Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility - McGraw-Hill Introduction to Business

[VIDEO] You’ll Be Eating Crickets Soon. You Have No Choice

October 27, 2016

Although the world’s population is always increasing, the physical size of the globe stubbornly remains the same. As a result, humans might soon face a shortage of some key resources, including food with high protein content. But here’s where the humble cricket hops in: while many Americans may consider them pests, crickets can be a nutritious and environmentally sustainable food source. This video takes a look at the ways one cricket farm operates and how its owners hope to market Continue reading →

Sustainability, Marketing, Agriculture, Operations Management, Crickets, Global, Food

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 13: Marketing, Videos

Chinese Factories Produce Knockoffs at Record Speed

October 25, 2016

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Israeli entrepreneur Yekutiel Sherman had a great idea for a product: a selfie stick that folded seamlessly into the back of a smartphone’s case. He spent a year carefully designing his idea, producing prototypes and securing small investments from family and friends. By December 2015 Sherman launched a Kickstarter campaign in order to finish funding the item, now called Stikbox. But while the project immediately attracted investors, his popular crowdfunding campaign also caught the attention of Chinese bootleg manufacturers. Within Continue reading →

Global, Product Development, Ethics, China, Manufacturing, Supply chains, Product Distribution, Knockoff products, Operations Management

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 15: Distribution, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Poultry Plant Employees Endure Inhumane Working Conditions

October 18, 2016

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The grisly nature of the meat industry practically ensures that the business will never be pretty. Still, conditions in a slaughterhouse can always get worse if management marginalizes their workforce. According to the global development agency Oxfam America, that’s precisely what’s happening at a number of U.S. poultry plants. In facilities owned by big names like Tyson, Perdue and Pilgrim’s Pride, workers complained that superiors regularly denied them bathroom breaks. Some even reported wearing diapers while working on the line. Continue reading →

Poultry, Management, Tyson, Ethics, Perdue, Food, Employee Mistreatment, Labor Relations

Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 7: Management & Leadership, Chapter 8: Organizational Culture and Structure, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 11: Human Resource Management, Chapter 12: Labor Management and Unions

ATM Fees Reach Nearly $5 for Out-of-Network Withdrawals

October 14, 2016

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If you’re in need of cash in a pinch, you’d better hope that your bank has an ATM located nearby. For the 10th consecutive year, the fees charged by banks for usage of ATMs by non-customers has risen to a record average of $4.57. That number is actually the combination of two separate fees: one charged by ATM owners for non-customers and another by the account holder’s bank for withdrawing out-of-network. In 1998 the combination of these charges amounted to Continue reading →

Dodd-Frank, Banks, ATMs, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Ethics, Fees, Regulation

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 20: Money and Financial Institutions, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law

Meal-Delivery Startups Aim to Change America’s Eating Habits

October 7, 2016

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For those who have spent years ordering items from online retailers like Amazon, setting foot inside a store can sometimes seem like taking a trip back in time. But while the shift away from brick-and-mortar locations has utterly changed industries like music and clothing, grocery stores have remained largely the same since the dawn of the digital revolution. After all, most people still prefer to examine food in person before they buy it.

But that hasn’t stopped a collection Continue reading →

Product Distribution, Agriculture, Supermarkets, Blue Apron, Online Retail, Ethics, Product Development, Food, Retail, Labor Relations

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 12: Labor Management and Unions, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Update: Wells Fargo Faces Backlash for Employee Fraud

September 29, 2016

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For the past few weeks the business world has been buzzing with outrage over the Wells Fargo banking scandal. Executives at the company likely hoped the worst was over after getting hit with a $185 million fine for allowing such widespread fraud to occur. But as Senator Elizabeth Warren showed last week, regulators and commentators are far from finished with the company. During a hearing with Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf in front of the Senate Banking Committee, Senator Continue reading →

Executive Compensation, Banking, Regulation, Management, Fraud, Ethics, Wells Fargo, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Senator Elizabeth Warren

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 7: Management & Leadership, Chapter 10: Motivation, Chapter 20: Money and Financial Institutions, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law

[VIDEO] Automating the Grocery Warehouse

September 23, 2016

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Although drone deliveries are still a few years away from becoming a reality, automated machines are already having a big impact in other parts of the supply chain. This short but visually rich video takes a look at the robots made by a company called Symbiotic and the ways that they have streamlined operations at a grocery warehouse.

Questions:

What makes Symbiotic’s robots more efficient than human workers?
Will worker robots from companies like Symbiotic eventually replace human labor?

Product Distribution, Robots, Symbiotic, Warehousing, Supply chains, Automation

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 15: Distribution, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media, Videos

Quest for Perfection Causes Farmers to Discard Tons of Produce

September 20, 2016

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The family-owned berry grower Driscoll’s is looking to become more of a household name. With new packaging and a retooled online presence, the company wants to let the U.S. know why their berries are unique. “You have to find a way to say this strawberry is different from that strawberry, which isn’t necessarily an easy thing to do,” said executive vice president Soren Bjorn. “But our strawberries actually are different — no one else grows the strawberries we grow.” Along Continue reading →

Food, Driscoll’s, Supermarkets, Product Distribution, Agriculture, Marketing, Waste

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion

The Fall of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos

September 16, 2016

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For Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, establishing a clear narrative around a startup’s foundation and purpose is essential to success. Few people understood this concept better than Elizabeth Holmes, CEO of the formerly acclaimed blood-testing firm Theranos. She founded her company in 2003 at the age of 19 after dropping out of Stanford University’s School of Chemical Engineering. Holmes left college early because she claimed to discover a revolutionary new method for medical testing: rather than drawing a significant amount of blood Continue reading →

Product Development, Marketing, Branding, Ethics, Regulation, Health, Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 7: Management & Leadership, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

[VIDEO] The Volcker Rule Explained

September 14, 2016

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The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ranks among the most important laws passed in recent history. It’s also extremely complicated, amounting to some 14,000 pages of various regulations and restrictions. The video below takes a look at one of the key provisions of this landmark bill: The Volcker Rule, or the stipulation that banks cannot act like hedge funds and gamble with their own cash reserves. Although reviled by many on Wall Street, supporters say the rule Continue reading →

Ethics, Dodd-Frank, Wall Street, Volcker Rule, Finance, Regulation

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 2: Economics, Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 19: Securities Markets, Chapter 20: Money and Financial Institutions, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law, Videos