Business management
publicity. Fearing a loss of revenues, most tuna canning companies adopted a policy of not purchasing from boats that engaged in this practice. To communicate this policy to the public, the companies put a small logo on their cans of tuna guaranteeing that they were “dolphin-friendly.” Using the authors’ terminology, what level of social responsibility would you ascribe to the tuna canning companies? Justify your answer.
Considering that the tuna canning companies put the “dolphin friendly” seal on the cans of tuna in response to a threatened boycott originated by the International Marine Mammal Project and the negative publicity that ensued, I would ascribe to them the Social Reaction level of social responsibility.
Tuna fishermen used to actually look for dolphins and set their purse seine around them because for unknown reasons the tuna stay close to the dolphins. Canners such as Starkist, Chicken of the Sea and Bumblebee all knew that this fishing method was being utilized, and would have been classified as “social responsiveness” had they stopped before public outcry forced them to.
I think that this level has changed since then. Congress passed legislation setting a standard of "non-encirclement" of dolphins which became the U.S. legal standard for the "Dolphin Safe" tuna label. Because of this they are required to follow this standard and now are at the “social obligation” level. The tuna industry has also adopted another method of catching tuna that have adverse environmental effects. This is called “log fishing” where all marine life including turtles, sharks, and other animals are caught along with the tuna. The canners know the effect this has on sea life but continue. Until they voluntarily quit this type of practice before they are forced to by either social or legal obligations they will never be a socially responsive industry.
3. (20 points) Describe the following concepts or terms. Where do these concepts or terms come from and to what do they apply?:
All four of these concepts come from Geert H. Hofstede and his work on four dimensions of cultural variability, commonly referred to as "Hofstede's Dimensions." Hofstede originally published these concepts in his 1980 publication, "Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values." This study took existing survey data (sample size of 116,000) collected from a multinational corporation. The result was a score in each of the dimensions for 40 different countries. Hofstede calculated scores for these dimensions (on a scale from around 0 and 100) for many countries.
• Power Distance
Power Distance is defined as the extent to which the less powerful expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. Power distance can be described in terms of high and low power distance. In a high power distance culture people are subordinate than in a low power distance culture. In a high power distance culture such as China, employees would never expect to be consulted about a task; they just [next page]