Walmart Case Study Business Ethics

In the case, the Alejandra and David Barstow, the two journalists who followed and aired out the story is the first stakeholder. The two were very critical in this case of Wal-Mart lawless mechanism of trying to shape out an empire in Mexico such that they were applauded by the media and business world. They were influenced by the power of driving out the vice of corruption and urgency of maintaining ethical business across the globe. Since they are Journalists and before they aired the episode, they had substantial evidence, Wal-Mart should involve and collaborate with them in ensuring that the company is back on track. This will yield more benefits since stakeholders will not be withdrawing their shares due to fear. Moreover, Wal-Mart should …show more content…
From the profit maximization or individualism theory point of view, every business when making the profit must consider the human right and the law. In this analysis, we will assume that Wal-Mart is guilty since it ignored the well being of everyone and anything in order to maximize its profits. In addition, there is substantial evidence that Wal-Mart paid bribes to a foreign official. Therefore, even the profit that they received unlawfully will not qualify as satisfactory under individualism theory. From the time they started issuing the bribes, they knew they are doing something unlawful. Consequently, although the theory would support the idea that they may have harmed people in order to maximize profit and expand its business, individualism concept will not support them in this case because they achieved profits through illegal practices. On the other hand, these bribes did not only harm people of the communities but it as well has a negative impact on the company 's image. Being that Wal-Mart is among the largest corporation across the globe, this scandal will not only affect the de-Mexico subsidiary, but also all companies across the globe. Therefore, the profit maximization theory would argue that it is a horrible choice to pay off their way, as they will lose the profit. From the utilitarianism ethical point of view, what we should consider is if the issuance of the bribe is the best thing for Wal-Mart to achieve best. Automatically, the answer is no because since this scandal the business has been losing and decreasing as stakeholders are withdrawing their capital out of fear. If the case continues like this, the stakeholders and the company will lose a big deal. Therefore, to change the situation, Wal-Mart should construct another company in another location in Mexico