Q&A Hero

Q: What does Ben & Jerrys law do? A. It requires that the companys ice cream use only non-GMO ingredients. B. It gives the firms directors the legal protection to reject a takeover offer based only on financial grounds. C. It gives the firms directors the legal protection to accept a takeover offer based only on financial grounds. D. It requires that CEOs be paid no more than 20 times the average pay of all other employees.

Q: Research indicates that values-based businesses ______. A. are increasingly common B. are much less profitable than other businesses C. remain rare D. are much more profitable than other businesses

Q: ______, a values-based business, states that its goal is to find new measures of success that do not depend on selling an ever increasing number of goods and services. A. Ben & Jerrys B. Patagonia C. The Body Shop D. Zappos

Q: Who famously noted, Profit for a company is like oxygen for a person. If you dont have enough of it, youre out of the game. But if you think your life is about breathing, youre really missing something? A. Peter Drucker B. Milton Friedman C. Charles Handy D. Jack Welch

Q: A ______ is a for-profit firm that is founded on a vision and mission defined by a strategic CSR perspective. A. social enterprise B. stakeholder-based business C. sharia-compliant business D. values-based business

Q: With their ice cream firm, Ben and Jerry sought to ______. A. foster a culture of religious tolerance B. be a concerned and responsive employer C. pay top management and the owners many multiples of the lowest-level workers pay D. support religious values by holding frequent prayer meetings

Q: Enron is an example of a firm that ______. A. had a strong corporate social responsibility position that translated into ethical practices B. had a weak set of formal ethical positions but was an ethical firm nevertheless C. a strong set of corporate social responsibility positions that were just greenwash D. was the first firm to have a chief CSR officer

Q: Creating products durable enough and timeless enough that people could replace them less often, reflects the business philosophy of ______. A. Howard Schultz B. Yvon Chounard C. Bill Gates D. John Mackey

Q: Which business leader developed the principles of conscious capitalism? A. Lee Iacocca B. Steve Jobs C. Phil Knight D. John Mackey

Q: Why does the business exist? is a question that illustrates what principle of conscious capitalism? A. higher purpose B. stakeholder independence C. conscious leadership D. conscious culture

Q: Values-based businesses view CSR as ______ rather than as ______. A. an opportunity; a way of doing business B. a cost; an opportunity C. an opportunity; a cost D. a way of doing business; an opportunity

Q: ______ is the generation of a perceived benefit for an individual or a group, as defined by that individual or group. A. The CSR advantage B. The shareholder advantage C. The stakeholder advantage D. Value creation

Q: Firms, like Enron, that ignore their ______, eventually are held accountable for their actions. A. CSR threshold B. CSR reporting C. primary stakeholders D. executive accountability

Q: The MBA Oath was written in ______ by a group of Harvard Business School students who wanted to develop a professional vow similar to the Hippocratic Oath taken by medical professionals. A. 1909 B. 1939 C. 1979 D. 2009

Q: Focusing on organizational goals, such as quarterly earnings, rather than individual actions can lead to ______. A. greater short-term profits B. greater awareness of the ethical implications of actions C. a loss of awareness of ethical implications D. weaker short-term profits

Q: When we teach children not to steal, we are teaching them ______. A. ethics B. individual ethical decision-making C. morality D. ethics and morality

Q: What is the primary focus of business ethics? A. macro perspectives of firm behavior B. individual behavior and decision-making C. both the macro and micro levels of behavior D. a comprehensive management philosophy of the firm

Q: Who should bear the most responsibility for the pollution associated with e-waste? Support your answer with specific examples.

Q: Describe each of the reasons that firms should care about sustainability. Which is the most important to you, and why is it most important?

Q: Must the global economic model of mass consumption change if there is to be realistic progress toward improving the environment?

Q: Describe the problems associated with e-waste and provide an analysis of possible solutions.

Q: One hundred companies control 25% of the trade of all 15 of the most significant commodities on the planet. Why is that important? What process does that force companies to pay more attention to?

Q: What does it mean to say that the waste we generate is a central driver of the global economy?

Q: Climate change has reached a point where only substantial action will produce meaningful effects and avert the catastrophic outcome we are otherwise hurtling toward.

Q: The concept of natural capital fits in the rational argument for CSR.

Q: Global warming is a prediction.

Q: Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Q: The greatest concern about COP21 is that it is too little, too late.

Q: The United Nations Basel Convention is an important government-level initiative. What does it regulate? A. carbon emissions B. e-waste C. recycling efforts D. water conservation

Q: In the United States alone, it is estimated that ______ tons of e-waste are discarded annually. A. 1.5 million B. 2.4 million C. 5 million D. more than 10 million

Q: The metals, chemicals, and solder that make up the components inside electronic devices are ______. A. easy to recycle B. readily available in the natural environment C. toxic D. inexpensive to produce

Q: ______ represents the recognition that a changing climate will affect business operations and that managing risk and adapting to the new environment will increasingly be important to business success. A. Natural capital B. COP21 C. Global sustainability D. Resilience

Q: According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the average American produces ______ of trash per day. A. less than 3 pounds B. approximately 3.3 pounds C. between 4.5 and 7 pounds D. more than 8 pounds

Q: In our current economy, the more that is ______, the ______ the economy is. A. wasted; stronger B. recycled; stronger C. wasted; weaker D. recycled; weaker

Q: A huge assumption of the current economic model is that the worlds resources are ______. A. readily available B. finite C. infinite D. recyclable

Q: Mass consumption and quick turnover are essential in the global economy. What do these conditions lead to? A. waste B. profit optimization C. recycling D. sustainability

Q: In the current global economic model, whether we ______ a product is more important than whether we ______ it. A. need; want B. want; need C. waste; want D. need; waste

Q: Which famous business leader is known for his belief that unless companies changed their approach to sustainability, business leaders like him would be judged by future generations as thieves and plunderers of the planet? A. Ray Anderson, founder of Interface Carpets B. Jack Welch, former chair and CEO of GE C. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft D. Howard Schultz, chair and CEO of Starbucks

Q: Firms need to care about sustainability because of the likelihood that ______. A. stakeholder perceptions will change about the need to do something about the environment B. governments will implement carbon taxes and other penalties C. competitors are likely to address sustainability and will gain an advantage by doing so D. cap-and-trade programs will be implemented by 2020

Q: Companies, such as Disney and Microsoft, which are attaching a shadow price to their carbon emissions, are beginning to account for the impact on ______ of their activities. A. natural capital B. stakeholder values C. shareholder values D. environmental growth

Q: A company that is demonstrating the power of innovation and entrepreneurial spirit with its pledge to eliminate the idea of waste is ______. A. Patagonia B. Whole Foods C. Microsoft D. TerraCycle

Q: When ______ announced it would start charging for plastic bags, within 6 months, the policy cut bag consumption in the United States by more than 50%. A. Whole Foods B. IKEA C. Apple D. Nike

Q: China accounts for ______ of the worlds increase in the carbon dioxide emitted since 2000. A. one-quarter B. one-third C. one-half D. two-thirds

Q: Firms are beginning to anticipate the day when stakeholders will demand greater accountability for their environmental performance. General Motors, for example, has pledged to be ______. A. carbon-free B. solar-powered C. free of combustion engine cars D. landfill-free

Q: The science on climate change is not disputed. What is disputed is(are) ______. A. who or what is responsible for climate change B. the consequences of climate change C. the impact of oil-based fuel technologies D. the relative impact of developed countries on climate change

Q: America uses more electricity for ______ than Africa uses for all purposes. A. cooling B. lighting C. heating D. manufacturing

Q: The 1987 Brundtland Report was named for ______. A. the city in Norway in which a United Nations meeting was held B. its main author, the Norwegian prime minister C. an area of northern Europe most dramatically impacted by climate change D. a geographic region above the Arctic Circle that showed the first signs of polar ice cap melt

Q: Much of the Wests e-waste is outsourced to ______, where it is often dismantled by hand by poorly paid women and children with little or no protective clothing or equipment. A. Africa B. China C. India D. Indonesia

Q: Electronic waste in the form of televisions, computers, and cell phones is a particularly vexing environmental problem because ______. A. large amounts of carbon dioxide are generated during production B. the products sit in landfills for thousands of years after they are thrown away C. the products contain many types of heavy metals D. a lot of oil is used in production

Q: By number of cargo containers, what is the largest U.S. export to China? A. automobiles B. coal C. grain D. scrap

Q: Marks & Spencer, the UK retailer, describes its sustainability program as Plan A because ______. A. any environmental action plan must be affordable B. A stands for action C. there is no Plan B D. all of these reasons

Q: Pepsis efforts to measure the carbon footprint of Tropicana orange juice revealed that the majority of carbon emissions occur during ______ of the juice. A. packaging B. production C. distribution D. use and disposal

Q: Which company was one of the first firms to adopt the concept of environmental profit-and-loss accounting? A. Adidas B. Nike C. PUMA D. Reebok

Q: Which country accounts for two-thirds of the worlds increase in the carbon dioxide emitted since 2000? A. the United States B. India C. China D. Brazil

Q: From a companys perspective, ______ is made up of clean air, reliable availability of freshwater, and productive topsoil. A. natural capital B. environmental accounting C. environmental profit and loss D. renewable capital

Q: Where ______ aims to put the world back into balance, ______ looks for ways to manage in an imbalanced world. A. sustainability; resilience B. sustainability; COP21 C. resilience; sustainability D. COP21; the Kyoto Protocol

Q: Which country has the lowest levels of carbon emissions per capita? A. China B. Germany C. India D. United States

Q: To illustrate the problem of the collective rate of consumption on sustainability, if everyone on Earth lived the lifestyle of a traditional Indian villager, it is arguable that even 12 billion would be a sustainable world population. If everyone lives like an upper-middle-class North American, the level of population above which it would be unsustainable is ______. A. 2 billion B. 4 billion C. 6 billion D. 8 billion

Q: Which of the following is NOT one of the four main reasons businesses should care about sustainability? A. climate change B. natural capital C. profit optimization D. stakeholders

Q: The collective response to the United Nations various reports on the dangers of climate change has been ______. A. to agree to global restrictions on carbon emissions B. to agree to a global tax to fund combatting climate change C. to levy heavy fines on global polluters D. to not take any substantive action at all

Q: According to the textbook, the success of COP21 relies on which of the following? A. Countries continually assessing their progress toward reducing carbon emissions and adjusting their targets accordingly. B. A worldwide conversion to a combination of nuclear, solar, and wind power by 2050. C. The United States taking the lead in the reduction of carbon emissions. D. COP21 has no chance of success.

Q: The COP21 agreement ______. A. set a target of reducing carbon emissions to essentially zero by the latter half of this century B. has legally binding agreements among all countries C. established a single, internationally agreed-upon global carbon price D. the COP21 agreement did all of these things

Q: The ______ in 1987 popularized the term sustainability. A. Kyoto Protocol B. Brundtland Report C. Paris COP21 D. Rio Climate Change Convention

Q: Should Starbucks form partnerships with farmers in Guatemala? Why or why not?

Q: Why has Toms Shoes been criticized for the effects its buy one, give one business model? What would be a better strategy for it to pursue?

Q: Increasingly, the idea that shareholders have the best interest of the firm at heart is hard to defend. Analyze that quote and provide your reaction. Do you agree or disagree with the statement?

Q: Describe the perspectives of Bill Gates and Muhammad Yunus on the future of capitalism. Do you agree with these perspectives? Explain your reasoning.

Q: Ethical behavior is not a prerequisite assumption for strategic CSR.

Q: Strategic CSR is essentially the intersection between sustainability and business ethics.

Q: Corporate social responsibility allows executives to address stakeholder concerns in ways that carry strategic benefits for the firm.

Q: Which of the following is a strategic CSR focus versus a mainstream CSR focus? A. peripheral activities (philanthropy) B. mandatory imposition of what a minority sees as ideal C. objective set of activities (predetermined) D. focuses on core operations

Q: Recently, Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon--among the largest publicly traded companies in the world--have found themselves facing calls for what type of legislation? A. privacy B. free speech C. antitrust D. deceptive practices

Q: Which companys Credo places customers first and shareholders (stockholders) last as a final responsibility? A. Dunkin Donuts B. Nike C. Patagonia D. Johnson & Johnson

Q: Strategic CSR is not about philanthropy; it is about ______. A. ethics B. day-to-day operations C. ends over means D. tactics

Q: One solution that companies have found to resist pressure for short-term planning orientation is to ______. A. eliminate boards of directors B. adopt the SEC list of investing best practices C. delist themselves from the stock market D. increase the use of CSR consultants like McKinsey

Q: When did the U.K. government pass the Modern Slavery Act? A. 1965 B. 1975 C. 1995 D. 2015

Q: Strategic CSR is ______. A. caring capitalism B. inclusive capitalism C. social capitalism D. market capitalism

Q: Stock options are a problem because they _________. A. emphasize the interests of directors B. emphasize the interests of headhunters C. emphasize the interests of short-term investors D. emphasize the interests of stock analysts

Q: Adopting a CSR perspective presupposes what type of relationship between the firm and its stakeholders? A. circular B. iterative C. curvilinear D. transformative

Q: What word best describes the relationship between CSR and philanthropy? A. strong B. direct C. tangential D. spurious