Four essay questions:

Question 1

Labor laws, that is, laws that govern the relationship, and enforce standards of conduct, between employers and the employed, exist because frictionless economic efficiency can often operate to the disadvantage of the employed, even to the point of the violation of the basic civil rights of the employed. Expound on why labor laws exist and provide three (3) examples within an organization of how labor laws are used.

Question 2

In Germany, under the model of "stakeholder capitalism", employee representatives sit on company boards of directors. In the German model of business, it is assumed that both labor (employee representatives) and capital (shareholder representatives) have important stakes in the enterprise and should work in harmony with each other. In the United States, the board of directors usually represents only the owners of the business. What advantages are there to employees as stakeholders in Germany that are not provided to employees in US companies? In the United States, how do employees let management know their stakeholder concerns?

Question 3

Companies try to forge a marketing channel, a set of interdependent organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by the consumer or business user. Information, promotion, contact, matching, and negotiation help to complete transactions. Physical distribution, financing, and risk taking help to fulfill the completed transactions. Explain why companies use marketing channels and discuss the functions these channels perform.

Question 4

The world economy is becoming more global in scale. Consider the major drivers of globalization and how they seem to be thrusting major nation-states toward a more tightly integrated global economy. If the current trends continue, China may be the world's largest economy by 2020. Discuss the possible implication of such as development for (a) the world trading system, (b) the world monetary system, (c) the business strategy of today's US-based global corporations and their European counterparts, and (d) global commodity prices.

Include in-text citations and a references list for external references used in supporting your points for all four questions. There should be no fewer than 7 references for each response to these particular question, 4 of which must be from peer-reviewed sources.