Mini-Case Harry, Sirly, and Bo Are in the Midst of a a Heated

question 94

Multiple Choice

Mini-Case
Harry, Sirly, and Bo are in the midst of a heated discussion. As the chief operating officers of the U-Scream Ice Cream Corporation, they are reviewing the latest financial reports. Intense competition has resulted in deceased profits. Each of the three officers has their own view of how to reverse the current trend.
Harry suggests cutting costs by firing union employees and hiring replacement workers at lower wages. He has directed the firm's attorney to find a loophole in the contract that will allow for this action. Sirly protests, stating that Harry's proposal is unethical and unfair. Sirly feels that every stakeholder should be treated equally, and that profiting at the expense of others is foolhardy.
Bo, agreeing in part with Sirly, states, "We must be sensitive to all affected parties, but clearly our primary goal is to make a profit for our owners." In an attempt to resolve the conflict between Harry and Sirly, Bo offers an alternative suggestion: reduce the firm's charitable contributions until acceptable profit levels are realized. Sirly is outraged and reminds Bo of the social responsibilities that U-Scream Ice Cream has to the community, environment, suppliers, employees, and stockholders.
-Bo's view tends to lean toward the concerns of investors, first and foremost. This is the view taken by .

• A) Corporate philanthropists
• B)the view of Franklin D. Roosevelt
• C) the late Milton Friedman, famous economist
• D) the view of a watchdog such as an environmentalist

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Definitions:

ROA

Return on Assets; a financial ratio indicating how profitable a company is relative to its total assets.

ROE

Return on Equity, a measure of financial performance calculated by dividing net income by shareholders' equity, indicating how well a company uses investments to generate earnings growth.

Times-Interest-Earned Ratio

This financial metric measures a company's ability to meet its debt obligations based on its current income, calculated by dividing earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) by interest expenses.

Net Increase

The difference between the current period's value and the previous period's value when the current period's value is greater than the previous one.