Review Sheet #1 Defintions

If anyone else has answers to any long answers or short answers, please post here (Joey is sending out the correct password to the class, the former one was incorrect) or email to the class. Thanks! We will continue to contribute to this blog throughout the night as long as others do.

oligopony: group of sellers that control market price
oligopsony: group of buyers that control market price
non sequitur: a statement that does not follow logically from what
preceeded it
caveat emptor/cavet venditor: let the buyer beware/let the seller beware
stockholders v. creditors: a stockholder invests in a share of a
company, whereas a bank loans money with the expectation of being paid
back and has no ownership in company
fiduciary responsibility: a good faith responsibility
problem of agency: problem that arises when an agent is supposed to act
on behalf of a principle in a fiduciary relationship as a result of
people inherently working in their own best interest
Mohist: Chinese school of philosophy based on the ideas of Mozi. Belief
in equal care for all individuals and that the motivation behind doing
good deeds is equally as important as doing good deeds.
Consequentialism: moral theory that believes you must judge the
morality of an action based on the consequences of it. If an action
produces a good outcome, it is a moral one.
Ethics: branch of philosophy that explores the nature of moral virtue
and evaluates human actions. Ethics seeks to study morality through a
rational, secular outlook that is grounded in notions of human
happiness or wellbeing.
Egoism: attitude that moral behavior should be directed towards one’s
own personal interests.
Deontology: moral theory that bases the rightness or wrongness of an
act from the character of the action itself, not on its outcome.
Virtue ethics: moral theory that judges “morality” in terms of
individual people, not on individual actions or the consequences of
those actions.
Utilitarianism: moral philosophy that what is “good” is determined by
its contribution to the overall good of all people.
Capitalism: An economic system that depends on the private ownership of
the means of production and on competitive forces to determine what is
produced. It is incompatible with regulated markets.
Biocentric v. homocentric: focus on the well being and rights of all
living things as opposed to a view that humans re the center of reality
and only considers the rights and well being of humans.
“Mock participation”: the appearance of being engaged in and believing
in an activity, when in actuality the “mock participator” does not. An
example is the “Give me a W!” cheer done by Wal Mart employees.
Privity of contract- doctrine that only the parties to a contract have
rights or obligations under that contract.
Ethically inauthentic: when a person divides their moral values into
that of the businessman and that of the citizen. An ethically
inauthentic person might justify doing something that they would
normally condemn as unethical by the fact that they are doing it for
“business”.
Power of eminent domain: state’s power to seize private property with
due monetary compensation.
Tragedy of the commons: dilemma in which multiple individuals can
destroy a shared limited resource by acting in their own self interest,
even when it is not in the best interest of anyone for the resource to
be destroyed.
Nemo dat principle: The principle that one cannot give (or sell) what
one does not actually possess.
Stakeholder analysis vs stakeholder synthesis: stakeholder analysis is
the process through which stakeholders are identified and the positive
and negative impacts of an action on each are identified, but not
actually integrated into the decision making process. Stakeholder
synthesis actually incorporates this analysis into decision making and
implementation.
Ethical relativism: philosophy that an ethical decision must be judged
by the morals of the culture the decision was made in.
Stakeholder (wide vs. narrow): the narrow definition of a stakeholder
includes groups who are vital to the survival and success of the
corporation. The wide definition of a stakeholder includes groups who
are in any way affected by the corporation.