N1574 – Social Responsibility, Sustainability and Business Ethics
Take-Away Paper - exam period May 2023 (A2)
Instructions
• You have 24 hours to submit this paper.
Students with special arrangements may be awarded up to 6 hours extra time.
• You will mainly use material on “Monsanto in India” provided with this paper to answer four questions.
• You are allowed to use additional sources considered useful to address the questions.
• You must answer all of the questions.
• Each question is weighted at 25% of the final mark for this assessment.
• The paper (maximum 2,000 words) is submitted via e-submissions on the module Canvas page.
• Late submissions are not permitted for take-away papers.
Case Study
A multinational’s corporate responsibility in a developing country: Monsanto in India, 2018, Institute of Management Technology, The Case Centre, code 718-0073-1
Questions
Q1: Identify Monsanto’s normative and derivative stakeholders in India and explain how the company should address their needs.
Q2: Using Rest’s ethical decision making model, analyse Monsanto’s strategy in promoting greater dialogue with different stakeholders in India.
Q3: Mahyco Monsanto Biotech met strong criticism from farmer communities and environmental organisations in India. At the same time, the corporation received permission to conduct large-scale field trials and continued to promote innovative biotechnology capable of improving cotton yield and corn production. Using evidence from the case study, critically discuss the evolution of Monsanto’s CSR strategy in India. In your opinion, is Monsanto a good corporate citizen?
Q4: Monsanto sees biotechnology as a key to food insecurity and malnutrition across the globe. Some studies show that genetically modified (GM) crops like Bt cotton deliver significant benefits to Indian farmers, while others show that GM varieties have made farmers more vulnerable to financial collapse due to huge debts and increased costs of cultivation. If you were a member of the Indian Government, how would you deal with requests for field trials of GM food from Monsanto India? Evaluate your decision using two different normative ethical theories: ethics of duties and utilitarianism.
Format
• Font Arial 12, line spacing 1.5
• Word count: maximum 2,000 words. Word count excludes: title, contents page, titles of tables and figures, text in figures and list of references.
• You must use Harvard Referencing style. only.
• Do not use appendices or footnotes.
• Begin directly with the answers. Do not copy the topic and the questions in your answers.
Sources
You should use primarily the case study provided to answer the questions. You can use further additional sources considered useful to address the questions.