pppppppaper

I will be grading your paper based on three things:

Accuracy: Do you describe the views of the company and the theorist(s) correctly?

Thoroughness: Do you answer both parts of the question? Do you answer the questions in sufficient detail and draw the connections between the company website and course readings that you were asked to draw? Do you draw from both the company’s website and the course readings in your paper?

Clarity: Is your paper written in a way that makes sense?

-An A response answers all parts of the question, describes the author/company’s views correctly and clearly, and demonstrates thought and effort in supplying details and drawing connections.

-A B response answers all parts of the question and describes the author/company’s views clearly, but either contains a couple inaccuracies and/or is short on detail and connections.

-A C response does the bare minimum to answer the question, but is sometimes unclear, contains several inaccuracies, and/or is lacking in detail and connections.

-A D response does not answer all parts of the question, is unclear, and/or inaccurately describes the views of the author/company frequently.

-An F response is too unclear to make sense of, doesn’t answer most of the question, and/or is completely off the mark when describing the author/company’s views.

Citation requirements:

This paper requires you to use the course readings, a company’s website, and at least one article from a reputable newspaper, magazine, or journal. If you quote or paraphrase (changing the words but keeping the same idea) from these sources, cite the author and page number or the author of the online article in parentheses after the quote. Be sure to include a bibliography at the end of the paper. If you don’t know how to cite, ask!

Quoting or paraphrasing without citing is plagiarism. The dropbox’s plagiarism detection function will be enabled, which will check your work for any matches with the work of others in the class and on the internet. If you are caught plagiarizing, you will fail the assignment and be reported to the Dean.

Instructions:

Choose a company you would like to examine and locate the corporate citizenship, social responsibility, or ethics portion of their website. Some companies have a separate website devoted to this topic. Write a 5-7 page, double-spaced paper in which you do the following:

First explore what being socially responsible/ethical means to this company. (40 points)

Answering the following questions can help you do this:

What groups does the company think it is responsible to? What responsibilities does it think it has to these groups and how does it seek to fulfill them?

Does it focus on ethical responsibilities or philanthropic responsibilities? What are some examples of efforts it is making to fulfill these responsibilities?

What values does the company hold? Why does it engage in the efforts that it does?

Next, compare the company’s view of what it means to be socially responsible/ethical to the view advanced byone of the following theorists: Friedman (shareholder theory), Carroll (corporate social responsibility), Freeman (stakeholder theory), or Jeurissen (corporate citizenship). (50 points)

What do you think the theorist(s) would like about the company’s approach to social responsibility? What do you think they would like to see done differently?

Be sure to explain the parts of the theorist(s)’ view that are relevant to the comparisons you are making.

Finally, assess the company’s efforts at being socially responsible/ethical. For this section, you must reference at least one article from a reputable newspaper, magazine, or journal related to the company’s ethical behavior. This will help give you an outside perspective on the company’s actions. (10 points).

What do you think the company is doing well? What do you think it could do to improve? Does this company fit your idea of what it means to be a socially responsible/ethical company? Why or why not?

TIP: When choosing a company, I encourage you to think outside the box. So many students write about Starbuck and Toms. Think about what products you use: the clothes you wear, the food you eat, the technology you use, etc. All of these are made by companies that you can investigate. Also, the company does not necessarily have to be one you like or are familiar with, but it can be.