Assignment 4: Legal and Ethical Considerations in Marketing, Product Safety, and Intellectual Property

Due Week 9 and worth 300 points

You are a new associate at the law firm of Dewey, Chetum, and Howe. John, a former researcher at PharmaCARE, comes to your office. He has concerns about PharmaCARE’s use of AD23, one of the company’s top-selling diabetes drugs. Two (2) years ago, after PharmaCARE’s research indicated that AD23 might also slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, John and his team of pharmacists began reformulating the drug to maximize that effect. In order to avoid the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) scrutiny, PharmaCARE established a wholly-owned subsidiary, CompCARE, to operate as a compounding pharmacy to sell the new formulation to individuals on a prescription basis. CompCARE established itself in a suburban office park near its parent’s headquarters. To conserve money and time, CompCARE did a quick, low-cost renovation.

CompCARE benefited from PharmaCARE’s reputation, databases, networks, and sales and marketing expertise, and within six (6) months had the medical community buzzing about AD23. Demand soared, particularly among Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans Affairs patients. Seeing the opportunity to realize even more profit, CompCARE began advertising AD23 directly to consumers and marketing the drug directly to hospitals, clinics, and physician offices, even though compounding pharmacies are not permitted to sell drugs in bulk for general use. To circumvent this technicality, CompCARE encouraged doctors to fax lists of fictitious patient names to CompCARE. PharmaCARE sold CompCARE to WellCo, a large drugstore chain, just weeks before AD23 was publicly linked to over 200 cardiac deaths.

As CompCARE and its new parent company enjoyed record profits and PharmaCARE’s stock price approached $300 per share, reports started surfacing that people who received AD23 seemed to be suffering heart attacks at an alarming rate. The company ignored this data and continued filling large orders and paying huge bonuses to all the executives and managers, including John, whose wife recently died from a heart attack after using AD23.

John has come to you with an internal company memo describing the potential problems with AD23, and information describing the company’s willingness “roll the dice” and continue to market the drug.

Your senior partner has asked you to write a memo outlining the following issues for review by the senior partners.

In preparation for this assignment, use the Internet or Strayer Library to research examples of intellectual property theft that occurred within the past two (2) years.

Write an eight to ten (8-10) page paper in which you:

1. Research three to five (3-5) ethical issues relating to marketing and advertising, intellectual property, and regulation of product safety and examine whether PharmaCARE violated any of the issues in question.
2. Argue for or against Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) marketing by drug companies. Provide support for your response.
3. Determine the parties responsible for regulating compounding pharmacies under the current regulatory scheme, the actions that either these parties or the FDA could / should have taken in this scenario, and whether PharmaCARE could face legal exposure surrounding its practices. Support your response.
4. Analyze the manner in which PharmaCARE used U.S. law to protect its own intellectual property and if John has any claim to being the true “inventor” of AD23. Suggest at least three (3) ways the company could compensate John for the use of his intellectual property.
5. Summarize at least one (1) current example (within the past two [2] years) of intellectual property theft, and examine the effect on that company’s brand.
6. Analyze the potential issue surrounding the death of John’s wife and other potential litigants against PharmaCARE as a result of AD23.
7. Specify both the major arguments that John can make to claim that he is a whistleblower and the type of protections that he should be afforded. Justify your response.
8. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia is not an acceptable reference and proprietary Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Analyze and assess legal and ethical restraints on marketing and advertising, relative to both consumers and organizations.
• Analyze and evaluate laws and regulations relative to product safety and liability.
• Explore copyright laws and intellectual property rights and assess how well they balance competing interests.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in law, ethics, and corporate governance.
• Write clearly and concisely about law, ethics, and corporate governance using proper writing mechanics.

1) What are the critical z-values for a two-tailed hypothesis test if the significant level = 0.01?

A.  ± 1.96

B.  ± 2.33

C.  ± 2.58

D.  ± 1.65

2) In classical hypothesis testing, the test statistic is to the critical value what the __________.

A.  ‘p-value’ is to alpha

B.  critical value is to alpha

C.  test statistic is to the ‘p-value’

D.  level of significance is to the test statistic

3) For a hypothesis test of a single population mean at 95% confidence level, a calculated Z score of 1.7 supports the conclusion that

A.  the population mean is greater than the hypothesized value

B.  the null hypothesis cannot be rejected

C.  the sample is biased

D.  the population mean is less than expected

4) If the paired differences are normal in a test of mean differences, then the distribution used for testing is the 

A.  normal distribution

B.  chi-square

C.  student distribution 

D.  F distribution 

5) One hundred women were polled and 60 reported successfully communicating an automobile problem to an auto repairman. A sample of 150 men had 95 reporting the same success. The value of the test statistic for a test of the equality of proportions is 

A.  -0.5319

B.  0.7293

C.  -0.419

D.  0.2702

6) Weekly sales of iPods® at 20 Best Buy® stores are compared before and after installing a new eye-catching display. To determine if the display is effective in increasing sales, what type of statistical test would you perform?

A.  Comparison of means using independent samples using a t-test

B.  Comparison of proportions using independent samples using a z-test

C.  Comparison of means using a paired z-test

D.  Comparison of means using a paired t-test

7) When is it appropriate to use the paired difference t-test?

A.  Four samples are compared at once.

B.  Any two samples are compared.

C.  Two independent samples are compared.

D.  Two dependent samples are compared.

8) A survey of hotels found that the average hotel room rate in New Orleans is $88.42 and the average room rate in Phoenix is $80.61. The survey sampled 50 hotels in each city. The standard deviations were $5.62 and $4.83, respectively. At alpha=.05, it can be concluded that there is a significant different in the rates?

A.  7.45

B.  -1.96

C.  1.96

D.  -7.45

9) If the paired differences are normal in a test of mean differences, the distribution used for testing is the

A.  normal distribution

B.  chi-square

C.  student t distribution

D.  F distribution 

10) The accountant for Thomas’s Furniture Store is concerned regarding the outstanding receivable owed the company. There has been a cash flow problem and it is believed that the slow collection of accounts receivable is partially the blame. The accountant believes that 40% of the present accounts are more than 4 months behind in making payments. To be able to make a decision regarding this belief, a random sample of 100 accounts was taken. It was found that 37 accounts were more than 4 months late. Did the sample data confirm the accountant’s belief? Use the .05 significant level for the statistical test.

A.  There is not enough evidence to confirm or deny the belief.

B.  The accountant’s belief is not confirmed.

C.  The accountant’s belief is confirmed.

D.  The accountant needed to take a larger sample.

11) New college business graduates are finding it difficult to get a job. A business journal has reported that only one in five graduates is able to find a job within 6 months of their graduation. A report by University of Phoenix indicated that out of a survey of 300 recent business graduates, 75 had jobs. You are a business major at University of Phoenix and have a concern about getting a job. Based on this data, will a graduate of University of Phoenix have a better chance of getting a job in the first 6 months after graduation? Use the .05 significant level for the test.

A.  No, there is not a significant difference.

B.  It cannot be predicted based on this data.

C.  Yes, there is a significant difference.

D.  The business journal information is incorrect.

12) Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to

A.  compare nominal data

B.  compute t- test

C.  compare population proportion

D.  simultaneously compare several population means

13) Mr. Thomas owns three different restaurants in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is concerned about the profitability of the restaurants. There are monthly differences between the restaurants and he wants to determine if the differences in profit are significant. Mr. Thomas wants to do a statistical test to see if he should be concerned. The best test to address this problem would be

A.  a paired t- test

B.  two different t tests

C.  an ANOVA test

D.  a two sample test

14) Sound engineers studied factors that might affect the output, in decibels, of a rock concert’s speaker system. The desired level of significance was a = .05. The results of their ANOVA tests are shown:

Source of Variation   SS   df   MS   F   P-value

Amplifier   99.02344       99.02344       0.005718

Position   93.98698       31.32899   3.215807   0.051003

Interaction   10.15365   3   3.384549   0.347412   0.791505

Error   155.875   16   9.742188        

Total   359.0391   23            

The interaction between the Position and Amplifier treatments was

A.  very significant

B.  slightly significant

C.  insignificant

D.  highly correlated

15) Totto, an automobile manufacturer, has designed a radically new engine and wants to recommend the grade of gasoline that will have the best fuel economy. The four grades are regular, below regular, premium, and super premium. The test car made three trial runs on the test track using each of the grades and the miles per gallon were recorded. At the 0.05 level, what is the critical value of F used to test the hypothesis that the miles per gallon for each fuel are the same?

A.  1.96

B.  4.07

C.  2.33

D.  12.00

16) If an ANOVA test is conducted and the null hypothesis is rejected, what does this indicate?

A.  Too many degrees of freedom

B.  A difference between at least one pair of population means

C.  No difference between the population means

D.  The variances are the same

17) Nonparametric statistics are used when

A.  you have qualitative data, with your variables being measured at the nominal or interval level

B.  you have qualitative data, with your variables being measured at the ordinal or ratio level

C.  you have qualitative data, with your variables being measured at the nominal or ordinal level

D.  you have qualitative data, with your variables being measured at the ordinal or interval level

18) The nonparametric test most commonly used for testing the statistical independence between two variables is

A.  the Kruskal- Wallis test

B.  the Chi- Square test

C.  the Mann Whitney test

D.  the Sign test

19) What nonparametric test is used when the assumptions for the parametric ANOVA cannot be met? Its purpose is to test whether three or more populations are equal. The data must be at least ordinal scaled.

A.  Students’ t

B.  Kruskal- Wallis

C.  Mann-Whitney

D.  ANOVA

20) Rachael Smith is the personnel manager at Johnson and Johnston, an accounting firm. She is concerned about absenteeism, which seems to be an increasing problem, especially after days off work. She decided to sample the records to determine if absenteeism was distributed evenly throughout the 6-day work week. The null hypothesis to be tested was: Absenteeism is distributed evenly throughout the week. The sample results were:

Day of Week   Number Absent

Monday   12

Tuesday   9

Wednesday   11

Thursday   10

Friday   9

Saturday   9

What is the critical value of chi-square with a significant level of = 0.05?

A.  11.070

B.  12.592

C.  13.388

D.  15.033

21) A public opinion poll surveyed a simple random sample of voters. Respondents were classified by gender and by voting preference—Republican, Democrat, or Independent. The results follow.

Voting Preferences   Republican   Democrat   Independent   Row total

Male   200   150   50   400

Female   250   300   50   600

Column total   450   450   100   1000

If you conduct a chi-square test of independence, what is the expected frequency count of male Independents?

A.  50

B.  60

C.  40

D.  30

22) What parametric test is equivalent to the nonparametric Spearman’s rank test?

A.  T-test of correlation coefficient

B.  T-test of two sample means

C.  T-test of one sample mean.

D.  T-test of two sample proportions

23) What is the variable used to predict another variable called?

A.  Independent variable

B.  Dependent variable

C.  Moderating variable

D.  Intervening variable

24) Michelle used a sample of 50 U.S. cities to estimate the relationship between crime, or annual property crimes per 100,000 persons, and income, or median income per capita. Her estimated regression equation was crime = 428 – .01 income. Assuming her model is statistically significant, if income decreases by $1,000, we would predict that crime will

A.  decrease by 1

B.  increase by 10

C.  decrease by 10

D.  increase by 100

25) In the least squares equation, Y’ = 12 + 25X the value of 25 indicates

A.  the y- intercept

B.  for each unit increase in ‘x’, y’ increases by 25

C.  for each unit increase in ‘y’, ‘x’ increases by 25

D.  the residual of ‘x’ factor

26) A test is conducted in eight cities to see if giving away free transit system maps will increase bus ridership. In a regression analysis, the dependent variable is the increase in bus ridership in thousands of persons from the start of the test until its conclusion. The independent variables are X1 = the number in thousands of free maps distributed and X2 = a binary equal to 1, if the city has free downtown parking and 0 otherwise. The estimated regression equation is Y = 1.32+.0345X1-1.45X2. If the Y value for city 3 is 7.3, X1 = 140, and X2 = 0 the residual for city 3 in thousands is:

A.  6.34

B.  1.15

C.  .57

D.  2.01

27) The following linear trend equation was developed for the annual sales of the Tractor Manufacturing Company. Y’ = 355 + 50t in thousands of dollars. How much are sales increasing by?

A.  $50,000 per year

B.  $5,00 per month

C.  $500,000 per year

D.  $6,000 per year

28) The time series component that reflects variability over short, repetitive time periods that last less than one year is called

A.  long-term trend

B.  cyclical variation

C.  seasonal variation

D.  irregular variation

29) A research company has been hired by a realty company to do an analysis of heating cost of homes in the region. The realty company wanted to be able to predict the heating cost of a typical single-family home. The realty company was constantly being asked questions regarding heating costs by potential home buyers. It was believed that these variables would impact heating costs (Y’): mean daily outdoor temperature (X1), the number of inches of insulation (X2), and the age in years of the furnace (X3). The multiple regression analysis produced the following regression equation: Y’ = 427.2 – 4.58X1 – 14.83X2 + 6.10X3. Which statement is correct based on this analysis?

A.  The age of the furnace has an indirect relationship with heating costs.

B.  There is an inverse relationship between outdoor temperature and heating costs.

C.  There is no real clear relationship between these variables.

D.  There exists a direct relationship between inches of insulation and heating costs.

30) If we fit a linear trend to data that are growing exponentially,

A.  the fitted trend will be too high at the end

B.  the forecasts, if extrapolated, will be too low

C.  the forecasts, if extrapolated, will be too high

D.  the fitted trend will be too low in the middle

I.

Explain Kant’s second formulation of the categorical imperative?  Offer three examples of how one could violate it.

Is it ethical to ask an employee to work somewhere dangerous?  If you were the boss, how would you make sure that your employee understood the risks and agreed to them?      

II.

Is it ever right to lie?  Why or why not?  Use the text in your response (obviously not word for word).

What are good reasons to bluff?  Why could bluffing be bad in business?  Explain your own view on bluffing in business.  Do you view “bullshitting” in business the same way?    

III.

Why does integrity matter?

Explain Aristotle’s understanding of the good life.  Does it agree with your own view?  With a Judeo-Christian view?  What appeals to you about Aristotle’s understanding of the good life, and where do you think he went wrong?    

IV.

Why is ‘doing the right thing’ often different than “doing the legal thing”?  Why might the distinction between what is moral and what is legal be of particular concern to accountants and other kinds of financial auditors and overseers?

Explain the two chief harm-based arguments against insider trading.  What does Moore say about these arguments?  Can you identify another problem with either argument?   

V.

What is the “Bentonville Menace”?  What duties do giant corporations have to the societies on which they depend and to the individual members of those societies?

Contrast the reformation view of work with the view of the work you believe is prevalent in contemporary life.

VI.

Explain the basics of stakeholder theory as if you are talking to a friend.

Should a corporation care about the interests of people other than shareholders?  How would a corporation behave differently if it accepted a shareholder theory versus a stakeholder theory?

POL 201 Week 5 Final Paper Civil Liberties, Habeas Corpus, and the War on Terror

The final assignment for this course is a Final Paper. The purpose of the Final Paper is to give you an opportunity to apply much of what you have learned about American national government to an examination of civil liberties in the context of the war on terror. The Final Paper represents 20% of the overall course grade.

Soon after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the Bush administration developed a plan for holding and interrogating captured prisoners. They were sent to a prison inside a U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, on land leased from the government of Cuba. Since 2002, over 700 men have been detained at “GITMO.” Most have been released without charges or turned over to other governments. In 2011, Congress specifically prohibited the expenditure of funds to transfer GITMO prisoners to detention facilities in the continental United States, making it virtually impossible to try them in civilian courts. As of April 2012, 169 remained in detention at GITMO (Sutton, 2012).   

An assumption made by the Bush administration in selecting this location was that it was beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. courts. The administration wanted to avoid any judicial oversight of how it handled detainees, characterized as “enemy combatants.” A possible legal challenge to indefinite detention with no formal charges or judicial proceedings might arise from the habeas corpus provision of the Constitution.

Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution states, “The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.” Under this provision, persons detained by the government are entitled to a judicial hearing to determine if there is any legal basis for their detention. Some legal commentators refer to the right of habeas corpus as the “great writ of liberty” because it is a prisoner’s ultimate recourse to an impartial judge who can review the possibility that he is being held illegally by the executive (e.g., the police or the military). In nations that do not honor habeas corpus, people simply disappear into prisons without ever having their day in court. 

Several controversial Supreme Court cases have come out of GITMO. One fundamental question that has been debated, but not clearly resolved, is to what extent the war on terror justifies the President’s indefinite detention of “enemy combatants” without the possibility of the minimal judicial review protected by habeas corpus? Another issue in the debate is to what extent Congress must clearly authorize the President to conduct extra-judicial detentions in order for them to be legal? In 2008, the Supreme Court’s decision in Boumediene v. Bush offered some answers to these questions. However, the deeply divided 5-4 Court and the likelihood of the protracted nature of the war on terror suggest that debate around these important questions will continue. Writing the Final Paper in this course will prepare you to participate intelligently as a citizen in this ongoing debate.

Write an essay about the right of habeas corpus in the context of the war on terror. Your essay should address the following subtopics:

The general meaning of the right of habeas corpus in the U.S. Constitution and its relationship to the protection of other civil liberties. The historical evolution of habeas corpus, including its English and American traditions. Examples from U.S. history of the “suspension” of habeas corpus and their applicability to the present. The relevance of habeas corpus to the contemporary U.S. situation during the war on terror, especially with respect to persons characterized by the President as “enemy combatants” or “illegal combatants.” The U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of the right of habeas corpus with respect to “enemy combatants” or “illegal combatants” (i.e., the views of the five justices making up the majority inBoumediene v. Bush as well as the views of the four dissenting justices). Your evaluation of various perspectives on this topic expressed by justices of the Supreme Court, leaders in other branches of  government, and commentators in both the academic and popular media. Your assessment should consider several perspectives on this topic, including : The role of the President as commander-in-chief. The role of Congress in determining when habeas corpus can be “suspended.” The role of the Supreme Court in protecting civil liberties, including the judicial philosophy which should guide the Court in this role, and Your personal philosophy, values or ideology about the balance between civil liberties and national security in the context of an unending war on terror.

Follow these requirements when writing the Final Paper:

The body of the paper (excluding the title page and reference page) must be at least 1,500 words long. The paper must start with a short introductory paragraph which includes a clear thesis statement.  The thesis statement must tell readers what the essay will demonstrate. The paper must end with a short paragraph that states a conclusion.  The conclusion and thesis must be consistent. The paper must logically develop the thesis in a way that leads to the conclusion, and that development must be supported by facts, fully explained concepts and assertions, and persuasive reasoning. The paper must address all subtopics outlined above. At least 20% of the essay must focus on subtopic 6, above (your evaluation of arguments about the topic). Your paper must cite at least three academic articles (excluding the course textbook) and at least four other kinds of sources (e.g., Supreme Court opinions, magazine or newspaper articles, the course textbook, and reliable websites or videos). Use your own words. While brief quotes from sources may be used, altogether the total amount of quoted text must be less than five percent of the body of your paper. When you use someone else’s words, they must be enclosed in quotation marks followed by an APA in-text short citation – (Author, Year, page) – to your source. The in-text citation must correspond to a full APA citation for the source on the reference page at the end of the essay. When you express in your own words someone else’s ideas, arguments or facts, your statement must be followed by an APA in-text short citation – (Author, Year, page) – to your source.  The in-text citation must correspond to a full APA citation for the source in the reference page. The form of the title page, the body pages, and the reference page must comply with APA style.  Additionally, the title page must include the course number and name, the instructor’s name, and the date submitted. The paper must use logical paragraph and sentence transitions, complete and clear sentences, and correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

For this paper you need to do research in peer-reviewed journals or other sources that are considered to have reliable information. In addition to your required course text, you need at least seven professional scholarly sources, three of which must be peer reviewed journal articles from the Ashford Online Library. 

Academic research papers must meet university level standards of quality. What constitutes quality, academic research? 

Primary sources written by experts in the field of study Secondary sources supported by research in primary sources Credible sources (experts in the area of study) Relevant research (materials are pertinent to the area of study) Peer-reviewed journal articles (journal articles reviewed by recognized experts in the relevant field of study). Educational and Government websites (those ending with a web URL suffix of .edu or .gov) may be appropriate in some cases but should be evaluated carefully.

Please visit the Academic Research section on your course homepage (accessible through the Student Responsibilities and Policies tab on the left navigation toolbar) to review what types of materials are not acceptable for academic, university level research.

The paper must be at least 1500 words in length and formatted according to APA style. Cite your sources within the text of your paper and on the reference page.

Assignment 1: LASA 2 Strategic Plan and Self-Reflection Summary

Review the initial scenario and the Strategic Business Plan presented inModule 1 to make sure that the requirements of the board and the Part II Strategic Plan are met.

In order to meet the requirements of the board you will prepare the finalStrategic Business Plan—Part II—Strategic Plan Report to the executive board. Ensure your strategic plan is thorough, succinct, and complete.

Challenge yourself to link the targets to specific initiatives you have identified in the Strategic Business Plan you are developing for Harley-Davidson.

Your written report should include a title page, a table of contents, an executive summary, and each of the following sections:

Part I: Global Economy / Factors Affecting Global Economy

1.    Motivations / Risks

o   Motivations for Expansion

o   Risks in Expansion

2.    Competitive Advantage in Global Markets

3.    Entry Strategies for Global Expansion

4.    Internet Approach / Strategy

o   How the Internet adds value

o   Internet Business Models

o   Competitive Strategies

o   Leverage E-Business Capabilities

Part II: Corporate Leadership

1.    Direction Setting

2.    Organizational Design

3.    Organizational Culture

4.    Leadership Traits

5.    Ethical Organization Characteristics

o   Identify elements

o   Identify missing elements

6.    Learning Organization Characteristics

o   Identify elements

o   Identify missing elements

Part III: Strategic Plan Summary

1.    Conclusions

2.    Recommendations

3.    Implementation

4.    Risks

Part IV: Self Reflection Summary

Self-reflection is the key to good leadership and good management.

Reflect on what you have learned in this class and on what you gained from your Bachelor of Science program.

Based on your reflections, discuss the following:

• What are five or six key lessons learned from the textbook and the content that will help you in your career?

• What have you learned about yourself?

• What are your hopes for the future?