Corporate Governance and Ethics Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Corporate Governance and Ethics - Case Study Example In addition to that it also explains the causes of failure of the leaders of GSK in preventing ethical issues related to integrity failures. Task 2 explains bribery as an ethical issue particularly for companies undertaking international business. It also investigates the ethical and moral issues of bribery and the difficulties that cultural relativism introduces to business ethics. And finally task 2 comments on the steps that GSK should take in order to prevent future ethical dilemmas and reputational damage from perceived failures of ethical and moral conduct. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 PART A 4 PART B 7 Conclusion 10 Works Cited 11 Name of the Student Name of the Professor Course Number Date Introduction â€Å"The primary and only responsibility of business is to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game† - Milton Friedman (37) Ethics is a critical factor in the fie ld of corporate governance and henceforth to the performance of a corporation. It can be associated in two different ways via ethical values and assumptions that support a specified regime or code of corporate governance. ... The following section in this report will explain the theories of ethics and corporate governance from the perspective of a pharmaceutical company. PART A 1. It is evident from the case study that there have been quite a few ethical lapses as far as the corporate governance of GlaxoSmithKline is concerned. In the last decade, cases of ethical lapses have been witnessed in pharmaceutical companies. The company was accused of lapses in bribery, fraud and corruption, product safety, false marketing and advertising. Pharmaceutical companies were alleged to have breached the regulatory standards by selling and marketing products which did not meet the criteria specified by the board (Institute of Business Ethics, â€Å"Business Ethics Briefing†). As explained above, GlaxoSmithKline had similar ethical lapses. After studying the report carefully it can be suggested that the company fraudulently managed study designs in order to obtain favourable results. In addition to that, they ha ve concealed results which were unflattering and were against the company’s favour. The company also failed to update people with the negative results thereby producing drugs which were detrimental to the health of the patients. GlaxoSmithKline was accused of hiding information related to the side effects of certain drugs produced by them. Promoting the usage of ‘off – label’ drugs has also been witnessed which led to misuse of medicines. Another ethical lapse noticed in the strategies adopted by the company is the use of promotions such as medical education programs, advisory boards, speaker events and grants. They were accused of using grants to promote drug