Posted: May 13th, 2018

BUSINESS ETHICS AND LEGAL ISSUES

Antitrust
laws were essentially created to stop businesses that got too large from
blocking competition and abusing their power. Mergers and monopolies can limit
the choices offered to consumers because smaller businesses are not usually
able to compete. Although free and open competition ensures lower prices and
new and better products, it has the potential to significantly limit market
diversity.
Look
at the 2 examples below of how mergers and acquisitions have affected the way
in which companies do business.
Read
each of the 2 examples below. Prepare a APA formatted research paper that
responds to the aligned questions. Specifically, your paper must:
Identify
the two firms with similar problems from different countries
Conduct
a comparative analysis of the firms
Analyze
political, social, ethical and legal differences and their impact on management
decision making
Provide
substantive conclusion and recommendations
Submitting
your assignment in APA format means, at a minimum, you will need the following:
TITLE
PAGE. Remember the Running head: AND TITLE IN ALL CAPITALS
ABSTRACT.
A summary of your paper…not an introduction. Begin writing in third person
voice.
BODY. The body of your paper begins on the page
following the title page and abstract page and must be double-spaced (be
careful not to triple- or quadruple-space between paragraphs). The type face
should be 12-pt. Times Roman or 12-pt. Courier in regular black type. Do not
use color, bold type, or italics except as required for APA level headings and
references. The deliverable length of the body of your paper for this
assignment is 4-5 pages. In-body academic citations to support your decisions and
analysis are required. A variety of academic sources is encouraged.
REFERENCE
PAGE. References that align with your
in-body academic sources are listed on the final page of your paper. The
references must be in APA format using appropriate spacing, hang indention,
italics, and upper and lower case usage as appropriate for the type of resource
used. Remember, the Reference Page is not a bibliography but a further listing
of the abbreviated in-body citations used in the paper. Every referenced item
must have a corresponding in-body citation.
Example
1
Federal
antitrust enforcers are investigating whether a multinational pharmaceutical
company has attempted to minimize the impact of generic competition to one of
its most profitable prescription drugs. This anti-depressant drug is the
company’s best seller, with sales last year of $2.11 billion, representing a
22% increase from the year before.
The
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is conducting an investigation to determine
whether the company has engaged in activities to prevent generic alternatives
to the prescription drug from entering the market. Specifically, the FTC is
challenging a practice among brand-name and generic-drug manufacturers to agree
to delay the introduction of the lower priced generic drugs to the market.
Answer
the following questions:
Why
would the drug maker want to stymie generic competition? Explain.
What
types of legal barriers to market entry exist?
What
are the possible ethical dilemmas present in this example?
Example
2
The
boards of 2 major telecommunications companies recently agreed to a $16
billion-dollar merger that would create the world’s largest telecommunications
company in the world. Although some agree that the synergy between these
companies could be dynamic, others feel consumers could ultimately pay the
price for the merger depending on which company becomes dominant in the various
service areas.
Answer
the following questions:
Why
do you think consumer advocates have expressed concern over such merger
possibilities?
Other
than pricing, what are some pitfalls that consumers might have to deal with
when 2 major companies merge?
What
are the possible ethical dilemmas present in this example?

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