Business Ethics.6
Chapter 10. Table 10.3
Management should consider how the global trends in the economic, geopolitical, social, and technological environment affect existing or futurestakeholders of the organization. The World Economic Forum, a global think tank located in Geneva, Switzerland, provides a comprehensiveoverview of economic, environmental, geopolitical, societal, and technological risks that have the potential for “significant negative impact for severalcountries and industries” (World Economic Forum, 2014b, p. 12). A complete listing from the Global Risks 2014 report is included in Table 10.3,along with the ranking of the top 10 global risks of highest concern. The report identifies three trends that industries should consider:
1. Demands on governments for reform may negatively affect industries such as healthcare, financial services, and energy;
3. A dynamic online world allows for cyber attacks that destroy trust in the Internet for communication or commerce (World Economic Forum,2014b).
Table 10.3: Global risks 2014
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ECONOMIC Shocks to economic infrastructure Fiscal crises in key economies [1] Failure of a major financial mechanism or institution [9] Liquidity crises Structurally high unemployment/underemployment [2] Oil-price shock to the global economy Failure/shortfall of critical infrastructure Decline of importance of the US dollar as a major currency |
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ENVIRONMENTAL Natural disasters and man-made risks of depletion of natural resources Greater incidence of extreme weather events (e.g. floods, storms, fires) [6] Greater incidence of natural catastrophes (e.g. earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, geomagnetic storms) Greater incidence of man-made environmental catastrophes (e.g. oil spills, nuclear accidents) Major biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse (land and ocean) Water crises [3] Failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation [5] |
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GEOPOLITICAL Areas of politics, diplomacy, conflict, crime, and global governance (corruption) Global governance failure [7] Political collapse of a nation of geopolitical importance Increasing corruption Major escalation in organized crime and illicit trade Large-scale terrorist attacks Deployment of weapons of mass destruction Violent inter-state conflict with regional consequences Escalation of economic and resource nationalization |
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SOCIETAL Risk relating to social stability and public health Food crises [8] Pandemic outbreak Unmanageable burden of chronic disease Severe income disparity [4] Antibiotic-resistant bacteria Mismanaged urbanization (e.g. planning failures, inadequate infrastructure and supply chains) Profound political and social instability [10] |
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TECHNOLOGICAL Risks relating to growing centrality of information and communication technologies Breakdown of critical information infrastructure and networks Escalation in large-scale cyber attacks Massive incident of data fraud/theft |
Note: Brackets [ ] denote ranking in top 10 global risks of highest concern.
Sources: Table 1.1 & Table 1.2, p. 13 in World Economic Forum. (2014). Global risks 2014 (Ninth ed., pp. 60). Switzerland. Reprinted with permission.
The potential global risks have ethical dimensions. Using the categorization of ethical issues from Chapter 3, many of the global risks to businessinvolve employee misuse of company resources, honest and truthful communication that demonstrates respect and fairness toward companystakeholders, and workplace issues, such as lying to employees, discrimination leading to improper hiring practices, abusive behavior and harassment,health or safety violations, and employee privacy breaches. Future risks and opportunities for a business organization can lead to new ethical issuesthat may require managers to adopt a different way of interacting with stakeholders.