Question

Base on the YouTube video about the Ford Motor Company’s car the Ford Pinto in the Business Ethics lesson component. Ford said that it was too expensive to fix the defect on the Pinto, and basically put a price on the human life--$11.

1. How does this make you feel?

2. Do you believe that major corporations really care about the safety of consumers, or do they still cut corners for the sake of profits?

***Limit 200 words, not go over 200.

Answer 1

1: When Ford said that it was too expensive to fix the defect on the Pinto, it was conceived as putting a price on the human life. This made me feel very low because it gave the impression that we are living in a highly materialistic world. Human life has lost its value and money has become more valuable than humanity. Capitalists care only about the bottom line and their claims about customer service and business ethics are completely false.

2: I believe that corporations are profit making entities. They are only concerned with their profits. They do not want to spend even an extra dollar for consumer satisfaction or safety. Major corporations do not care about the safety of consumers primarily because of the huge amounts involved. The executive compensations are based upon the profits that they earn. Higher their profits, higher is the compensation and so they do not want to make any extra efforts of incur extra cost for the consumers. They will try to cut corners where ever possible and will try to compromise on quality and safety as far as they can. The primary motive of corporations is maximization of profit and returns to shareholders.