Business Ethics

Business Ethics Order Description Reading Assignment: Moral Reasoning Exercise Instructions: The aim of this exercise is to help you become familiar with the techniques of moral reasoning and to encourage you to think critically about moral issues. Remember to support your particular moral judgments about these cases with reasons. You should aim to justify your particular moral judgments using relevant moral principles and moral reasons. These principles may be very general, like the principle of utility (‘maximize happiness’), or common deontological principles concerned with loyalty, promise keeping, or those prohibiting deceivingand harmingothers, etc. Aim to achieve a consistent fit between your moral beliefs, principles and particular judgments.Refer to the readings for seminars 3 and 4to find examples of moral principles and reasons and explanations of moral reasoning and justification. Make sure you answer every part of each question. Remember to provide sufficient detail in Section C to give a clear indication of your overall position with respect to the cases and the principles you endorse. This is a short answer assignment. You do not need to answer the questions in the form of an essay. Please include a bibliography with the main sources from the question and any additional sources you reference directly. Include citations in the body of the assignment where appropriate. Answer ALL the questions below from sections A, B and C Section A: Read the following news items and answer the questions: “GlaxoSmithKline to pay $3bn in US drug fraud scandal” https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/03/business/glaxosmithkline-agrees-to-pay-3-billion-in-fraud-settlement.html?_r=0https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18673220https://abcnews.go.com/Health/Drugs/off-label-drug-marketing-free-speech-court-rules/story?id=17883930 Information about off-label prescribing and marketing: https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=20732 1. What are the main ethical issues raised by GlaxoSmithKline’s decision to promote and market drugs for unapproved uses? Do you think that such practices are morally permissible or unethical? Provide detailed reasons to support your conclusions. 2. Do you think it was morally acceptable for GlaxoSmithKline not to release relevant research data and to make unsupported safety claims for one of its diabetes drugs?Is there a moral difference between merely failing to provide relevant information and actively making false claims about the safety of a drug? Give reasons for your answer. 3. GSK’s activities were found to be illegal. Would it make a difference to your assessment of the case if such activities were not against the law? Why/Why not? In answering these questions make sure to: a) determine the facts of the case b) identify affected parties c) identify relevant moral principles, values and reasons d) weigh up competing principles, values and reasons e) reach principled and consistent moral conclusions about the case Section B: Watch or read the transcript of the following program and answer the questions: Globesity: Fat’s New Frontier. https://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2012/s3547707.htm Additional information about Mexico and obesity: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/01/mexico-obesity-taxes-junk-foodsugary-drinks-exercise https://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/nov/03/obese-soda-sugar-tax-mexico 4. What kinds of moral obligations to consumers and society do food and beverage companies have when marketing and selling food and drink products that lead to negative health outcomes? Answer this question using specific examples from the documentary to support your conclusions. In answering the question make sure to: a) determine the facts of the case b) identify affected parties c) identify relevant moral principles, values and reasons d) weigh up competing principles, values and reasons e) reach a principled and consistent moral decision about the case Section C: Compare your responses to the two cases. Do you apply the same principles and standards of conduct to pharmaceutical companies as you do to food and beverage companies? Explain why or why not making sure you identify the morally relevant differences or similarities between the two cases to support your conclusions. Preparation: • Make sure you read in detail all the news items and other information given to you in the assignment question as well as watch the documentary program (or read the transcript of the program). • You are not expected to use sources other than those listed in the questions and any relevant readings from the reading list. • The most relevant readings are those from seminars 3 and 4: The Nature of Ethics and Morality; The Nature of Moral Reasoning. • Review the marking rubric for this assignment. Answering the questions: • This is a short answer assignment. Do not answer the questions in the form of an essay. • Answer the questions succinctly and avoid introducing material not directly relevant to the question. • Make sure you answer every part of each question. • Remember to provide sufficient detail in Section C to give a clear indication of your overall position with respect to the cases and the principles you endorse. • Include a bibliography with the main sources listed in the assignment questions and any additional sources you reference directly. • Include citations in the body of the assignment where appropriate.