Sharmori Richardson

BE-101 Intro to Business (Homework)

Chapter 1- The Contemporary Business World
What are the benefits of a business? Can a business negatively affect a society?
The benefits of a business can include:

Creating opportunities such as jobs for a country or island.

Generating revenue for the government of a country/island by paying business taxes.
Creating most innovations and providing a vast range of opportunities for other

businesses, which makes them a supplier.

Contributing to the quality of life and standard of living of people in a society.
Supporting charities and providing community leadership.

Can a business negatively affect a society?

In terms of negatively affecting a society, a business is capable of doing that. The smoke and
toxic waste can result in polluting the air and our seas. Also, with unhealthy business practices
such as hiding the percentage of ingredients or chemicals in a food can affect society. For
example, some of the foods we eat today arent natural ingredients, they are artificial. Another
example from food will be chicken. Nowadays, farm animals are injected with chemicals to
make them grow faster and bigger. These chemicals can cause great harm to a human body and
result in diseases such as cancer.
1-2: What are the factors of production? Is one factor more important than the others? If
so, which one? Why?
a) The factors of production can include:
Labor- the physical and mental capabilities of people as they contribute to the economic

production.
Capital- the funds needed to create and operate a business enterprise.
Entrepreneur- the individual who accepts the risk and opportunities involved in creating
and operating a new business venture.

Physicals Resources- tangible items that organizations use in the conduct of their

businesses.
Information Resources- data and other information used by businesses.
b) Entrepreneurs is the most important factor due to the fact that they are the people who
accepts the risks and opportunities associated with creating and operating businesses.
They are the creative minds behind businesses today hence why I believe this is the most
important factor.
1-3: What is a demand curve? What is a supply curve? At what point do they intersect?
a) A demand curve is a graph that shows how many units of a product will be demanded
(bought) at different prices.
b) A supply curve is a graph that shows how much units of a product will be supplied
(offered for sale) at different prices.
c) The demand and supply curve intersect when the quantity of goods demanded and the
quantity of goods supplied are equal forming the equilibrium price (market price).

1-4: Why is inflation both good and bad? How does the government try to control it?
a) Inflation occurs when widespread price increases occur throughout an economic system.
Inflation reduces the purchase power of currency, and causes wages and production rise.
However, inflation causes interest rates higher and financially damages lenders who will
paid back in less valuable currency.
b) The government tries to control inflation by cutting taxes or spending more money.
Cutting taxes will encourage businesses to import more goods.
Chapter 2-Managing the Business
2-1: What factors determine an individuals ethics? For you, which factor has been most
significant?
a) The factors that determines an individuals ethics are:
Utility

b)

Rights
Justice and,
Caring
For me Rights would be most important; reason being that some workplaces treat their
employees bad and not giving them respect where is due. I believe that in order for an
employee to perform at his/her best is to give them respect.

2-2: When making decisions, who are the stakeholders that a business should consider?
When making decisions a business should consider:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

Local communities,
Its customers,
Its suppliers
Its employees and,
Its investors

2-3: What are the major areas of social responsibility with which businesses should be
considered?
The major areas of social responsibility are:

Responsibility towards the environment

Responsibility towards customers
Responsibility towards employees and,
Responsibility toward investors

2-4: What are the four basic approaches to social responsibilities?

The four basic approaches to social responsibilities are:

Obstructionist stance
Defensive stance
Accommodative stance, and
Proactive Stance

2-5: How does government shape the social responsibility of organizations?

a) The government shapes the social responsibility practices of an organization by using

direct and indirect channeling. They often influence organizations through regulations or
the establishments of rules that dictates the do and donts of the organization.
2-10: Using newspapers, magazines and other business references, identify ate least one
company that takes each of the four stances to social responsibility: obstructionist,
defensive, accommodative, and proactive. For each company, highlight its actions that
support your conclusion.

An example of a business that used a proactive is Nike. In 1991 Jeff Ballinger published a
report documenting the labor practices of Nike. After several publishes made by Jeff Ballinger,
Nike received a decrease in sales and a bad name for business. Since this incident, Nike became
the first sports company to publish a complete a list of the factories its contracts with, provided a
detailed 108-page report revealing conditions and pay in its factories and posts commitments
standards, and audit data as part of its corporate social responsibilities reports. Despite the poor
labor practices, the company conducted, they manage to turn it around by indicating sincere
commitment to improve social responsibilities.

An example of a company that took the obstructionist stance was Nestle. Several years
ago Nestle marketed their infant formula and sent out the wrong message with their product
According to (Murray, 2009), as a result of the marketing tactics, Nestle infant formula killed
more than 100 third world babies. They denied they never advocated bottle feeding over breast
feeding milk. Even though they used the wrong marketing tactics, they still should have admitted
their wrong doings.

An example of a company that uses the accommodative stance is Walmart. According to

University Alliance, (2013), Walmart started actively addressing its global impact by adopting a
sustainability program in which the company refurbished products from building materials to
light bulbs in order to become eco-friendlier. They also added solar panels to many of their retail
store with results in less pollution (University Alliance, 2013). Instead of competing with
competitors such as target, Walmart made a difference by becoming eco-friendly which results in
their customers and employees living better and healthier lives. This is accommodative stance
due to the fact that they exceed their legal and ethical requirements by making a difference in
their industry.
An example of a company that uses the defensive stance is the tobacco company, Philip
Morris. According to (Meier, 1999), after several law suits due to the effects of smoking, Philip
Morris along with other tobacco companies provided information on the health risks of smoking.
This shows that they are doing everything that is legally required, including admitting to
mistakes and taking corrective actions.

REFERENCES
Meier, B. (1999, October 13). Philip Morris Admits Evidence Shows Smoking Causes Cancer .
Retrieved from The New York Times : http://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/13/us/philipmorris-admits-evidence-shows-smoking-causes-cancer.html
Murray, A. (2009). The Infant Formula Controversy.

Nisen, M. (2013, May 9). How Nike Solved Its Sweatshop Problem. Retrieved from Business
Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-nike-solved-its-sweatshop-problem-2013-5
University Alliance. (2013, July 29). Walmart Reports on Global Responsibility Efforts.
Retrieved from University of San Fransisco:
http://www.usanfranonline.com/news/supply-chain-management/walmart-reports-onglobal-responsibility-efforts/#.V_sL6ZMrLqM