As the adage suggests, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. This was the case in the seemingly flawless project to revamp the downtown area of Myrtle Beach by replacing the Pavilion with the "New Pavilion." This new entity downtown would bring tourists to the area even during the off-season. With upscale shopping, half-a-dozen restaurants, an amphitheater, and a NASCAR-themed roller coaster, there would be something for the entire family. Before any hype could begin, the master developer of the plan and his company's façade was lifted and fictitious credentials were revealed. The developer and a member of the corporation who hired him were involved in a separate, private business relationship of their own. Due to the pre-existing business relationship between the developer and the corporation, many feel ethical boundaries have been overstepped.
The Myrtle Beach Pavilion is an amusement park that has captivated visitors and been beloved by local residents since the early decades of the century. Although this tourist attraction has been overwhelmingly successful, there have been talks for several years about relocating the park and replacing it with a new hub that would attract visitors year-round rather than just seasonally. In an attempt to achieve this idea, the Myrtle Beach City Council created the Downtown Redevelopment Corp. (DRC) in 1999. They began considering proposals in 2003. By late spring of 2004, Barry Landreth, president and CEO of Webster Realty Investors, was named master developer. After exhibiting some peculiar behavior, such as missed deadlines, inadequate communication, accusations of bad-check writing and being less than cooperative in submitting financial documents relating to the project,...
... middle of paper ...
...ld be educated about the policy and the specifics. Taxpayers had invested over $100,000 in renovating the Pavilion. This money was paid to an illegitimate businessman towards the planning of the project, and we are right back where we started. It is possible that Landreth just got in over his head with the Pavilion project, his deal with Reyelt and other endeavors he was involved in at the time. If this is true, Reyelt undoubtedly contributed to the failure of both projects. Ethics guidelines would have guided Reyelt towards the proper conduct. He, now being sued by a third party in the deal, could have saved himself and taxpayers a great deal of money had he behaved in a more honorable manner. Public officials should refrain from entering into business with an individual who is employed by the city specifically when the official has a personal economic interest.
The Crossroads development has dominated the local conversation in Mahwah for the past 9 months. Over the past few years, the Crossroads Developers had put forth various proposals for development of the site, only to have them rejected by the Mahwah Township Council. This past March, the Developer once again came to the Council in order to ask that their property be rezoned from office use to mixed-use/retail to allow for the construction of a complex of retail stores, restaurants, a movie theater, hotel and office space. Over 400 residents attended the March 31 meeting to express their opposition to the development. This unprecedented turnout by Mahwah residents, unlike any the Council had seen before, should have been enough for the Council to realize that a decision to rezone the property may not be in the best interests of Mahwah residents. Instead, the Council voted 4-2 to allow for the property to be rezoned.
In recent years, it seems as if there is a new financial fraud being reported any given day. One could even say that fraud has become almost a much a surety as taxes. Given the opportunities and pressures, many will businesses will fall victim to human natures and suffer losses through fraudulent activities. This case study will follow one such fraud, following the crimes of Terry Scott Welch in his pursuit for happiness by indulging his passion of landscaping.
The first blatant ethical issue in the Adelphia scandal stems from the idea that the Rigas family used corporate money for personal use. Nearly $12.8 billion was used to start construction on a personal golf course on their own private land and even more to cover the expenses of the use of the company aircraft for personal reasons. The use of this money was then hidden thro...
Riverbank, a large city, has a district with a huge problem. Grant’s Valley, although booming with business, is a quaint and historic part of Riverbank that the residents want to keep that way. The business aspect of Grant’s Valley has an ever growing need for more space for tourists to park and there is just too much traffic for the area to withstand. Riverbank’s historically quaint Grant’s Valley would benefit from the destruction of the unused junior-high on 35th and Princeton and the new construction of a one hundred space parking lot and a new park. This would attract more people and lessen the unattractive curb appeal of the parking lot in the residential area of Grant’s Valley that the residents want
William Evan and Edward Freeman, in their essay “A Stakeholder Theory of the Modern Corporation,” argue that the objective of a company and its managers is not only to maximize profit for its owners and stockholders, but also to balance the benefits received or losses incurred by other stakeholders—employees, suppliers, customers, and the local community, all of whom may be influenced by company decisions. As the owner of MSO, your aim is ostensibly to maximize profits for yourself, but unlike most other indicted CEOs, you have not tried to obtain personal gains at the expense of the stakeholders of your enterprise. Rather, the charges that have been brought against you are for your dealings with another company; in this day and age where investors bemoan the lack of ethics of CEOs who use the power of their position in the boardroom to achieve selfish gains at the expense of their own company and its stakeholders, the charges of insider t...
When operating in a different country/culture businesses should refrain from making any definite assumptions or judgements. The issue is that is it easy to make assumptions/judgements about countries whose livelihoods that business is not even familiar with. Then when the business actually gets to that country, they will find that their assumptions/judgements fail to live up to the complexity of that country/culture. For example, in the case of bribery that occurs in certain countries, a company may mistakenly assume that because officials partake in this act that this act is thereby morally permissible. If anything that is far from the truth. Historically, bribery has often been considered wrong in many countries worldwide. When that company
During the November 2000 presidential elections, two children tried to make daddy proud. First there was Albert Gore Jr. – the son of a powerful and respected senator of Tennessee – who was no stranger to politics and privilege. As a child he attended the prestigious St. Alban’s School and while growing up, it was common to see then Vice President Richard Nixon as a guest at the family dinner table. Then there was George W. Bush – a third-generation politician, with his grandfather a former senator, his brother the governor of Florida, and his father being former president. The November 2000 presidential elections would become the battle of dynastic supremacy. Whose silver spoon was shiniest? In the end, Bush’s spoon was voted most polished (at least by the electoral standards, certainly not by the popular) and was given the presidential seat. The election had many Americans frustrated, echoing columnist Lars-Erik Nelson’s protest, “Bush’s spectacular career rebuts the notion that America has become a meritocracy, in which we are all born equal and then judged upon our intelligence, talent, creativity, and aggressiveness” (qtd. in Maass 10).
After long and heated arguments between experts, it was decided that the Superintendent of Construction was extremely inexperienced, and that there was "recklessness in the handling of public money," on the part of the Treasury Department and the Immigration Bureau of Officials. The entire building, excluding the hospitals, had been built shoddily. After news of the problems with the building had been in the media, a lot of people involved with the construction of the building resigned their positions.
April Whitlock should not accept any of the bloggers requests for sponsorship. By accepting these requests, she is essentially taking bribes from consumers for positive reviews of Carolina Pad. This is unethical because word-of-mouth advertising although very effective can negatively impact a company’s reputation if done incorrectly. April is facing the idea of a decision because she is uncertain if this is the right choice. This uncertainty is a signal that it is unethical and can cause some repercussions in the future. Ethics are subjective and if April is facing this hesitation, moving forward with the requests can be a line of ethics she wishes not to cross. Crossing this ethical line for some companies is no big deal and will not even think twice, especially if other competitors are doing the same thing. Business leaders need to ensure that they know where their ethics line lay and until what extend this line get blurry. With ethics each individual takes individual responsibility and actions speaks louder than words.
I first witnessed the power of the individual to engender change as a high school graduate in the summer of 1990. I was one of 10 American youths, chosen from a nationwide pool of applicants, to join 10 Soviet youths on a river rafting expedition in Siberia with Project RAFT (Russians and Americans for Teamwork). For three weeks we worked side by side, literally dependent on cooperation and mutual trust for survival. In the evenings, while sitting in a circle around glowing cedar campfires, we held structured discussions on subjects ranging from nuclear disarmament to global warming and racism. At first we struggled to communicate across language barriers, but we quickly found common ground and successfully created a microcosm of a society in which mutual respect, affection, and commitment to our ideals drove our actions. This experience was nothing short of an epiphany for me: working one-on-one with The Enemy forced me to look past stereotypes and prejudices and work with them as individuals. I realized that this approach is the most powerful tool ...
I was told that my desire to enter the field of public interest would wane after my first year of community service. On the contrary, the realization of the power which a lawyer possesses has reinforced my desire to enter this arena. An advocate's work can have far reaching consequences. This is clearly true in public interest law, where the purpose is not simply to correct a wrong done in the past between two parties, but to alter the disparate treatment of an often under-represented class.
The movie “Glengarry Glen Ross” presented a series of ethical dilemmas that surround a group of salesmen working for a real estate company. The value of business ethics was clearly undermined and ignored in the movie as the salesmen find alternatives to keep their jobs. The movie is very effective in illustrating how unethical business practices can easily exist in the business world. Most of the time, unethical business practices remain strong in the business world because of the culture that exists within companies. In this film, the sudden demands from management forced employees to become irrational and commit unethical business practices. In fear of losing their jobs, employees were pressured to increase sales despite possible ethical ramifications. From the film, it is right to conclude that a business transaction should only be executed after all legal and ethical ramifications have been considered; and also if it will be determined legal and ethical to society.
Albert Carr argues that business is a game and that business ethics differs from private life ethics that individuals practice. Carr explains that practices such as bluffing and not telling the whole truth are morally acceptable in business context. Carr claims that one cannot apply a single standard of ethics universally as situations differ from one to another. My response to such claim is that I refuse to accept that businesses cannot be strictly ethical.
Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2011). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases. Mason, Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning.
The complete destruction of companies including Arthur Andersen, HealthSouth, and Enron, revealed a significant weakness in the United States audit system. The significant weakness is the failure to deliver true independence between the auditors and their clients. In each of these companies there was deviation from professional rules of conduct resulting from the pressures of clients placed upon their auditors (Goldman, and Barlev 857-859). Over the years, client and auditor relationships were intertwined tightly putting aside the unbiased function of auditors. Auditor careers depended on the success of their client (Kaplan 363-383). Auditors found themselves in situations that put their profession in a questionable time driving them to compromise their ethics, professionalism, objectivity, and their independence from the company. A vital trust relationship role for independent auditors has been woven in society and this role is essential for the effective functioning of the financial economic system (Guiral, Rogers, Ruiz, and Gonzalo 155-166). However, the financial world has lost confidence in the trustworthiness of auditor firms. There are three potential threats to auditor independence: executives hiring and firing auditors, auditors taking positions the client instead of the unbiased place, and auditors providing non audit services to clients (Moore, Tetlock, Tanlu, and Bazerman 10-29).