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Ethics Final
Vocab Words
301
Business
Graduate
07/10/2012

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Term
Social Contract
Definition
An underlying agreement between businessses and society based on basic duties and responsibilities businesses must carry out to retain public support.  This may be reflected in laws and regulations.
Term
Capitalism
Definition
An economic ideology with a bundle of values including private ownership of means of production, the profit motive, free comopetition, and limited government restraint on the markets.
Term
Laissez-Faire
Definition
An economic philosophy that rejects government intervention in markets.
Term
Populism
Definition
A political pattern, recurrent in world history, in which common peopel who feel opressed or disadvantaged seeked to take power from a ruling elite seens as thwarting fulfillment of the collective welfare.
Term
Marxism
Definition
An ideology holding that workers should revolt against property owning capitalists who exploit them, replacing economic and political domination with more equal and democratic institutions.
Term
Stakeholder
Definition
An entity that is benefitted or burdened by the actions of a corporation or whose actions may benefit or burden the corporation. The corporation maintains a relationship with these entities.
Term
Strategic Management
Definition
Actions taken by managers to adapt a company to changes in its market and sociopolitical environments.
Term
Trade Liberalization
Definition
An economic policy of lowering tariffs and other barriers to encourage foreign trade.
Term
The Industrial Revolution
Definition
An economic metamorphosis in England in the late 1700s. It occurred when the necessary conditions were present and shifted the country from a simple agrarian economy into a growing industrial economy.
Term
Gini Index
Definition
A statistical measure of inequality in which zero is perfect equality (everyone has the same amount of wealth) and 100 is absolute inequality (a single person has all the wealth).
Term
Globalization
Definition
The creation of networks of human interaction that span worldwide distances
Term
Ideology
Definition
A set of reinforcing beliefs and values that constructs a worldview.
Term
Culture
Definition
A system of shared knowledge, values, norms, customs, and rituals acquired by social learning.
Term
Postmaterialist Values
Definition
Values based on assumptions of security and affluence, for example, tolerance of diversity and concern for the environment.
Term
Legitimacy
Definition
The rightful use of power. It is the opposite of tyranny, or the exercise of power beyond right.
Term
Dominance Theory
Definition
The view that business is the most powerful institution in society because of its control of wealth. The view holds that the power is inadequately checked, and therefore, excessive.
Term
Pluralist Theory
Definition
The view that business power is exercised in a society where other institutions also have great power. It is counterbalanced and restricted and therefore, not excessive.
Term
Pluralistic Society
Definition
A society with multiple groups and institutions through which power is diffused.
Term
Agrarian Society
Definition
A society with a largely agricultural economy.
Term
Just Price
Definition
A price giving a moderate profit, one inspired by fairness, not greed.
Term
Usury
Definition
The lending of money for excessive interest.
Term
Market Price
Definition
A price determined by the interaction of supply and demand
Term
Protestant Ethic
Definition
The belied that hard work and adherence to a set of virtues such as thrift, saving, and sobriety would bring wealth and God's approval.
Term
Utopia
Definition
A socially engineered model community designed to correct faults in the world so its members can find happiness.
Term
Populist Movement
Definition
A political reform movement that arose among farmers in the late 1800s. The movement blamed social problems on industry and sought radical reforms such as government ownership of railroads.
Term
Progressive Movement
Definition
A turn-of-the twentieth century political movement that associated moderate social reform with progress. It was lessradical than populism and had wider appeal.
Term
Socialism
Definition
The doctrine of a classless society in which property is collectively owned and income from labor is divided among members. It rejects the values of capitalism.
Term
Keynesianism
Definition
An economic philosophy of active state intervention to stabilize the economy and stimulate employment
Term
Chicago School
Definition
The name given to a group of economists and to the free market doctrine they taught. It is synonymous with neoliberalism.
Term
Corporate Social Responsibility
Definition
The duty of a corporation to create wealth in ways that avoid harm to, protect, or enhance societal assets.
Term
Social Darwinism
Definition
The philosophy of the later 1800s and early 1900s that used evolution to explain the dynamics of human society and institutions. The idea of "survival of the fittest" in the realm implied that rich people and dominant companies were morally superior.
Term
Trustee
Definition
An agent of a company whose corporate role puts them in a position of power over the fate of the company and related parties. 
Term
Friedmanism
Definition
The theory that the sole responsibility of a corporation is to optimize profits while obeying the law.
Term
Value Chain
Definition
The sequence of coordinated actions that add value to a product or service.
Term
Civil Regulation
Definition
Regulation by nonstate actors based on social norms or standards enforced by social or market sanctions.
Term
External Cost
Definition
A production cost not paid by a firm or its customers, but by members of society.
Term
Sustainability Reporting
Definition
The practice of a corporation publishing information about its economic, social, and environmental performance.
Term
Fair Trade
Definition
The idea that ethical consumers will pay a premium for commodities from producers in developing nations who use sustainable methods.
Term
Management Standard
Definition
A model of the methods an organization can use to achieve certain goals.
Term
Business Model
Definition
The underlying idea or theory that explains how a business will create value by making and selling products or services in the market.
Term
Mission Statement
Definition
A brief statement of the basic purpose of a corporation
Term
Strategy
Definition
A basic approach, method, or plan for achieving an objective.
Term
Transparency
Definition
The state in which company social strategies, structures, and processes are visible to external observers.
Term
Sustainable Development
Definition
Economic growth that meets current needs without social and environmental impacts that harm future generations.
Term
Triple Bottom Line
Definition
An accounting of a firm's economic, social, and environmental performance.
Term
Assurance
Definition
Verification by audit that information in a corporate sustainability report is reliable.
Term
Philanthropy
Definition
Charitable giving of money, property, or work for the welfare of society.
Term
Strategic Philanthropy
Definition
A form of corporate giving in which charitable activities reinforce strategic business goals.
Term
Cause Marketing
Definition
A form of giving in which charitable contributions are based on purchases of a firm's products.
Term
Micro-Finance
Definition
Small loans given to the poor.
Term
Ethics
Definition
The study of good and evil, right and wrong, and just and unjust
Term
Business Ethics
Definition
The study of good and evil, right and wrong, and just and unjust actions in business.
Term
Theory of Amorality
Definition
The belief that business should be conducted without reference to the full range of ethical standards, restraints, and ideals in society
Term
Theory of Moral Unity
Definition
Business actions are judged by the general ethical standards of society, not by a special set of more permissive standards.
Term
Reciprocity
Definition
A form of social behavior in which people behave supportively in the expectation that this behavior will be given in return.
Term
Realist School
Definition
A school of thought that rejects ethical perfection, taking the position that human affairs will be characterized by flawed behavior and ought to be depicted as they are, not as we might wish them to be.
Term
Ethical Universalism
Definition
The theory that because human nature is everywhere the same, basic ethical rules are applicable in all cultures. There issome room for variation in the way these rules are followed.
Term
Ethical Relativism
Definition
The theory that ethical values are created by cultural experience. Different cultures may create different values and there is no universal standard by which to judge which values are superior.
Term
Hypernorms
Definition
Master ethical principles that underlie all other ethical principles. All variations of ethical principal must conform to them.
Term
Compensatory Damages
Definition
Payments awarded to redress actual, concrete losses suffered by injured parties.
Term
Punitive Damages
Definition
Payments in excess of a wronged party's actual losses to deter similar actions and punish a corporation that has exhibited reprehensible conduct.
Term
White-Collar Crime
Definition
A nonviolent economic offense of cheating and deception done for personal or corporate gain in the course of employment. 
Term
Deffered Prosecution Agreement
Definition
An agreement between a prosecutor and a corporation to delay prosecution while the company takes remedial actions.
Term
Nonprosecution Agreement
Definition
An agreement in which U.S. attorneys decline prosecution of a corporation that has taken appropriate steps to report a crime, cooperate, and compensate victims.
Term
Monitor
Definition
A person hired by a corporation to oversee fulfillment of conditions in an agreement to avoid criminal indictment.
Term
Corporate Culture
Definition
A set of values, norms, rituals, formal rules, and physical artifacts that exists in a company.
Term
Ethics and Compliance Program
Definition
A system of structures, policies, procedures, and controls used by corporations to promote ethical behavior and ensure compliance with laws and regulations.
Term
Compliance Approach
Definition
Training employees to follow rules in laws, regulations, and policy.
Term
Ethics Approach
Definition
Training employees to make decisions based on ethical values
Term
Deontological Ethics
Definition
The idea that actions are right and wrong in themselves independently of any consequences
Term
Consequentialism
Definition
The idea that actions are right or wrong, in part or whole, based on their consequences
Term
Categorical Imperative
Definition
Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.
Term
Test of Universalizability
Definition
Could this act be turned into a universal code of behavior?
Term
Conventionalist Ethic
Definition
Business is like a game with permissive ethics and actions that do not violate the law are permitted.
Term
Disclosure Rule
Definition
Test an ethical decision by asking how you would feel explaining it to a wider audience such as newspaper readers, television viewers, or your family.
Term
Doctrine of the Mean
Definition
Virtue is achieved through moderation. Avoid behavior that is excessive or deficient of a virtue.
Term
Ends-Means Ethic
Definition
The end justifies the means.
Term
Golden Rule
Definition
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Term
Practical Imperative
Definition
Treat others as ends in themselves, not as means to other goals. This principle prohibits selfish manipulation of other people.
Term
Test Reversibility
Definition
Would you be willing to change places with the other person or persons affected by your actions?
Term
Intuition Ethic
Definition
What is good or right is understood by an inner moral sense based on character development and felt as intuition.
Term
Might Equals Right
Definition
Justice is the interest of the stronger.
Term
Organization Ethic
Definition
Be loyal to the organization
Term
Principles of Equal Freedom
Definition
A person has the right to freedom of action unless such action deprives another person of a proper freedom.
Term
Proportionality
Definition
A set of rules for making decisions having both good and evil consequences.
Term
Principle of Proportionality
Definition
Managers can risk predictable, but unwilled, harms to people after weighing five factors: type of good and evil, probability, urgency, intensity of influence, and alternatives.
Term
Principle of Double Effect
Definition
When both good and evil consequences result from a decision, a manager has acted ethically if the good outweighs the evil, if his or her intention is to achieve the good, and if there is no better alternative.
Term
Rights Ethic
Definition
Each person has protections and entitlements that others have a duty to respect.
Term
Natural Rights
Definition
Protections and entitlements that can be inferred by reason from the study of human nature.
Term
Legal Rights
Definition
Protections and entitlements conferred by law.
Term
Theory of Justice
Definition
Each person should act fairly toward others in order to maintain the bonds of community.
Term
Distributive Justice
Definition
The benefits and burdens of company life should be distributed using impartial criteria.
Term
Retributive Justice
Definition
Punishment should be evenhanded and proportionate to transgressions.
Term
Compensatory Justice
Definition
Victims should receive fair compensation for damages.
Term
Utilitarian Ethic
Definition
The greatest good for the greatest number.
Term
Virtue Ethic
Definition
Ethical behavior stems from character virtues built up by habit.
Term
Cardinal Virtues
Definition
The four most basic traits of an ethical character-justice, temperance, courage, and wisdom. They were identified by Plato.
Term
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Definition
A method used to map activity in neural networks during ethical decision making.
Term
Critical Questions Approach
Definition
A method of ethical reasoning in which insight comes from answering a list of questions.
Term
Earmark
Definition
An amount of money for a project added into an appropriations bill by any member of the Senate or House of Representatives.
Term
Federal System
Definition
A government in which powers are divided between a central government and subdivision governments. In American government, the specific division of powers between the national and state governments is set forth in the Constitution.
Term
Supremacy Clause
Definition
A clause in the Constitution, Article VI, Section 2, setting forth the principle that when the federal government passes a law within its powers, the states are bound by that law.
Term
Separation of Powers
Definition
The constitutional arrangement that separates the legislative executive, and judicial functions of the national government into three branches, giving each considerable independence and the power to check and balance the others.
Term
Judicial Review
Definition
The powers of judges to review legislative and executive actions and strike down laws that are unconstitutional or acts of officials that exceed their authority.
Term
First Amendment
Definition
An amendment to the Constitution added in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights. It protects the rights of free speech, free press, freedom to assemble or form groups, and freedom to contact and lobby government.
Term
Peak Association
Definition
A group that represents the political interests of many companies and industries.
Term
Trade Association
Definition
A group representing the interests of an industry or industry segment.
Term
Washington Office
Definition
An office in Washington, D.C., set up by a corporation and staffed with experts advocating the firm's point of view to lawmakers and regulators.
Term
Coalition
Definition
A combination of business interest-including corporations, trade associations,-united to pursue a political goal.
Term
Lobbying
Definition
Advocating a position to government
Term
Contact Lobbying
Definition
Direct interaction with government officials or staff in meetings, phone calls, or e-mail.
Term
Background Lobbying
Definition
Indirect lobbying activity designed to build friendly relations with lawmakers, officials, and staff.
Term
Grassroots Lobbying
Definition
The technique of generating and expression of public, or "grassroots," support for the position of a company, industry, or any interest.
Term
Bribery
Definition
An agreement to exchange something of value for an official act.
Term
Illegal Gratuity
Definition
The exchange of a gratuity for an official action in the past or future when that action might have been or might be taken even without exchange.
Term
Federal Elections
Definition
Elections for president, vice president, senator, and representative. The 435 representatives are elected every two years, the president and vice president every four years, and the 100 senators every six years (with one-third of the senators up for election biennially). Elections are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November in even-numbered years
Term
Political Action Committee
Definition
A political committee carrying a company's name formed to make campaign contributions. The money it gives to candidates comes from individual employees, not from the corporate treasury. 
Term
Election Cycle
Definition
The two-year period between federal elections.
Term
Soft Money
Definition
Money that is unregulated as to source or amount under federal election law.
Term
Hard Money
Definition
Money raised and spent under the strict contribution limits and rules in federal election law.
Term
Bundling
Definition
Fund-raising by an individual who solicits multiple contributions for a candidate, then "bundles" the checks and passes them on.
Term
Independent Expenditure
Definition
A message of express advocacy to voters that is not coordinated with a candidate.
Term
Externalities
Definition
Costs of production borne not by the enterprise that causes them but by society.
Term
Commerce Clause
Definition
A clause in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution that gives Congress the power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes."8 It has been interpreted to give the federal government wide power to regulate business.
Term
Independent Commission
Definition
A regulatory agency run by a small group of commissioners independent of political control.
Term
Executive Agency
Definition
A regulatory agency in the executive branch run by a single administrator.
Term
Deregulation
Definition
The removal or substantial reduction of the body of regulation covering an industry.
Term
Troubled Asset Reflief Program
Definition
A program that gave federal regulators power to exchage funds for an ownership interest in banks and corporations.
Term
Regulation
Definition
Government activity that guides the behavior of citizens, groups, and corporations to reach economic or social goals.
Term
Rule
Definition
A decree issued by an agency to implement a law passed by Congress.
Term
Federal Register
Definition
A daily government publication containing purposed rules, final rules, notice of public meetings by regulatory agencies, and presidential executive orders.
Term
Significant Regulatory Action
Definition
A rule
Term
Code of Federal Regulations
Definition
A reference work that compiles regulations of all agencies in a series of volumes
Term
Guidance
Definition
Information in nonbinding documents intended to clarify official regulations.
Term
Chevron Doctrine
Definition
The general rule that feeral courts should defer to agency rules that are based on reasonable interpretations of ambiguous statutes.
Term
Multinational Corporations
Definition
An entity headquartered in one coutnry that does business in one or more foreign countries.
Term
Liberalization
Definition
The economic policy of lowering tariffs and other barriers to encourage trade and investment.
Term
Transnational Corporation
Definition
As defined by the United nations, a parent firm that controls the assets of affiliated entities in foreign countries.
Term
Foreign Affiliates
Definition
Business entities in foreign countries controlled by parents transnational corporations
Term
Transnationality Index (TNI)
Definition
The average of three ratios: foreign assets to total assets, foreign sales to total sales, and foreign employment to total employement.
Term
Foreign Direct Investment
Definition
Funds invested by parent MNC for starting, acquiring, or expanding an affiliate in a foreign nation.
Term
Portfolio Investment
Definition
The limited, speculative purchase of stocks and bonds in a foreign company by individuals or equity funds.
Term
Sovereign Wealth Fund
Definition
A government entity that invests the savings of a nation.  Since it is state owned, it's investment goals may be different from those of private equity funds.
Term
International Codes of Conduct
Definition
Voluntary, aspirational statements by MNC's that set forth standards for foreign operations.
Term
Sullivan Principles
Definition
A 1977 code of conduct that required multinational corporations in South Africa to do business in a nondiscriminatory way.
Term
Soft Law
Definition
Statements of philosophy, policy, and principle found nonbinding international agreements that, over time, gain legitimacy as guidlines for interpreting the "hard law" in legally binding agreements.
Term
Convention on Biological Diversity
Definition
A treaty that requires nationas to preserve biological diversity by promoting sustainable economic activity.  It emerged from the UN-sponsored Earth Summit in 1992 and has been signed by 163 nations.
Term
Rio Declaration
Definition
A set of 27 principles of sustainable development that emerged from the 1992 Earth Summit, a UN Conference of 172 nationas and 2,400 NGOs held in Rio de Janeiro.
Term
Communication on Progress
Definition
The required annual report of a company participating in the Global Compact.  It explains how the company is implementing the 10 principles.
Term
Bluewashing
Definition
The act of a corporation cloaking its lack of social responsibility by insincere membership in the UN Global Compact.
Term
Alein Tort Claims Act
Definition
A 1789 law permitting foreign citizens to litigate, in a federal court, wrongful actions occuring anywhere in the world that violate international law or US treaties.
Term
Globalization
Definition
Growth in networks of economic, political, social, military, scientific, or environmental interdependence to span world wide distances.
Term
Mercantilism
Definition
A policy of increasing national power by managing the economy to create a trade surplus.  Exports were promoted, imports restricted.
Term
Tariff
Definition
A tax or duty charged by a government on goods moved across a border.  Tariffs raise the cost of imports, making them less competitive with similar domestic goods.
Term
Autarky
Definition
A policy of national self-sufficiency and economic independence
Term
Multilateral Trade Negotiation
Definition
A trade negotitation in which multiple nations seek consensus on an agreement that will apply equally to all
Term
Most-Favored-Nation
Definition
A principle enacted in some trade agreements requiring that if one participant extends any benefit to another, that participant must extend the same benefit to all.
Term
National Treatment
Definition
Equal treatment for imported and local goods in a domestic market
Term
Structural Adjustment Program
Definition
A set of economic policies prescribed to correct flaws in a national economy.
Term
Trade Liberalization
Definition
An economic policy of lowering tariffs and other barriers to encourage foreign trade.
Term
Washington Consensus
Definition
A set of free market policies imposed on developing nations by the World Bank as loan conditions
Term
Conditionalities
Definition
The conditions that accompanied World Bank and IMF loans, usually the adoption of new economic policies based on free market principles.  Loans would be made in increments over time as conditions were met.
Term
Free Trade Agreement
Definition
A trade agreement in which member countries eliminate import duties and other barriers to trade with each other, but maintain them for imports from nonmembers.
Term
Customs Union
Definition
A bloc of nations that form a free trade area and impose a common external tariff on imports from nonmember nations.
Term
Free Trade
Definition
The flow of goods and services across borders unhindered by government imposed restrictions such as taxes, tariffs, quotas, and rules.
Term
Competitive Advantage of Nations
Definition
The theory that having a cluster of similar producers gives a nation special advantage over other countries.
Term
Law of Comparative Advantage
Definition
Efficiency and the general economic welfare are optimized when each country produces that for which it enjoys a cost advantage.
Term
Protectionism
Definition
The use of trade barriers to shield domestic industries from foreign competitors.
Term
Trade Deficit
Definition
A state in which the value of a country's total exports is less than the value of its total imports, either with a single trading partner or overall.
Term
Industrial Policy
Definition
A government policy to shape the economy by promoting companies or sectors.
Term
Dumping
Definition
Exporting a product at a price below the price it normally sells for in its home market. This is usually done to build market share.
Term
"Buy American" Laws
Definition
Laws that require or influence government agencies at all levels to purchase U.S. made goods and services rather than foreign-made products.
Term
Nontariff Barrier
Definition
Any impediment to merchandise imports aside from customs duties.
Term
Corruption
Definition
The debasement of integrity for money, position, privilege, or other self-benefit.
Term
Facilitating Payments
Definition
Small amounts of money demanded by minor officials to perform their regular duties.
Term
Bribe
Definition
Anything of value improperly requested or given in exchange for a corrupt action.
Term
Extortion
Definition
The act of accompanying the request for a bribe with a specific or implied threat of lost business.
Term
Superfund
Definition
A federal program set up in 1980 to clean up toxic waste sites. It takes its name from a fund holding money for the projects.
Term
Pollution
Definition
The presence of substances in the environment that inconvenience or endanger humans.
Term
Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY)
Definition
A statistical measure combining in one number years lost to premature mortality and years lived with disability. One Daly equals one lost year of healthy life.
Term
Ecosystem
Definition
An animated interactive realm of plants, animals, and microorganisms inhabiting an area of the nonliving environment.
Term
Ecosystem Services
Definition
The productivity of natural ecosystems in creating food and fiber and in regulating climate, water, soil, nutrients, and
other forms of natural capital.
Term
Sustainable Development
Definition
Nonpolluting economic growth that raises standards of living without depleting the net resources of the earth.
Term
Environmental Kuznets Curve
Definition
An inverted U-shaped curve illustrating that as gross domestic product rises in emerging economics pollution goes through stages of rapid increase, leveling off, and decline.
Term
Dualism
Definition
The theory that humans are separate from nature because they have the power of reason and unlike plants and animals, souls.
Term
Progress
Definition
The belief that history is a narrative of improvement in which humanity moves from lower to higher levels of perfection.
Term
Capitalism
Definition
An economy in which private individuals and corporations own the means of production and, motivated by the desire for profit, compete in free markets under conditions of limited restraint by government. In this economy, nature is valued primarily as an input into the production process.
Term
Utilitarianism
Definition
The ethical philosophy of the greatest good for the greatest number.
Term
Land Ethic
Definition
A theory that rejects human domination of nature and holds that humans have only equal rights with other species, not superior rights. Human interference with nature is now excessive and must be drastically reduced.
Term
Speciesism
Definition
Bias by humans toward members of their own species and prejudice against members of other species.
Term
Criteria Pollutants
Definition
Six natural substances in large quantities that cause substandard air quality-carbon monoxide, nitrogen, dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone, particulates, and lead.
Term
Volatile Organic Compounds
Definition
Gases that evaporate from liquid or solid carbon based compounds such as gasoline or floor wax. In sunlight they react with other pollutants to form urban smog.
Term
Condensibles
Definition
Small particles formed in the atmosphere by photochemical reactions of gases found in urban smog.
Term
Parts Per Million(ppm)
Definition
The number of molecules of a chemical in 1 million molecules of a particular gas, liquid, or solid. It can also be expressed as the ratio of the molecules of a certain chemical to the total number of molecules in a gas, liquid, or solid.
Term
Hazardous Air Pollutants
Definition
Chemical emissions that pose a health risk of serious illness such as cancer or birth defects with small inhalation
exposures.
Term
Maximum Achievable Technology
Definition
A performance standard used by the EPA to control emissions of hazardous air pollutants. It requires control of toxic air emissions at least equal to that achieved by the top 12 percent of sources in the industry.
Term
Acid Rain
Definition
Deposition of acids formed when sulfur and nitrogen compounds undergo chemical reactions in the atmosphere and return to earth in rain, hail, snow, fog, and dry fallout of acidic particles.
Term
Radon
Definition
An inert, colorless, odorless gas found in soil and rock formations. It is a naturally occurring decay product of uranium.
Term
Chlorofluorocarbons
Definition
A family of gases containing the elements chlorine, fluorine, and carbon used as refrigerants, aerosol propellants, foams, and solvents. They are inert and exceptionally stable, but break down in the upper atmosphere in ozone consuming reactions.
Term
Greenhouse Gases
Definition
Atmospheric gases that absorb energy radiated from the earth, decreasing its release into space.
Term
Effluent
Definition
A treatment or untreated wastewater discharge from an industrial facility.
Term
Point Source
Definition
A discrete source of effluent such as a factory, mine, ship, or pipeline.
Term
Risk
Definition
A probability existing somewhere between zero and 100 percent that a harm will occur.
Term
Risk Assessment
Definition
The largely scientific process of discovering and weighing dangers posed by a pollutant.
Term
Risk Management
Definition
The process of deciding which regulatory action to take (or not take) to protect the public from the risk posed by a pollutant.
Term
Hazard Assessment
Definition
The process of establishing a link between a substance, such as a chemical, and human disease. The link is established primarily by animal tests and epidemiological studies.
Term
Carcinogen
Definition
An agent capable of initiating cancer. There are 58 known human carcinogens and another 188 suspected human carcinogens.
Term
Epidemiological Study
Definition
A statistical survey designed to show a relationship between human mortality (death) and morbidity (sickness) and environmental factors such as chemicals or radiation.
Term
Dose Response Assessment
Definition
A quantitative estimate of how toxic a substance is to humans or animals at varying exposure levels.
Term
Extrapolation
Definition
To infer the value of an unknown state from the value of another state that is known.
Term
Linear Dose Response Rate
Definition
A relationship in which adverse health affects increase or decrease proportionately with the amount of exposure to a toxic substance.
Term
Threshold
Definition
An exposure point greater than zero at which a substance begins to pose a health risk. Until this point, or threshold, is reached, exposure to the substance poses no health risk.
Term
Exposure Assessment
Definition
The study of how much of a substance humans absorb through inhalation, ingestion, or skin absorption.
Term
Risk Characterization
Definition
A written statement about a substance summarizing the evidence from prior stages of the risk assessment process to reach an overall conclusion about its risk. It includes discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of data and, if the data support it, a quantitative estimate of risk.
Term
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Definition
The systematic identification, quantification, and monetization of social costs and social benefits so they can be directly compared.
Term
Contingent Valuation
Definition
A method for assigning a rice to ecological goods or services that are not traded in markets.
Term
Value of a Statistical Life
Definition
The dollar amount that people exposed to a risk are willing to pay to reduce the risk of premature death.
Term
Command and Control Regulation
Definition
The practice of regulating by setting uniform standards, strictly enforcing, rules, and using penalties to force compliance.
Term
Market Incentive Regulation
Definition
The practice of harnessing market forces to motivate compliance with regulatory goals.
Term
Environmental Tax Reform
Definition
The substitution of revenues from taxes on pollution for revenues from taxes on productivity.
Term
Cap and Trade
Definition
A market-based pollution abatement scheme in which emissions are capped and sources must hold tradable permits equal to the amount of their discharge.
Term
CO2 Equivalent (CO2e)
Definition
A universal measure that uses the warming potential of CO2 as a reference for the relative warming potential of the six greenhouse gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol-carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride.
Term
Carbon Market
Definition
A mechanism in which an emission allowance for CO2e is a traded commodity with a price set by forces of supply and demand.
Term
Carbon Offsets
Definition
Projects that compensate for all or part of a company's greenhouse gas emissions by eliminating the CO2 equivalent of those emissions from another source.
Term
Clean Development Mechanism
Definition
A carbon offset program set up under the Kyoto Protocol. It allows developed countries to meet greenhouse gas reproduction pledges by paying for carbon offset projects in developing nations.
Term
Toxic Release Inventory
Definition
An EPA program that requires facilities handling any of 650 hazardous chemicals to disclose amounts each year that are released or transferred. The information is made public.
Term
Voluntary Regulation
Definition
Regulation without legal compulsion or sanctions.
Term
Environmental Management System
Definition
A set of methods and procedures for aligning corporate strategies, policies, and operations with principles that protect ecosystems.
Term
ISO 14001
Definition
A standard for an environmental management system created by an international standard setting body. Certification in this standard allows companies to claim state-of-the-art ecological responsibility.
Term
Precautionary Principle
Definition
When industrial activity poses a risk to human health or ecosystems, if that risk is poorly understood, then prudence calls for restraint.
Term
Consumer
Definition
A person who uses products and services in a commercial economy.
Term
Consumerism
Definition
A term denoting (1) a movement to promote the rights and powers of consumers in relation to sellers and (2) a powerful ideology in which the pursuit of material goods beyond subsistences shapes social conduct.
Term
Enlightenment
Definition
A wave of new, challenging ideas based on human reason and scientific inquiry. It swept over Western Europe in the eighteenth century.
Term
Individualism
Definition
The idea, arising in the Enlightenment, that human beings are ends in themselves.
Term
Materialism
Definition
An emphasis on material objects or money that displaces spiritual, aesthetic, or philosophical values.
Term
Director Interlock
Definition
A situation arising when an individual sits on the board of directors of two or more corporations. This is illegal under the Clayton Act of 1914 if the corporations compete in the same market.
Term
Product Liability
Definition
A doctrine in the law of orts that covers redress for injuries caused by defective product is one kind of tort.
Term
Negligence
Definition
An unintentional failure to act as a responsible, prudent person exercising ordinary care.
Term
Privity
Definition
A relationship giving parties a common interest under the law, as in the relationship between parties to a contract.
Term
Warranty
Definition
A contract in which the seller guarantees the nature of the product. The seller must compensate the buyer if the warranty is not fulfilled.
Term
Express Warranty
Definition
An explicit claim made by the manufacturer to the buyer.
Term
Implied Warranty
Definition
An unwritten warranty that a product is adequate to meet a buyer's reasonable expectations that it will fulfill its ordinary purpose and the buyer's particular purpose.
Term
Strict Liability
Definition
The theory that liability exists, even in the absence of negligence, when an activity or product is inherently dangerous.
Term
Baby-Boom Generation
Definition
A large cohort of workers born between 1946 and 1964.
Term
Replacement Fertility Rate
Definition
The number of children a woman must have, on average, to assure that one daughter survives to reproductive age.
Term
Structural Change
Definition
Any shift in the proportions of agricultural goods, producing, and service occupations in an economy.
Term
Agricultural Sector
Definition
The sector that includes farming, fishing, and forestry occupations.
Term
Goods Producing Sector
Definition
The economic sector that includes manufacturing, mining, and construction.
Term
Service Sector
Definition
The sector of occupations that add value to manufactured goods.
Term
Business Process
Definition
Any sequence of actions that adds value to a product or service
Term
Outsourcing
Definition
The transfer of work from within a company to an outside supplier.
Term
Offshoring
Definition
The transfer of work from a domestic to a foreign location or to a foreign supplier.
Term
Employment Contract
Definition
The agreement by which an employee exchanges his or her labor in return for specific pay and working conditions. It is an abstract concept, but may also be set forth in writing.
Term
Liberty of Contract
Definition
The freedom of employers and workers to negotiate the employment contract, including wages, hours, duties, and conditions without government interference.
Term
Employment at-will
Definition
A theory in law that an employment contract can be ended by either the employee or the employer without notice and a for any reason.
Term
Community Firm
Definition
A Japanese company that operates on a model analogous to a family. The company offers lifetime employment and rising income in return for hard work and loyalty from employees.
Term
Nenko Curve
Definition
A slowly rising wage scale based largely on seniority that allows for small differentials based on ability and provides a comfortable income fitting various stages of life.
Term
Karoshi
Definition
A Japanese word for death from the stress of overwork.
Term
Social Welfare Model
Definition
A form of industry-labor-government cooperation in which government strongly regulates the labor market to secure expansive rights and generous benefits for workers.
Term
Kurzarbeit
Definition
A German term meaning literally "short work," for a program in which the government subsidizes worker pay to promote employment.
Term
Social Welfare Costs
Definition
Nonwage costs, including payments for social security, health insurance, and payroll taxes that employers must pay to cover disability, unemployment, maternity leave and similar benefits.
Term
Core Labor Standards
Definition
Four fundamental standards to protect basic worker rights on which there is broad international agreement.
Term
Labor Flexibility
Definition
The ability to make quick and smooth shifts of workers into and out of jobs, companies, or industries as business conditions change.
Term
Civil Rights
Definition
Rights bestowed by governments on their citizens.
Term
Racism
Definition
The belief that each race has distinctive cultural characteristics and that one's own race is superior to other races.
Term
Jim Crow Laws
Definition
Measures enacted in the South from 1877 to the 1950's legalizing segregation in public places, buses, trains, restaurants, schools, and businesses. The term Jim Crow, taken from a song in a nineteenth century minstrel show, came to stand for the practice of discrimination or segregation.
Term
Police Power
Definition
An inherent power of state governments to regulate economic and social relationships for the welfare of all citizens.
Term
Separate But Equal
Definition
The belief, prevalent in the South, that racially segregated facilities were not inherently unequal.
Term
Disparate Treatment
Definition
Unequal treatment of employees based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
Term
Disparate Impact
Definition
Discrimination caused by policies that apply to everyone and seem neutral but have the effect of disadvantaging a protected group. Such policies are illegal unless strongly job related and indispensable to conduct of the business.
Term
Business Necessity
Definition
A legal defense a company can use to fight a disparate impact charge. It must show the practice in question was job-related
and essential. To rebut this defense, a plaintiff can show that another practice was equally good and less discriminatory.
Term
80 Percent Rule
Definition
The statistical test for disparate impact. The test is failed when, for example, blacks or women are selected at a rate less than 80 percent of the rate in which white male applicants are selected.
Term
Affirmative Action
Definition
Policies that seek out, encourage, and sometimes give preferential treatment to employees in groups protected by Title VII.
Term
Systemic Discrimination
Definition
A pattern or practice of individual acts or rules in a corporate culture that permits or condones discrimination.
Term
Sexual Harassment
Definition
Annoying or persecuting behavior in the workplace that asserts power over a person because of their sexual identity. It is illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Term
Quid Pro Quo
Definition
A situation, defined as illegal, when submission to sexual activity is required to get or keep a job.
Term
Hostile Environment
Definition
A situation, defined as illegal, where sexually offensive conduct is pervasive in a workplace, making work unreasonably difficult for an affected individual.
Term
Glass Ceiling
Definition
An invisible barrier of sex discrimination thwarting the advance of women to top corporate positions.
Term
Diversity Management
Definition
Programs to recruit from diverse groups, promote tolerance, and modify cultures to include non-mainstream employees.
Term
Affinity Group
Definition
A support network formed by employees who personify an attribute associated with discrimination stereotyping, or social isolation.
Term
Corporate Governance
Definition
The exercise of authority over members of the corporate community based on formal structures, rules, and procedures.
Term
Corporate Charter
Definition
A document issued by a state government to create a corporation.
Term
Fiduciary Responsibility
Definition
The legal duty of a representative to manage property in the interest of the owner.
Term
Bylaws
Definition
Rules of corporate governance adopted by corporations.
Term
Proxy Card
Definition
A form stockholders mark giving management the right to vote their shares as indicated. It is also called simply a proxy or a proxy form.
Term
Proxy Statement
Definition
A booklet of information sent to stockholders before annual votes on directors, executive pay, and other matters.
Term
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
Definition
A statute enacted to prevent financial fraud in corporations. It mandated stricter financial reporting and greater board oversight.
Term
Repurchase Agreement
Definition
A financing transaction in which one firm lends assets to another firm in exchange for cash with a simultaneous agreement to purchase the assets back.
Term
Dodd-Frank Act
Definition
A statute to reform financial regulation and prevent a recurrence of the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
Term
Inside Directors
Definition
Directors who are employees of the company.
Term
Outside Directors
Definition
Directors who are not company employees.
Term
Independent Directors
Definition
Outside directors of a corporation who, aside from their directors' duties, do not have business dealings with it that would impair their impartiality.
Term
Lead Director
Definition
An independent director who presides over meetings of nonmanagement directors.
Term
Nonexecutive Chairman
Definition
A chairman of the board who is not an executive of the coporation.
Term
Stock Option
Definition
The right to buy shares of a company's stock at a fixed grant price in the future and under conditions determined by the board of directors.
Term
Grant Price
Definition
The price at which a specified number of shares can be purchased in the future by executives who hold options.
Term
Vesting Date
Definition
The date when stock options can be exervised by purchasing shares at the grant price.
Term
Expiration Date
Definition
A future date, after the vesting date, when shares can no longer be bought at the grant price.
Term
Performance Shares
Definition
Shares of company stock awarded after a fixed period of years if individual and company performance goals are met.
Term
Restricted Stock
Definition
A grant of stock with restrictions.  It cannot be sold until certain conditions are met, most often the lapse of time or meeting a performance goal.
Term
Backdating
Definition
Setting the exercise price of stock options at the price on a date before the date they were granted.
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