Respond to (2) Peers.
Weekly Question:
Unethical conduct is not necessarily illegal conduct, and the difference between ethical and unethical conduct can be difficult to spot. Using the Internet, identify an example within the last year of a specific COMPANY engaging in legal but arguably unethical conduct. Determine two reasons why this conduct could be deemed unethical and why you believe the company failed to make the right decision.
When it comes to legal conduct, where are laws found and what is the purpose of law identified in the chapter reading? Which do you most agree with? If running a business, where should a business executive look to find and understand the law that governs their business?
Peer 1: Hello everyone! I’m Lacey Brown. A unique fact about me is, I went from homelessness to living in a half a million-dollar home. I work hard, and I am very driven. I am very excited about this class because I wanted to be an attorney growing up. I expect this course to assist me in my future career by teaching me to be an ethical leader and providing me with a solid understanding of corporate law. This discussion post was a true struggle for me. I mostly see black and white. The gray is hard to differentiate.
In recent news, and on some of the streaming apps, Elizabeth Holmes, and her company Theranos have a source of unbelievable news. As of today, April 9th, she is waiting on sentencing for her convictions of defrauding investors, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud (Mitchell, 2022).
Elizabeth Holmes committed some big crimes while she was the CEO of Theranos, but not everything she guided the company to do was illegal. Theranos was born from Elizabeth’s dream of creating a blood testing device that would use only one drop of blood. She invented and patented a device called Edison. Soon she had many investors throwing money at the company with no proof that the product worked. As the company began to drown, Elizabeth started guiding her employees into some very murky waters. First, Edison did not work properly but the employees were instructed to prerecord the demonstrations of the machine and then lie about the results. Next, she allowed the device to be part of a cancer research study. She told employees that anything the machine diagnosed wouldn’t do any harm to the patients because they already had end stage cancers. Finally, and I’m sure there are a million more, she instructed her team to use someone else’s device. Theranos reverse engineered a traditional lab testing device and created some for themselves. They would take the blood from patients, run the tests at their facility on the unowned devices and send back the results (Jurkiewicz, 2019).
Laws exist all around us and they come is several shapes and sizes. They serve as guidelines to help individuals, governments and companies understand the black and white. They exist to keep order, influence conduct, honor expectations and keep order. Laws can be found at every level of government. A business should look at local, city, county, state, and federal laws to understand their guidelines. They must also have awareness of previous court decisions (Jennings, 2021).
Peer2:
My name is Jervon Coles and I currently reside in the DMV area. Although I retired from the Navy after 20 years, I am now working as a civilian, which I truly enjoy. In my free time I enjoy traveling, shopping, and sleeping. I enrolled at Strayer to further my knowledge and get a degree in Computer Science. I started my college degree in 2007 at American Military University (AMU) but I withdraw due to my military obligations at that time. Now I’m retired from the Navy, completed my Bachelors’ degree and I am now enrolled for Masters in Business Administration which I am focused to complete too. This degree will allow me to be competitive in the job market and help me to fit in well and be professional in my line of duty in the corporate workplace.
From my research in the internet, I found a case of April last year concerning several textile companies. The companies were reported with connection to the utilization of Uyghur forced labor (Save Uighur, 1). Some of the companies linked to use of Uyghur forced labor include: Brioni, Tommy, Levi’s, The North, Costco, Saphora, and others. In fight against the unethical practices, consumers are urged to avoid such companies in solidarity to seek justice for the employees undergoing harsh working conditions. The companies were reported to have used raw materials i.e. cotton from suppliers who utilized Uyghur forced labor to produce the cotton. The use of Uyghur labor is unethical because the laborers have the right to equality and should be accorded their rights. I think it is unethical for anyone to be oppressed in any way even though they are desperate for a job. These companies that use Uyghur labor are reported to pay as low as 50 cents to the workers and some do not even pay them at all. This is so unethical and unfair. This is a practice that should be fought by all means and with immediate effect. Such companies should be fined and even banned from the market because they use unfair methods to reap so much profits.
Laws are found in policies drafted by agencies or respective commissions. The main purposes of law are protecting consumer rights, regulating commercial matters and dealings, protecting employees, protecting intellectual properties, and establishing standards for various entities. I mostly agree with the law protecting consumer rights because it ensures that consumers are not overexploited by the suppliers and that what is advertised is what is delivered to them.
As a business owner I think I would be required to understand tax laws, employment laws, and intellectual property laws. To access some of this laws I think I would be required to interact with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and other acts like the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 which regulate how businesses are conducted in the U.S (LegalMatch, 2).
