Examples of unethical behavior

Here you can read examples about unethical behaviour.

McDonald's

This bad business ethics example by McDonald's is what is known as the "McDonald's Legislation"
in popular parlance. In 1972, Ray Kroc, the company’s founder made a rare donation of $250,000
to Nixon's reelection campaign and in return got a favorable legislation that allowed companies
such as McDonald's to pay teenage employees 20 percent less than federal minimum wages. Most
observers consider this a typical case of corporate influence on lawmakers to enact legislation that
serve their selfish ends and harm society.

Nestle

The World Health Organization found children in developing countries who fed on Nestle’s infant-
formula had mortality rates five to ten times greater than that of breast-fed children. The problem
was Nestle’s sinister campaign of appointing uniformed nurses to distribute the baby formula to
poor mothers for free, long enough for lactating mother’s milk to dry up. The mother and child
now became entirely depresuependent on Nestle’s infant formula, and since most of them could
not afford the formula, they gave their children an insufficient quantity of the formula. The
formula also required clean water, which most mothers could not access.

Mattel

The quest to drive down costs very often leads to poor product quality, and puts end users at risk,
leading to a strong case of bad business ethics. This is exemplified by Mattel, of Barbie doll fame.

Mattel has earned notoriety for manufacturing hazardous toys. The company outsourced
manufacturing to China to cut costs, but the toys that came back were coated with toxic lead paint
and contained 180 times the legal limit of lead content. The dolls also came with poorly attached
small magnets that could perforate the intestines if swallowed. The dolls became a major hazard,
and Mattel had to recall them, and face public ire for its unethical business conduct.

Wal-Mart
The standard business practices of "bigger is better" does not seem to hold true when it comes to
ethics, for sheer size by itself raises allegations of poor business ethics, as seen in the case of Wal-
Mart.

Wal-Mart very often finds itself slapped with lawsuits that accuse it of predatory pricing, or pricing
products too low to drive competition out of business and gain a monopoly in local markets.
Among several lawsuits, the one in 2003 struck, where Germany's High Court ruled Wal-Mart's
low-cost pricing strategy "undermined competition." Wal-Mart also faced charges of monopoly, by
making suppliers dependent on them and forcing them to indulge in self-defeating practices, such
as pressuring them to sell goods below cost or at prices lower than they would get elsewhere.

Toshiba

In an effort to meet aggressive profit targets set by executives and managers, Toshiba decided to
fudge its financial results. The electronics company admitted to inflating its earnings over a seven-
year period by close to a whopping $2 billion.

FIFA

FIFA, soccer's international governing body, isn't a corporation in the traditional sense, but make
no mistake: It's big business. This year, the world heard the long-suspected news that the
organization is plagued by institutional corruption. In two waves of arrests in May and December,
U.S. investigators brought RICO charges against the organization, accusing FIFA officials of taking
millions of dollars in bribes to influence clothing sponsorship contracts, the FIFA presidential
election, and the selection process for the World Cup.

Oil and gas companies in New York

In November, 44 people and nine different oil and gas companies in New York City were indicted
on charges of corruption and fraud. The Manhattan district attorney's indictments allege that the
companies stole and resold about $34 million worth of heating oil that was never delivered to its
customers. The DA's office stated that customers were being duped by the companies out of as
much as 10 percent of the oil that they believed they had purchased.
Exxon Mobil

From the 1980s through the early '90s, Exxon had teams of scientists studying global warming in
the Arctic. The scientists concluded that global warming is real, and that it posed potential dangers
for the company--higher sea levels could damage Exxon's drilling platforms, processing plants,
pump stations, and pipelines. But company documents reveal that, instead of helping to combat
the environmental risk, Exxon (now Exxon Mobile) decided to launch a multimillion-dollar
campaign questioning climate change in order to bolster company profits.

Volkswagen

In September, the Environmental Protection Agency caught Volkswagen in a huge scandal that
reportedly could cost the company as much as $87 billion. The EPA uncovered that diesel-engine
VW models sold in the United States had software installed allowing the cars to falsely pass
emissions tests. Since then, VW has admitted to cheating the tests deliberately and revealed that
11 million cars world line were fitted with so called defeat device

reputation is a company's biggest asset so you would think companies would avoid engaging in
shady business practices. however, many large corporates find their reputations and credibility
destroyed due to practices that are harmful ans iliegal