MIDTERM

NAME: _____________________________________________________

Last Name, First Name

BUS 355- Socially Responsible Business

Spring 2021

Mid-Semester Assessment

Thursday, March 4, 2021

Professor Mitchell

INSTRUCTIONS: There are 2 parts to this Mid-Semester Assessment, all of which you should complete. Please read each question carefully and make sure you have answered them thoroughly. The maximum points that may be gained for each part are as follows:

Part A (Mini-Case Study Question) 50 points

Part B (Thought Questions) 50 points

TOTAL 100 points [35% of grade]

Good Luck!

Professor Mitchell

PART A: MINI-CASE STUDY (50 Points)

Millennium Phone Group

Millennium Phone Group, listed on the London Stock Exchange, has grown to become a leading global telecommunications provider with an average market share of 35% in both mobile and broadband services. It employs over 300,000 staff worldwide, operates in 70 countries, and has over 2 billion consumers. Their vision statement reads; “We keep people connected wherever, whenever.” They emphasize their lower service costs and greater coverage relative to their competition.

Although revenues have stalled a little during the financial crisis, the company remains very profitable and its share price has held up. However, concerns are increasingly being expressed by external commentators that growth has been achieved at the expense of ignoring several issues which, if not addressed, might threaten future growth prospects and long-term success. These issues are:

a) Possible adverse long-term health effects of mobile phone usage, particularly in children.

b) Possible adverse long-term health effects of cell phone towers located in local communities, especially near schools.

c) Inadequate control of on-line access by children to inappropriate web-content and chatrooms that might damage either their psychological or physical well-being.

d) Abuse of its dominant market position and taking unfair advantage of high-level political connections (their Chief Executive is an ex-government official).

e) Allegations of using ‘sweatshop’ labor in Asia (poor wages, unsafe working conditions) to assemble the mobile phones that Millennium Phone Group markets to consumers.

f) The adverse environmental impact of carelessly discarded mobile phone batteries.

g) The allegation that they are avoiding payment of taxes on earnings in countries that have a higher corporate tax rate than the U.K.

Current situation

Several of the issues have been taken up and publicized by a well-funded and politically aware pressure group called STOP- Millennium (Stop Millennium Phone). Millennium Phone Group employees are becoming increasingly aware of the growing controversy. Their morale is falling, and staff turnover is rising. Despite being the market leader in pay and benefits, the company is having difficulty in hiring new staff, particularly business majors.

The current situation is concerning a growing number of Board members, especially the non-executive ones, some of whom sit on boards of other large companies and are worried about the possible impact on their own reputation. Some major institutional investors (e.g., pension funds) are worried about the possibility of costly new regulations that could significantly impact the company’s profitability. These investors have expressed a strong desire that management develops an effective and clearly articulated Corporate Social Responsibility strategy to ensure that:

a) The company carries out its activities in a way that is seen both by STOP-Millennium and by assessors for the FTSE 100 and Dow Jones Sustainability Indices to be responsible and sustainable.

b) The company communicates its CSR strategy effectively to shareholders, other key stakeholders and interested members of the public.

c) The company maintains (and possibly increases) its competitive edge over its main rival ‘Chat About’ by looking at its strategy and processes through the lens of Sustainability.

PART A: (50 points): FILL IN THE STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS CHART ON THE NEXT PAGE BY ANSWERING THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS 1-4.

1). Identify who are five important stakeholder groups that management needs to address?

2). What are the stakeholders’ three most compelling concerns/needs? Please explain each concern/need.

3). How would you prioritize the stakeholder groups from 1 to 5; with 1 being high priority and 5 low priority?

4). Briefly state why you prioritized the stakeholder groups from highest (1) to lowest (5).

STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS CHART

Stakeholder (No duplicates)	Stakeholder’s Concerns/Needs (List at least 3 and explain them) Priority	Priority (1-5) (Explain why? And no duplicates)
1.	- - -
2.	- - -
3.	- - -
4.	- - -
5.	- - -

PART B: THOUGHT QUESTIONS:

1). Worth 20 points

A). Name four (4) of the most common forms of corruption covered in class. (3 pts each)

1.

2.

3.

4.

B). Give four (4) specific examples of the consequences of corruption to business, government & society. (2 pts each)

1.

2.

3.

4.

2). Worth 15 points

A). Name three (3) critical factors contributing to an ecological crisis facing the global community and explain why they are making Sustainable Development more difficult.

1.

2.

3.

3). Worth 15 points

A). As a member of civil society, an employee/business manager and community leader, describe what will be your top three (3) Take-aways from our Socially Responsible Business Course thus far? Discuss them in full details.

1.

2.

3.

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