Monsanto Attempts to Balance Stakeholder Interests

*Read & Review the Monsanto case in your text to use as part of your research.

*Add to the text case by doing current research on Monsanto

*Read & Review the applicable sections of the most current Annual 10K Report as submitted to the Securities & Exchange Commission.

*Read & Review the Monsanto letter to the shareholders as found in the Annual Stockholder's Report

*Listen to any messages from the CEO that can be found on YouTube.

*Conduct additional research as necessary to address the material for this assignment.

REQUIRED FOR TERM PAPER PART #1:

Prepare a written report using the items below as the criteria you are researching to find out about as much as you can having to do with Monsanto. Use the case in the text as a starting point then supplement this with your research of the 10K Annual report to the SEC, Letter to the Shareholders, Letter to the Stakeholders, and any other sources that can be found to help you understand and learn about Monsanto. In other words, do you find any evidence of any of the chapter criteria below in this Monsanto case, 10K Factors, Letter to the Shareholders, Letter to the Stakeholders, and other research? Write about what you find that connects with our chapter criteria below.

Prepare all of your report with proper college level English in a proper sentence structure and paragraph format and using APA guidelines.

Your written work will be evaluated based on the following elements of writing, listed in order of importance:

Focus: Concentration or emphasis on a subject or objective. May be addressed in the following terms: objectives of assignment, thesis, argument, main point, central theme, conclusions, or recommendations.

Development: Support and/or elaboration of the focus. May include: explanation, description, analysis, narrative, exploration, use of source material or data, or discussion of methodology.

Organization: Coherent order and grouping of material. May be addressed in the following terms: overarching structure, paragraph structure, or use of transitions.

Style: Tone conveyed toward material and/or audience. May be addressed in the following terms: word choice, sentence structure, voice, or persona.

Conventions: Adherence to standards of grammar, punctuation, spelling, and APA discipline-specific rules of formatting and citation.

>Benefits of Business Ethics

*Contributes to Employee Commitment?

*Contributes to Investor Loyalty?

*Contributes to Customer Satisfaction?

*Contributes to Profits?

>Interactions Between Company and Stakeholders

*Employees?

*Customers?

*Investors?

*Suppliers?

*Community?

*Environmental Groups?

*Government Agencies?

*Special Interest Groups?

*Mass Media?

*Competitors?

*Shareholders?

*Trade Associations?

>Steps of Social Responsibility

*Economic?

*Legal?

*Ethical?

*Philanthropic?

>Implementing a Stakeholder Perspective

*STEP 1 - Assessing the Corporate Culture?

*STEP 2 - Identify Stakeholder Groups?

*STEP 3 - Identify Stakeholder Issues?

*STEP 4 - Assessing Organizational Commitment to Social Responsibility?

*STEP 5 - Identifying Resources and Determining Urgency?

*STEP 6 - Gaining Stakeholders Feedback?

>Shareholder Issues

*Core values

*Shareholder participation in electing directors

*Executive compensation

*Legal compliance

*Lobbying and political activities

*Reputation management

*Integrity in collecting and managing data

*Supply chain relationships and human rights

>Foundational values for identifying ethical issues

*Integrity

*Honesty

*Fairness

>Specific Types of Observed Misconduct in Business - Issues & Dilemmas

*Misuse of company time

*Abusive Behavior

*Lying to employees

*Company resource abuse

*Violating company internet use policies

*Discrimination

*Conflicts of interest

*Inappropriate social networking

*Health or safety violators

*Lying to outside stakeholders

*Stealing

*Falsifying time reports or hours worked

*Employee benefit violations

*Sexual harassment

*Fraud

*Consumer Fraud

*Financial misconduct

*Insider trading

*Intellectual property rights

*Privacy issues

>Voluntary Boundary, Core Practices, & Mandated Boundaries of Ethical Decisions

*Voluntary boundary

*Core practice

*Mandated boundary

<>Laws Regulating Competition

<>Laws Protecting Consumers

<>Laws Promoting Equity and Safety

>Gatekeepers and Stakeholders

*Accountants

*Risk assessment

*Sarbannes-Oxley (SOX) Act

<>Promote transparency

<>Reduce conflict of interest

<>Increase accountability

<>Creation of Public Company Accounting Oversight Board

<>Auditor & Analyst Independence

<>Whistle-Blower Protection

>Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations -

*Develop & Disseminate a Code of Conduct to Every Member of the Organization

*High Ranking Personnel (ethics officer) Must Have Oversight Over the Ethics Program

*No One of Known Misconduct Can Hold a Position of Authority

*Create A Communication System for Disseminating Standards & Procedures

*Create Monitoring & Auditing Systems to Receive Reports On & Detect Misconduct

*Take Immediate Appropriate & Fair Disciplinary Actions Against Direct & Indirect Offenders

* When Violations are Discovered Modifications to the Ethical Compliance Program, Additional Training on These Modifications, and

Communication on This Specific Conduct Must be Implemented So That Similar Offenses May Be Prevented

>Highly Appropriate Core Practices

*Voluntary Responsibilities

*Cause-Related Marketing

*Strategic Philanthropy