Case Application 1

1. TOMS can balance being socially responsible and being focused on profits by

getting individual investors to support its causes and maintain a good business model.

Being socially responsible cuts costs and makes processes less dangerous or harmful to

the environment or people in the company. They have to allocated a portion of their

profits to donate shows and eyewear and they have promoted their socially responsibility

to attract more customers.

2. TOMS approach is social responsibility because their brand is very focused on

making a world a better place. The CEO is very passionate about helping others and his

experience in the show The Amazing Race touched his heart. He spreads his belief to the

employees who are given many benefits and are trained well. TOMS shoes are being

produced with sustainable material or organic materials and are made by workers who are

treated fairly. They have reports about their donations and are accessible online.

3. To make one-for-one approach work, a company has to make enough profits to

allocate money for donating shoes. The shoes have to have a decent price margin. The

company has to get support for its individual investors and increase sales to keep up with

the demand of donating shoes. They have to produce enough shoes to give away and

make sure shoes are selling.

4. Consumers are drawn to products with a charitable connection because they feel

good when supporting the company. People have selfish tendencies to help others only

for selfish benefits. They do not help others like humanitarians do. Some think if a

company is socially responsible then the company has quality goods that are made of less

dangerous materials. Socially responsible companies attract a lot of young people or

people who are passionate in helping the environment or society.

Case Application 2

1. From an ethic perspective, Lehman Brother leaders were unethical in handling their

corporation. To maximize profits, they manipulated reports and budgets. They got rid of

expenses and undervalued numbers. They used an illegal accounting software to get the

numbers that they wanted. They believed in doing what it takes to make the most money

and to take most of the profits for themselves. These leaders are bad leaders with no

morals. They did not care for the corporation’s ideology from its founder and ran the

business into the ground just so they can walk away with millions.

2. Culture of Lehman Brothers was very poor compare to great corporate cultures like

Google. When the leaders are terrible, the culture is deeply affected. CEO Richard Fuld

was very delusional and incompetent leader. He and his co-leaders controlled the

company and did not care for the employees. Money over employees leads to a not strong

organizational culture. These leaders did not spread the ideology of the Lehman Brothers

founder. Their greed led to the downfall of the company and they walked away with

millions. When leadership collapses then the whole company collapses.

3. The Lehman executives played a huge role in the company’s collapse because they

made bad decisions and manipulated numbers. They hid their fraudulent actions until the

company collapsed. The company became bankrupt due to their greed and bad decisions.

Their actions were irresponsible and unethical. A company should not manipulate

numbers to maximize profits and they did not care for being great role models of huge

company that manages a lot of other people’s money and employs many workers.

4. An employee of Lehman Brothers should have spoken out against the leaders of the

company and contact the government or the company’s board of directors. They do not

do this in fear of no job opportunities. The board of directors could have investigated the

fraud of the company and fire the leaders. New leaders would reorganize the company

and fix its problems. Contacting the government would have led to investigations earlier

and the government would check other financial companies for fraud as well.

5. We will continue to see fraud and corruption in companies because many people in

the world are unethical, and they can hide their unethical values and belief when getting a

job at a company. They can climb the corporate ladder and implement their unethical

values and beliefs. It is reasonable to expect that businesses can and should act ethically

because leaders influence their subordinates. The workers look up to the leaders, so a

business acts ethically if the leaders act ethically.