Business Ethics, Stakeholder Management, and Globalization Flashcards

Ethics

A conception of right and wrong conduct that tells us whether our behavior is moral or immoral and deals with fundamental human relationships.

Ethical Principles

Guides to moral behavior derived from sources such as religious beliefs, family, education, community, media, and intuition.

Ethical Relativism

The concept holding that ethical behavior should be defined by historical periods, a society's traditions, special circumstances, or personal opinion, with no universal ethical standards.

Laws

Society's formal written rules about what constitutes right and wrong conduct in various spheres of life.

Business Ethics

The application of general ethical perspectives to business behavior.

U.S. Corporate Sentencing Guidelines

Legal standards that establish procedures to reduce criminal conduct, including assigning high-level officers responsibility for compliance, communicating standards through training, and enforcing rules through discipline.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

A U.S. law born from corporate ethics scandals that requires executives to vouch for financial report accuracy, pay back bonuses based on fraudulent earnings, and adhere to strict auditing rules.

Moral Intensity

A concept for determining the ethicality of a situation defined as the extent of the issue-related moral imperative.

Magnitude of Consequences

The dimension of moral intensity defined as the sum of the harms or benefits done to the victims or beneficiaries of a moral act.

Proximity (Moral Intensity)

The feeling of social, psychological, or physical nearness that a moral act has for its victims or beneficiaries.

Social Consensus

The degree of social agreement that a proposed act is evil or good.

Probability of Effect

The likelihood that an act will take place and cause the predicted harm or benefit.

Temporal Immediacy

The length of time between the present moment and the onset of the consequences of a moral act.

Virtue Ethics

An ethical system based on character traits and values that a good person should possess, guiding individuals toward moral behavior.

Utilitarian Reasoning

An ethical method that compares total benefits and costs of an action or decision to maximize the overall amount of good produced.

Human Rights

The entitlements of a person or group to something or to be treated in a certain way, such as the rights to life, safety, and due process.

Justice

An ethical principle where benefits and burdens are distributed equally or fairly according to an accepted rule.

Performance-Expectations Gap

The discrepancy between expected economic and social performance and actual performance; a larger gap increases the risk of stakeholder backlash.

Environmental Analysis

A method managers use to gather information about external issues and trends to develop organizational strategy that minimizes threats and captures opportunities.

Environmental Intelligence

The acquisition of information gained from analyzing the multiple environments affecting an organization.

Eight Strategic Radar Screens

A framework for gathering environmental intelligence across eight domains: Customer, Competitor, Economic, Technological, Social, Political, Legal, and Geophysical environments.

Competitive Intelligence

The systematic and continuous process of gathering, analyzing, and managing external information about competitors while complying with laws and professional standards.

Stakeholder Materiality

An adaptation of an accounting term used to prioritize the relevance of stakeholders and their specific issues to a company.

Issue Management Process

A five-step process comprising Identify Issue, Analyze Issue, Generate Options, Take Action, and Evaluate Results.

Connectedness

The capability of global leaders to engage with external stakeholders in dialogue and partnership.

Corporate Culture

A blend of ideas, customs, traditional practices, company values, and shared meanings that help define normal behavior for everyone working in a company.

Ethical Climate

The unspoken understanding among employees of what is and is not acceptable behavior based on expected standards and norms.

Compliance-based Approach

An ethics approach seeking to avoid legal sanctions by emphasizing the threat of detection and punishment.

Integrity-based Approach

An ethics approach combining concern for law with employee responsibility, promoting honesty, fairness, and ethical conduct.

Ethical Leadership

The demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, setting the tone at the top.

Bribery

A questionable or unjust payment made, often to a government official, to ensure or facilitate a business transaction.

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)

A U.S. law prohibiting companies from engaging in bribery of foreign government officials.

Corporate Power

The capability of corporations to influence government, the economy, and society based on their organizational resources.

Iron Law of Responsibility

The principle stating that in the long run, those who do not use power in ways that society considers responsible will tend to lose it.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

The principle that a corporation should act to enhance society and its inhabitants, be held accountable for harm, and potentially forgo profits for positive social impact.

Corporate Citizenship

The actions companies take to put their commitments to corporate social responsibility into practice locally and globally.

Social Audit

A systematic evaluation of an organization's social, ethical, and environmental performance.

Integrated Report

A single corporate report combining legally required financial information with social and environmental performance information.

Social Entrepreneur

An individual driven by a core mission to create and sustain social value using entrepreneurial skills to address social needs.

B Corporation

A business certified by the non-profit B Lab that meets rigorous, independent social and environmental performance standards.

Globalization

The increasing movement of goods, services, and capital across national borders as part of an integrated world economy.

Multinational Enterprises (MNEs)

Firms defined by the United Nations as entities that control assets abroad.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

Capital flow that occurs when a company, individual, or fund invests money in another country, such as buying stock in or loaning money to a foreign firm.

Global Wealth Pyramid

A framework showing global wealth distribution across four tiers