Microsoft vs. The Government
Although somewhat ironic, by now it is not surprising when the pioneer of an enormous industry becomes the focus of controversy. Such is the case for Microsoft Corp., which is currently undergoing many accusations of breaking antitrust laws. Some would argue that the corporation is making deliberate efforts to monopolize the software industry, while those naturally in favor of big business would encourage Microsoft’s “survival of the fittest” business attitude. Is this the philosophy to embrace or is free competition in an economy far too valuable to give up? While we do not wish to check the growth of any company, anti-trust laws are too important to be overlooked. Microsoft, clearly in violation of these laws, must be required to adhere to stricter guidelines, as a result.
Antitrust laws have been the impetus for disagreement when they have conflicted with a flourishing corporation. When the first pieces of legislation were introduced in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, companies at the level of Microsoft Corp. endured the scrutiny of the Federal Court System. Under the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, corporations from Trans-Missouri Freight to Standard Oil were challenged as having tried “to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States”. As all of these business groups continued to find loopholes in the initial antitrust enforcement, new legislation was called for. The Clayton Antitrust Act was passed in 1914, thereby tightening the guidelines against monopolies. Along with the newly created Federal Trade Commission, this act seemed to give the federal government a better check on big business for the future. (Antitr...
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Unfortunately, these monopolies allowed companies to raise prices without consequence, as there was no other source of product for consumers to buy for cheaper. The more competition, the more a company is forced to appeal to the consumer, but monopolies allowed corporations to treat consumers awfully and still receive their business. Trusts were bad for both the consumers and the workers, but without proper representation, they could do nothing. However, with petitions, citizens got the first anti-trust law passed by the not entirely corrupt Congress, called the Sherman Act of 1890. It prevented companies from trade cooperation of any kind, whether good or bad. Most corporate lawyers were able to find loopholes in the law, and it was largely ineffective. Over time, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890, and the previously passed Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, which regulated railroad rates, grew more slightly effective, but it would take more to cripple powerful
Apart from Antitrust laws, there are several other laws that promote fair business practices. The Robinson-Patman Act prohibits price discrimination. This act ...
American business is protected by pro-competition legislation, including antitrust laws that were enacted to prohibit monopolies. As noted in the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, it is illegal for companies to hold a large concentration of economic power. AT&T is no stranger to manipulating this federal law in order to gain an unfair advantage, according to the Federal Communications Commission. During the 1980’s, AT&T made a name for itself by practically dominating its industry, an unfair competitive advantage that contradicts its Code of Ethics. However, the company’s ...
Rubini, L. (2010). Microsoft on Trial: Legal and Economic Analysis of a Transatlantic Antitrust Case. Camberley, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
In John Stuart Mill’s literature (575-580), he describes a system of ethics which he dubs as Utilitarianism. Mill’s Utilitarianism is unique because it is a Consequentialist theory – it focuses on the consequences of things, rather than individual processes involved. In other words, Mill argues that, for an action to be morally correct, it must solely contribute towards benefitting the greater good and maximizing humanity’s happiness. I argue that this ethical theory is flawed and cannot be used as a standard to gauge the morality of our actions because, since Utilitarianism is so entrenched on the outcomes that are produced, it has the potential to sanction clearly wrong actions, so long as they promote the general welfare. In this critique,
In an age where humanity realizes the differences between right and wrong, and ponders why they choose whichever side they do, utilitarianism provides and answer.
Utilitarianism provides a method for calculating the moral worth of specific actions in terms of their consequences. Utilitarianism teaches that happiness comprises the fundamental purpose and pursuit of human life. Therefore, the value and worth of any given action should be evaluated in terms of its ability to produce happiness. The utilitarian defines happiness as pleasure and the absence of pain, and teaches that in all cases individuals should act in such a way as to achieve the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest amount of people. Utilitarianism...
“Utilitarianism is the creed which accepts as the foundations of morals utility of the greatest happiness principle holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.” (Mil, 90). Utilitarianism ethics is based on the greatest good for the greatest number meaning that the moral agent does what he/she thinks will be
Bresnahan, T. Greenstein, S. & Henderson, R. “Schumpeterian competition and diseconomies of scope; illustrations from the histories of Microsoft and IBM.” Harvard Business School, Working Paper 11-077, (2011): 1-69.
Even though monopolies are illegal, public corruption allows companies to form and continues to be a problem today. In an article published by the Los Angeles, Anh Do
It’s a moral issue, it depends on how one looks at it. We can speak about the major draw backs of brain drain and how these people deprive their countries from development, but in return we can’t force them to stay in an environment where their presence is rewarded by nothing. Throughout this paper and the quest for finding solutions to brain drain, it came to my notice that brain drain is not the disease but it’s a symptom of massive illness that is caused by the accumulation of poverty, lack of education, social injustice, corruption and many more of unresolved issues throughout the years. If we want to fight brain drain and defeat it we need to fight the source of the problem and cut it from its roots, or otherwise all our findings and research will be scarce.
Utilitarianism is a difficult topic to fathom, for it requires a large amount of questions and self-evaluation. In order to understand utilitarianism, think of bad versus bad. A principle stating that when one is faced with two difficult decisions, which choice would be less harmful for all of those involved? John Stuart Mill and Bernard Williams describe utilitarianism as pain versus pleasure or the lesser of two evils approach, and how that approach ties into ones ultimate choice. Utilitarianism is not about the pursuit of happiness, rather, it is really about picking which evil is the best evil.
Utilitarianism is a movement in ethics which began in the late eighteenth centaury and is primarily associated with the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham and was later adapted and fully developed by John Stuart Mill in the ninetieth century. . The theory states that we should try to achieve ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’. Utilitarianism is a teleological theory of ethics. Teleological theories of ethics look at the consequences to decide whether an action is right or wrong. Utilitarianism is defined as a doctrine that the useful is the good and that the determining consideration of right conduct should be the usefulness of it consequences: specifically: a theory that the aim of action should be the largest possible
Hundreds of thousands of students come to the United States of America from all over the world because of it optimistic opportunities and the freedoms it beholds along with the prestigious universities worthy of attending. Almost every university and college across the US consists of an immigrant student who came here to study and prosper; students from Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, Australia and even Antarctica, if they had anyone living there. Recently, there has a change in where people go after they graduate college; instead of remaining in the US and having a future, numerous students plan on heading back home; this phenomenon is termed the “reverse brain drain.” The reverse brain drain is where the students of an under developed
Microsoft is the leading and the largest Software Company in the world. Found by William Gates and Paul Allen in 1975 Microsoft has grown and become a multibillion company in only ten years. It all started with a great vision – “a computer on every desk and every home” - that seemed almost impossible at the time. Now Microsoft has over 44,000 employees in 60 countries, net income of $3.45 billion and revenue of 11.36 billion. Company dramatic growth and success was driven by development and marketing of operational systems and personal productivity applications software.