gmail. Twitter also revealed that a newsoutlet paid for by the Russian government, Russia Today, had spent $274,000 in ads on theplatform in 2016.There’s no indication that the questions will stop any time soon. Twitter, Facebook, andGoogle are still investigating how much Russian activity there had been on their platforms.Adding to big tech’s big problems: Congress appears to be taking a harder stance against thesector, with some on Capitol Hill questioning the way they are getting users to keep comingback.Investigative Concept: CSR4. Uber, Uber, and More UberIf Uber’s past run-ins with the law were speed bumps, then 2017 hit the ride-hailing companylike a 10-car pileup, with sexual harassment allegations, questions about founder TravisKalanick’s leadership, and criminal probes. In February, former Uber employee Susan Fowlercame forward alleging a culture of sexual harassment in the Silicon Valley giant. In May, theJustice Department revealed a criminal probe into Uber’s alleged use of a software dubbed“Greyball” to avoid regulators in geographic regions where it was operating illegally. That allhelped lead to the ouster of Kalanick in June, giving then-Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi theunenviable task of reforming the firm.What made it seem like even more of a Sisyphean ordeal: Shortly after Khosrowshahi tookthe reins, London banned Uber from the U.K. capital, and in November, it was revealed thatUber had been hacked, putting the data of some 57 million users in danger.Unlike in the case of United Airlines, Uber’s users have chosen alternatives to the black cars.Due to its ongoing woes, Uber has ceded part of its market share to Lyft, now controlling 74%of the U.S. market against 84% last year.Uber once had a valuation of about $68 billion. Japanese banking firm SoftBank meanwhilebought a stake in the company valuing it at $48 billion.Investigative Concept: CSR5. Harvey Weinstein’s Multiple Sexual Assault AccusationsWeinstein’s story is one that can’t be concocted in even the most twisted of Hollywood films.Starting in October, more than 100 actresses came forward with accusations of sexualmisconduct against the Hollywood kingpin dating back for decades. Weinstein apologized —but it wasn’t enough to save the producer of Oscar-winning films from termination fromWeinstein Co. Nor did it calm the public’s growing outrage over how Weinstein had managedto maintain his position for so long.In his attempts to silence those accusations, Weinstein allegedly hired ex-Mossad agents totail the accusers in question. But as turns out, it wasn’t just Weinstein’sreported spies and threats that kept him in power, but also a following of billionaire friendsthat kept him safe within Weinstein Co., despite signs that Weinstein was using companyfunds for personal projects in 2015. Weinstein later agreed to repay more than $7 million tothe company.But perhaps the most significant sea change: It sparked a wave of once silent men andwomen to speak out about their experiences with sexual harassment.Weinstein has categorically denied taking part in any non-consensual sex.Investigative Concept: Corporate Governance6. Equifax’s Data BreachesCredit rating firm Equifax makes its profits from selling personal, often sensitive informationto financial institutions and lenders.But in September, it revealed that it had been at the center of one of the worst databreaches in history, with the information of some 145 million people, about half of the U.S.population, compromised.In the aftermath, CEO Richard Smith stepped down, as well as its chief information officerand chief security officer, amid revelations that Equifax was aware of the system flaw that thehackers took advantage of since March. Then, when the hack did happen, the firm waited afull two months before disclosing it.Meanwhile, the Justice Department is reportedly looking into whether top Equifax excutivescommitted insider trading when selling some $1.8 billion in shares just before the breach wasdisclosed.Investigative Concept: CSR7. Samsung’s Bribery ChargesIn 2016, Samsung dealt with exploding Note 7 batteries. In 2017, it was imploding corporateranks.Originally planning to put heir Lee Jae-yong at the head of the empire, the family-runSamsung conglomerate is now facing questions of succession after Lee was caught in asprawling political scandal that took down former South Korean President Park Guen-hye.Lee Jae-yong is now facing five years (and potentially 12) in jail for offering allegedly offeringbribes to Park, embezzlement, and hiding assets overseas.Samsung Electronics co-CEO Kwon Oh-hyun meanwhile also resigned in October, citingSamsung’s leadership woes.“As we are confronted with unprecedented crisis inside out, I believe that time has nowcome for the company [to] start anew, with a new spirit and young leadership to betterrespond to challenges arising from the rapidly changing IT industry,” he said in a statement.While Samsung’s long-term health is still on shaky ground, the company’s near-term outlookbelies those worries. The company posted record-breaking profits in the third quarter of$12.8 billion, almost triple the number it posted a year earlier.Investigative Concept: Corporate Governance8. Kobe Steel, Mitsubishi Materials, and Japan’s Corporate Governance WoesJapan’s economy notched its longest GDP growth streak since 2001 in the third quarter of2017. But underlying it’s steady recovery: A wave of quality-faking admissions from some ofJapan’s biggest companies that’s has raised questions about the country’s standing as amanufacturing powerhouse.In October, Kobe Steel revealed that it falsified information on some items sold to Boeing,Ford, Toyota, and others since 2007; Mitsubishi Materials, which said it faked data on autoand airplane parts affecting some 274 clients; and Toray, a manufacturing giant that revealedthat it had fudged data for cords used to reinforce tires since 2008.Carmakers Nissan and Subaru also recalled 1.2 million and 395,000 vehicles respectively in2017, saying unqualified inspectors were allowed to vet their cars in the final checks fordecades.While the scandals haven’t revealed any major safety issues, they are negative for Japanesebusinesses. As lower cost alternatives from China and South Korea have proliferated throughthe market, Japan has competed mainly by pointing to the high quality of its products as abulwark.Analysts, though, say the series of scandals that have come out in recent months suggest thatthose Japanese quality standards may have been set too high.Investigative Concept: Corporate Governance9. Wells Fargo’s Woes ContinueAfter losing the trust of consumers in 2016 for creating millions of fake accounts, Wells Fargostruggled mightily to win back its customer base with promises of transparency and reform.But Wells Fargo’s woes only deepened in 2017, when the company admitted that it hadcharged as many as 570,000 consumers for auto insurance that they did not need.Additionally, some 20,000 of those borrowers may have had their cars repossessed as aresult. Wells Fargo said it would pay $80 million in remediation. Wells Fargo’s head ofconsumer banking and some 70 senior managers in the bank’s retail banking segment werealso cut as a result.In the same year, Wells Fargo also revealed that it had uncovered an additional 1.4 millionfake accounts on top of the 2.1 million the bank previously disclosed had been createdwithout consumer permission.Investigative Concept: Corporate Governance & CSR10. Apple’s Slowed Down iPhonesThe tech giant’s year ended with a bang, after reports that Apple had purposely slowed downolder iPhones to compensate for decaying batteries.It appeared to feed into a long-time conspiracy theory among some Apple users: that thecompany had been purposely slowing down old models when a new version came out in abid to force consumers to upgrade. Now, the company is facing lawsuits for allegedly slowingdown the devices without first warning consumers.In response, Apple has apologized for slowing down the iPhones, calling it a“misunderstanding,” and offered to sell battery replacements for $29 instead of the usual$79. Apple has said that once the battery is replaced, the iPhone’s speed will pick up again.Investigative Concept: CSR