Question

The purpose of sobriety checkpoints that are set up by community and state police is to deter drunk driving and ultimately save lives.While not mandated,the makers of Blackberry™ have complied with the public request of several legislators and have obediently removed apps that permit smartphone users to navigate around the checkpoints.Google™ and Apple™ have elected not to honor such requests.Google said the apps do not violate the company's content policy.After studying about ethics and social responsibility,which of the following statements applies to this situation?
A) Laws represent the minimum guidelines that companies must follow,whereas a firm's ethical stance may venture beyond the minimum level of compliance.
B) Google and Apple are showing corporate social responsibility because they demonstrate concern for their investors,which is exactly where their focus should be.
C) Blackberry is acting philanthropically toward government.
D) Google and Apple are showing their distrust for big government,and their avoidance of contributing toward philanthropic causes.

Answer 1

Answer:

A) Laws represent the minimum guidelines that companies must follow,whereas a firm's ethical stance may venture beyond the minimum level of compliance.

Explanation:

In the given scenario there are laws that allows community and state police to set up sobriety check points that discourages drunk drivers and saves lives.

The inclusion or removal of applications that helps drunk drivers avoid these checkpoints is not covered by the law. So if a company decides to include such applications it is at their discretion.

Blackberry have chosen to remove applications that helps drunk drivers avoid checkpoints. This is an example of when a company has ventured beyond the minimum level of compliance because of their ethical stance.

Google and Apple however have only ventured beyond the minimum compliance level because they have refused to honour requests by legislators to remove apps that permit smartphone users to navigate around the checkpoints.