Assignment: Ethics and Corporate Responsibility in the Workplace and the World

Pharma CARE (We CARE about YOUR health®) is one of the world's most successful pharmaceutical companies, enjoying a reputation as a caring, ethical and well-run company that produces high-quality products that save millions of lives and enhance the quality of life for millions of others (Note: Pharma CARE is a hypothetical company that you will to compare to a real company as noted in the assignment criteria below). The company offers free and discounted drugs to low-income consumers, has a foundation that sponsors healthcare educational programs and scholarships, and its CEO serves on the PhRMA board. Pharma CARE recently launched a new initiative, We CARE about YOUR world®, pledging its commitment to the environment through recycling, packaging changes and other green initiatives, despite the fact that the company's lobbying efforts and PAC have successfully defeated environmental laws and regulations, including extension of the Superfund tax, which was created by Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).

Based in New Jersey, Pharma CARE maintains a large manufacturing facility in the African nation of Colberia, where the company has found several healers eager to freely share information about indigenous cures and an abundance of Colberians willing to work for $1.00 a day, harvesting plants by walking five (5) miles into and out of the jungle carrying baskets that, when full, weigh up to fifty (50) pounds. Due to the low standard of living in Colberia, much of the population lives in primitive huts with no electricity or running water. Pharma Cares executives, however, live in a luxury compound, complete with a swimming pool, tennis courts, and a golf course. Pharma Cares extensive activities in Colberia have destroyed habitat and endangered native species.

W rite a six to eight (6-8) page paper in which you:

1. Describe the key characteristics of a stakeholder and determine all the stakeholders within the Pharma CARE scenario.

2. Analyze the human rights issues presented by Pharma Cares treatment of the Colberias indigenous population versus that of its executives. Recommend at least three (3) changes Pharma CARE can make to be more ethical going forward.

3. Assess Pharma Cares environmental initiative against the backdrop of its anti-environmental lobbying efforts and Colberian activities. Support the position.

4. Decide whether or not Pharma Cares actions with respect to the indigenous people of Colberia would be ethical in accordance with each of the following ethical theories:

• Utilitarianism
• Deontology
• Virtue ethics
• Ethics of care
• Your own moral / ethical compass

5. Compare Pharma Cares actions with those of at least one (1) real-world company, whose corporate activities led to ethical, environmental, or workplace safety issues and financial loss. Analyze the similarities and differences between Pharma CARE and the company that you chose.

6. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment.