Joseph Freberg had been with Alcon for 18 months. He had begun his career right out of college with a firm in the Southeast called Cala Industrial, which specialized in air compressors. Because of his work with Cala, he had been lured away to Alcon, in Omaha, as a sales manager. Joseph’s first six months had been hard. Working with salespeople older than he, trying to get a handle on his people’s sales territories, and settling into the corporate culture of a new firm took 16-hour days, six days a week. During those six months, he also bought a house, and his fiance’, Ellen, furnished it. Ellen had stepped right in and decided almost everything, from the color of the rugs to the style of the curtains.

Ellen had taken a brokerage job with Trout Brothers and seemed to be working even more hours than Joseph. But the long days were paying off. Ellen was now starting to handle some large accounts and was being noticed by the “right” crowd in the wealthier Omaha areas.

Costs for the new home had exceeded their anticipated spending limit, and the plans for their wedding seemed to be getting larger and larger. In addition, Ellen was commuting from her apartment to the new home and then to her job, and the commute killed her car. As a result, she decided to lease something that exuded success.

“Ellen, don’t you think a Mercedes is a little out of our price range? What are the payments?” inquired Joseph.

“Don’t worry, Darling. When my clients see me in this–as well as when we start entertaining at the new house once we’re married–the payments on the car will seem small compared with the money I’ll be making,” Ellen mused as she ran her fingers through Joseph’s hair and gave him a peck on the cheek.

By the time of the wedding and honeymoon, Joseph and Ellen’s bank statement looked like a bullfighter’s cape–red. “Don’t worry, Joseph, everything will turn out okay. You’ve got a good job. I’ve got a good job. We’re young and have drive. Things will straighten out after a while,” said Ellen as she eyed a Rolex in a store window.

After the wedding, things did settle down–to a hectic pace, given their two careers and their two sets of parents 2,000 miles in either direction. Joseph had realized that Alcon was a paternal type of organization, with good benefits and tremendous growth potential. He had identified whom to be friends with and whom to stay away from in the company. His salespeople seemed to tolerate him, sometimes calling him “Little Joe” or “Joey” because of his age, and his salespeople were producing–slowly climbing up the sales ladder to the number one spot in the company.

While doing some regular checkup work on sales personnel, Joseph found out that Carl had been giving kickbacks to some of his buyers. Carl’s sales volume accounted for a substantial amount of the company’s existing clientele sales, and he had been a trainer for the company for several years. Carl also happened to be the vice president’s son-in-law. Joseph started to check on the other reps more closely and discovered that, although Carl seemed to be the biggest offender, three of his ten people were doing the same thing. The next day, Joseph looked up Alcon’s policy handbook and found this statement: “Our company stands for doing the right thing at all times and giving our customers the best product for the best prices.” There was no specific mention of kickbacks, but everyone knew that kickbacks ultimately reduce fair competition, which eventually leads to reduced quality and increased prices for customers.

By talking to a few of the old-timers at Alcon, Joseph learned that there had been sporadic enforcement of the “no kickback” policy. It seemed that when times were good it became unacceptable and when times were bad it slipped into the acceptable range. And then there was his boss, Kathryn, the vice president. Joseph knew that Kathryn had a tendency to shoot the bearer of bad news. He remembered a story that he had heard about a sales manager coming in to see Kathryn to explain an error in a bid that one of his salespeople had made. Kathryn called in the entire sales staff and fired the salesman on the spot. Then, smiling, she told the sales manager, “This was your second mistake, so I hope that you can get a good recommendation from personnel. You have two weeks to find employment elsewhere.” From then on, the office staff had a nickname for Kathryn–Jaws.

Trying to solve the problem that he was facing, Joseph broached the subject of kickbacks at his monthly meeting with Carl. Carl responded, “You’ve been in this business long enough to know that this happens all the time. I see nothing wrong with this practice if it increases sales. Besides, I take the money out of my commission. You know that right now I’m trying to pay off some big medical bills. I’ve also gotten tacit clearance from above, but I wouldn’t mention that if I were you.” Joseph knew that the chain-of-command structure in the company made it very dangerous to go directly to a vice president with this type of information. 

As Joseph was pondering whether to do nothing, bring the matter into the open and state that it was wrong and that such practices were against policy, or talk to Kathryn about the situation, his cell phone rang. It was Ellen. “Honey, guess what just happened. Kathryn, your boss, has decided to use me as her new broker. Isn’t that fantastic!”

• What are Joseph’s ethical problems?
• Assume that you are Joseph and discuss your options.
• What other information do you feel you need before making your decision?
• Discuss in which business areas the ethical problems lie.

(Source: Business Ethics by Ferrell, Fraedrich, and Ferrell; 7th ed)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/walterpavlo/2014/01/16/making-people-behave-more-ethically-an-mbas-view/

http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v10n2/peopleatwork.html

Running head: BUSINESS ETHICS Business EthicsName:Institution:Tutor:Date: As a sales manager, Joseph should be able to handle his sales team and make the best outof them, however, he seems to…

 

"Looking for a Similar Assignment? Get Expert Help at an Amazing Discount!"

Joseph McCarthy’s investigative tactics found support among many Americans because

(A) evidence substantiated his charges against the army

(B) there was widespread fear of communist infiltration of the United States

(C) both Truman and Eisenhower supported him

(D) he worked closely with the FBI

(E) he correctly identified numerous communists working in the State Department

 

"Looking for a Similar Assignment? Get Expert Help at an Amazing Discount!"

Josh and Mike met each other as roommates during freshmen year at MacAlister College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Despite a rocky start they became best friends. They are planning on going on a two-week adventure together to celebrate their graduation in June. Josh has never been to Europe and wants to visit France or Spain. Mike spent a semester abroad in Aarhus, Denmark, and traveled extensively in northern Europe. Even though he never went to France or Spain, Mike wants to go to some place more exotic like South Africa or Vietnam. For the past week they have been arguing back and forth over where they should go. Josh argues that it will cost too much to fly to South Africa or Vietnam, while Mike counters that it will be much cheaper to travel in Vietnam or South Africa once they are there. Each of them agreed that they can spend no more than $3,500 each on the trip and could be gone for only two weeks. One evening when they were arguing with each other over beers with friends, Sara said, “Why don’t you use what you learned in your project management class to decide what to do?” Josh and Mike looked at each other and agreed that made perfect sense.

1. Assume you are either Mike or Josh, how would you go about making a decision using project management methodology?

2. Looking first at only cost, what decision would you make?

3. After cost, what other factors should be considered before making a decision?

 

"Looking for a Similar Assignment? Get Expert Help at an Amazing Discount!"

Joshua Skateboarding Corporation engaged in the following investment activities during 2019. The company buys debt securities, not intending to profit from short-term differences in price and not necessarily to hold debt securities to maturity, but to have them available for sale in years when circumstances warrant. Joshua’s fiscal year ends on December 31. No investments were held by Joshua on December 31, 2018.

March 31        Acquired 8% Skate Park Company bonds costing $400,000 at face value.

Sept. 1            Acquired $900,000 of Board Wheels Inc. 10% bonds at face value.

Sept. 30          Received semiannual interest payment on the Skate Park Company bonds.

Oct. 2             Sold Skate Park Company bonds for $425,000.

Nov. 1            Purchased $1,400,000 of Snoopy Boards 6% bonds at face value.

Dec. 31           Recorded any necessary adjusting entry(s) relating to the investments. 

The market prices of the investments are:

                       Board Wheels bonds                       $  850,000

                       Snoopy Boards bonds                        $1,460,000

Required:

1. Prepare the appropriate journal entry for each transaction or event during 2019, as well as any adjusting entries necessary at year end. You may assume that all bonds pay interest semi-annually.

2. Indicate any amounts that Joshua Skateboarding would report in its 2019 income statement, 2019 statement of comprehensive income, and 12/31/2019 balance sheet as a result of these investments. Include totals for net income, comprehensive income, and retained earnings as a result of these investments.

 

"Looking for a Similar Assignment? Get Expert Help at an Amazing Discount!"

Joshua, who is currently 25 years old, wants to invest money into a retirement fund so as to have $2,000,000 saved up when he retires at age 65. If he can earn 12% per year in an equity fund, calculate the amount of money he would have to invest in equal annual amounts and alternatively, in equal monthly amounts starting at the end of the current year or month respectively.

With annual deposits: With monthly deposits:

(Using the APR as the interest rate)

FV = $2,000,000; FV = $2,000,000;

N = 40 years; N = 12*40=480;

I/Y = APR = 12%; I/Y = APR = 12%;

PV = 0; PV = 0;

C/Y=1; C/Y = 12

P/Y=1; P/Y = 12

PMT = $2,607.25 PMT = $169.99

(Using the periodic rate (APR/m) as the interest rate )

FV= $2,000,000;

N = 12*40=480;

I/Y= 12%/12=1%

PV=0

C/Y = 1

P/Y = 1

PMT = $169.99

Looking at these numbers most people would think this is affordable..why then are most Americans not saving for their retirement? Discuss what you believe to be the real reason most 25 year olds (like Joshua in our example above) are not saving for retirement. What do you think we can do to change this trend?

 

"Looking for a Similar Assignment? Get Expert Help at an Amazing Discount!"