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Chapter 09
Business the Environment and Sustainability
True/False Questions
1. (p. 372) The trend of sustainable businesses and sustainable economic development has
shifted towards the Triple Bottom Line approach in recent times.
TRUE
Sustainable business and sustainable economic development seek to create new ways of doing
business in which business success is measured in terms of economic, ethical, and
environmental sustainability, often called the Triple Bottom Line approach.
AACSB: 1
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 1
2. (p. 374) The natural world, like capital, had the productive capacity to produce longterm
income but only if used prudently.
TRUE
The natural world, like capital, had the productive capacity to produce longterm income but
only if used prudently.
Difficulty: Easy
9-1
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
3. (p. 374) The conservation movement values the natural world as a resource, providing humans
with both direct and indirect benefits.
TRUE
From conservation movement' perspective, the natural world was still valued as a resource,
providing humans with both direct benefits (air, water, food), and indirect benefits (the goods
and services produced by business).
AACSB: 1
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 1
4. (p. 375 – 376) From the utilitarian view point, raising and slaughtering animals for food is
ethically wrong.
FALSE
From the utilitarian view point, acts that inflict unnecessary pain on animals are ethically
wrong.
AACSB: 2
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 1
9-2
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
5. (p. 377) Defenders of the market approach contend that environmental problems are economic
problems that deserve economic solutions.
TRUE
Defenders of the market approach contend that environmental problems are economic
problems that deserve economic solutions.
AACSB: 2
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 3
9-3
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
6. (p. 377) William Baxter has argued for a ‘natural' or ‘objective' standard for clean air and/ or
water.
FALSE
Denying that there is any "natural" or objective standard for clean air or water (as this view
would deny there is an objective state of perfect health), Baxter begins with a goal of "safe"
air and water quality, and translates this goal to a matter of balancing risks and benefits.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 3
7. (p. 377) In economic terms, all resources can be stated to infinite.
TRUE
The free market also provides an answer for resource conservation. From a strict market
economic perspective, resources are "infinite." In economic terms, all resources are
"fungible." They can be replaced by substitutes, and in this sense resources are infinite.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 3
9-4
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
8. (p. 378) Internalizing external costs and assigning property rights to unowned goods are
responses to market failures.
TRUE
Internalizing external costs and assigning property rights to unowned goods such as wild
species are two responses to market failures.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 4
9-5
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
9. (p. 380) A ‘first generation' approach is ill advised when public policy involves irreplaceable
public goods.
TRUE
We learn about market failures and thereby prevent harms in the future only by sacrificing the
"first generation" as a means of gaining this information. When public policy involves
irreplaceable public goods such as endangered species, rare wilderness areas, and public
health and safety, such a reactionary strategy is ill advised.
AACSB: 2
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 4
10. (p. 381) Before the introduction of environmental legislation, the primary legal avenue open
for addressing environmental concerns was contractual law.
FALSE
Before the passage of environmental legislation, the primary legal avenue open for addressing
environmental concerns was tort law.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: 2
9-6
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
11. (p. 382) Norman Bowie's philosophy that businesses were not obligated to practice
environmental responsibility underestimates the influence that businesses have in establishing
the law.
TRUE
Bowie argued that, apart from the duties to cause no avoidable harm to humans and to obey
the law, business has no special environmental responsibility. Business may voluntarily
choose to do environmental good, but it has no obligation to do so. This approach
underestimates the influence that business can have in establishing the law.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 5
9-7
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
12. (p. 383) The three pillars of sustainability include goals to achieve economic, environmental,
and competitive sustainability.
FALSE
The three goals, economic, environmental, and ethical sustainability, are often referred to as
the three pillars of sustainability.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 6
13. (p. 384) The ‘circular flow model' explains the nature of economic transactions in terms of
the flow of resources from businesses to households and back again.
TRUE
What is sometimes called the "circular flow model" explains the nature of economic
transactions in terms of a flow of resources from businesses to households and back again.
AACSB: 2
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 6
9-8
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
14. (p. 385) The circular flow model differentiates natural resources from the other factors of
production.
FALSE
The circular flow model does not differentiate natural resources from the other factors of
production.
AACSB: 2
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 6
9-9
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
15. (p. 388) Firms that fail to adapt to the converging lines of decreasing availability of resources
and increasing demand risk their own survival.
TRUE
Firms that fail to adapt to the converging lines of decreasing availability of resources and
increasing demand risk their own survival.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 7
16. (p. 372) The Triple Bottom Line approach involves the measurement of business success of
sustainable businesses and sustainable economic development in terms of all of the following
factors except
a. economic sustainability.
B. legal sustainability.
c. ethical sustainability.
d. environmental sustainability.
Sustainable business and sustainable economic development seek to create new ways of doing
business in which business success is measured in terms of economic, ethical, and
environmental sustainability, often called the Triple Bottom Line approach.
AACSB: 1, 2
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 1
9-10
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
17. (p. 372) The _____ sees environmental responsibilities as a fundamental part of basic
business practice.
a. adherence paradigm
b. Triple Bottom Line
c. ethical treatment of employees
D. sustainability paradigm
The sustainability paradigm sees environmental responsibilities as a fundamental part of basic
business practice.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 1
18. (p. 373) The interrelatedness of natural systems has helped mankind understand the wide
range of dependence on ecosystems. This fact has increased the importance of
a. understanding the moral nature of animals.
b. governmental regulations for ethical behavior.
C. selfinterested reasoning.
d. innovation.
One aspect of contemporary environmental realities underscores the importance of self
interested reasoning. The science of ecology and its understanding of the interrelatedness of
natural systems have helped us understand the wide range of human dependence on
ecosystems.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Comprehension
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: 1
9-11
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
19. (p. 374) _____ argued against the exploitation of natural resources as if they could provide
an inexhaustible supply of material.
A. Conservationists
b. Naturalists
c. Animal rights activists
d. Biologists
Conservationists argued against the exploitation of natural resources as if they could provide
an inexhaustible supply of material.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 1
20. (p. 375) The approach that animals with a central nervous system feel pain is akin to the
_____ ethical framework which asserts an ethical responsibility to minimize pain.
a. social justice
b. virtue ethics
C. utilitarian
d. deontological
The first approach emphasizes the fact that many animals, presumably all animals with a
central nervous system, have the capacity to feel pain. Reminiscent of the utilitarian tradition,
this view asserts an ethical responsibility to minimize pain.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 1
9-12
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
21. (p. 376 – 377) All of the following are characteristics of a market approach to environmental
responsibilities except
a. that a responsible business manager simply seeks profits.
b. that the market allocates resources efficiently.
C. the businesses develop a compliance structure ensuring conformation to certain
regulations.
d. the business fills its role within a market system, thus serving greater overall good.
If the best approach to environmental concerns is to trust them to efficient markets, then the
responsible business manager simply ought to seek profits and allow the market to allocate
resources efficiently. By doing this, business fills its role within a market system, which in
turn serves the greater overall (utilitarian) good.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: 2
22. (p. 377) According to William Baxter, society, through the activities of individuals, will be
willing to pay for an ‘optimal level of pollution' as long as the _____ outweigh the final
costs.
a. initial expenses
b. ethical benefits
c. communal spirit
D. perceived benefits
Society, through the activities of individuals, will be willing to pay for pollution reduction as
long as the perceived benefits outweigh the costs.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 3
9-13
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
23. (p. 377) In economic terms, all resources are infinite. Why?
A. Since all resources can be replaced by substitutes, i.e., they are ‘fungible'.
b. Since governmental regulations will ensure that resources are distributed fairly.
c. The advent of technology will ensure that all resources are recyclable.
d. Since efficient markets will distribute resources efficiently and with care.
The free market also provides an answer for resource conservation. From a strict market
economic perspective, resources are "infinite." In economic terms, all resources are
"fungible." They can be replaced by substitutes, and in this sense resources are infinite.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 3
24. (p. 378) The fact that future generations, neighbors, etc. will bear the brunt of environmental
pollution, it goes to show that market failure can occur through means of
a. lack of ability to create a price for important social goods.
B. the existence of externalities.
c. the distinction between individual decisions and group decisions.
d. the distinction between individual decisions and group consequences.
One reason for market failure is the existence of externalities, an example for which is
environmental pollution. Since the "costs" of such things as air pollution, groundwater
contamination and depletion, soil erosion, and nuclear waste disposal are typically borne by
parties "external" to the economic exchange, free market exchanges cannot guarantee optimal
results.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 4
9-14
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
25. (p. 378) Markets can work to prevent harm only through information supplied by the
existence of market failures. This is termed
a. normative myopia.
b. causeandeffect.
C. firstgeneration problem.
d. primary market effect.
One important reason for the inadequacy of markets to combat environmental responsibilities
is what has been called the firstgeneration problem. Markets can work to prevent harm only
through information supplied by the existence of market failures.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 4
26. (p. 381) Before the passage of governmental regulations regarding environmental issues,
according to _____, only those individuals with proof of harm through pollution could raise
legal challenges pollution.
a. contractual law
b. market requirements
c. common consensus
D. tort law
Before this legislation was enacted, the primary legal avenue open for addressing
environmental concerns was tort law. Only individuals who could prove that they had been
harmed by pollution could raise legal challenges to air and water pollution.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 2
9-15
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
27. (p. 382 – 383) All of the following are inadequacies associated with Norman Bowie's view of
corporate social and environmental responsibility except that
a. it underestimates the influence business has in establishing the law.
B. it contends that environmental protection will extend further than legal jurisdictions.
c. it underestimates the ability of business to influence consumer choice.
d. it assumes that economic growth is environmentally and ethically benign.
If we rely on the law to protect the environment, environmental protection will extend only as
far as the law extends. Yet, most environmental issues, pollution problems especially, do not
respect legal jurisdictions.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 5
28. (p. 383) Advertising is a $200 billion a year industry in the United States alone. What does
this prove?
a. Business can influence the establishment of the law.
b. Environmental protection extends only as far as the law extends.
C. Business can influence consumer choice.
d. Economic growth is environmentally and ethically benign.
Advertising is a $200 billion a year industry in the United States alone. It is surely misleading
to claim that business passively responds to consumer desires and that consumers are
unaffected by the messages that business conveys.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 5
9-16
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
29. (p. 383) The three goals of sustainable development that include economic, environmental,
and ethical sustainability are referred to as the
a. Tripartite Goals.
B. three pillars of sustainability.
c. Three Pronged charter.
d. shoulder of sustainability.
These three goals, economic, environmental, and ethical sustainability, are often referred to as
the three pillars of sustainability.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 6
30. (p. 384) _____ explains the nature of economic transactions in the terms of a flow of
resources from businesses to households and back again.
A. Circular flow model
b. The three pillars of sustainability
c. Triple Bottom Line
d. Bilinear model
What is sometimes called the "circular flow model" explains the nature of economic
transactions in terms of a flow of resources from businesses to households and back again.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 6
9-17
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
31. (p. 385) One aspect of the circular flow model does not differentiate natural resources from
other factors of production. Thus it
a. does not respect that resources can be sold.
b. means that resources are not infinite.
C. does not explain the origin of resources.
d. thus it means that households cannot own these resources.
One aspect of the circular flow model does not differentiate natural resources from the other
factors of production. This model does not explain the origin of resources.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 6
32. (p. 385) All of the following are characteristics of the circular flow model except
a. that to keep up with population growth, the economy must grow.
b. that to provide higher standards of living, the economy must grow.
c. that to alleviate poverty, hunger, and disease, economy must grow.
D. that the economy is not a solution to all social ills and is finite in its ability to grow.
A second observation is that this model treats economic growth as both the solution to all
social ills and also as boundless.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: 6
9-18
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
33. (p. 386) According to Daly, the emphasis of economic growth as the goal of economic policy
will inevitably fail unless it is realized that
a. the population of the world needs to be controlled.
B. the economy is a subsystem within earth's biosphere.
c. resources are infinite.
d. efficient markets need to be stabilized to ensure higher economic returns.
Daly argues that neoclassical economics, with its emphasis on economic growth as the goal of
economic policy, will inevitably fail to meet these challenges unless it recognizes that the
economy is but a subsystem within earth's biosphere.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 6
34. (p. 386) According to Daly, an economic system needs to be able to _____ not only the by
products of the production process, but also the products themselves.
A. recycle or reuse
b. design
c. monitor
d. patent
Daly argues that we need to develop an economic system that uses resources only at a rate
that can be sustained over the long term and that recycles or reuses both the byproducts of the
production process and the products themselves.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 6
9-19
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
35. (p. 386 – 387) According to the sustainable model, entropy increased within a closed space
implies that
a. the amount of reusable products decreases with increase in production.
b. the economy exists within a finite biosphere.
c. wastes are not produced at each stage of economic activity.
D. the amount of usable energy decreases over time.
Consistent with the second law of thermodynamics (entropy increased within a closed
system), the amount of usable energy decreases over time.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 6
36. (p. 387) According to Daly, over the long term, resources and energy cannot be used, nor
waste produced, at rates which the biosphere cannot replace or absorb them without harming
its ability to sustain life. This is termed as
a. economic limitations.
b. economic agendas for the future.
C. biophysical limits to growth.
d. unexpendable boundaries.
Over the long term, resources and energy cannot be used, nor waste produced, at rates at
which the biosphere cannot replace or absorb them without jeopardizing its ability to sustain
(human) life. These are what Daly calls the "biophysical limits to growth.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 6
9-20
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
37. (p. 387) The second line in The Natural Step's funnel represents
a. resources necessary to sustain life.
b. resources that are biodegradable.
c. the biosphere limits.
D. aggregate worldwide demand.
The second line represents aggregate worldwide demand, accounting for both population
growth and the increasing demand of consumerist lifestyles.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 7
38. (p. 387) Knowing what the future might be; creative businesses _____ the present and
determine what must be done to arrive to that future.
A. backcast to
b. chart
c. change
d. design
"Backcasting" examines what the future will be when we emerge through the funnel.
Knowing what the future must be, creative businesses then look backwards to the present and
determine what must be done to arrive at that future.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 7
9-21
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
39. (p. 388) The importance of the need for firms to be ahead of the sustainability curve is
underlined by which among the following reasons for businesses to pursue the strategy of
sustainability?
a. Sustainability is a prudent longterm strategy.
b. Significant cost savings can be achieved through sustainable practices.
C. Competitive advantages exist for sustainable businesses.
d. Sustainability is a good risk management strategy.
Competitive advantages exist for sustainable businesses: Firms that are ahead of the
sustainability curve will both have an advantage serving environmentally conscious
consumers and enjoy a competitive advantage attracting workers who will take pride and
satisfaction in working for progressive firms.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 7
40. (p. 390) Estimates suggesting that with present technologies, businesses can readily achieve
at least a fourfold increase in efficiency, and perhaps as much as a tenfold increase. This can
be achieved through
a. biomimicry.
B. ecoefficiency.
c. cradletocradle responsibility.
d. servicebased economy.
Ecoefficiency has long been a part of the environmental movement. "Doing more with less"
has been an environmental guideline for decades. Some estimates suggest that with present
technologies alone, business could readily achieve at least a fourfold increase in efficiency
and perhaps as much as a tenfold increase.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 8
9-22
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
9-23
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
41. (p. 390) Which among the following entails an incentive to redesign products so that they
can be recycled efficiently and easily?
a. Biomimicry
b. Servicebased economy
C. Cradletocradle responsibility
d. Ecoefficiency
Cradletocradle responsibility extends this idea even further and holds that a business should
be responsible for incorporating the end results of its products back into the productive cycle.
This responsibility, in turn, would create incentives to redesign products so that they could be
recycled efficiently and easily.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 8
42. (p. 382) Government established regulatory standards to try to prevent the occurrence of
pollution or species extinction rather than to offer _____ after the fact.
compensation
Government established regulatory standards to try to prevent the occurrence of pollution or
species extinction rather than to offer compensation after the fact.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 2
9-24
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
43. (p. 383) Norman Bowie's approach to businesses' environmental responsibilities assume that
economic growth is environmentally and ethically _____.
benign
Finally, and perhaps most troubling from an environmental standpoint, this regulatory model
assumes that economic growth is environmentally and ethically benign.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 5
44. (p. 384) It has been stated by Daly that _____ transcends the more common standard of
economic growth.
economic development
Daly makes a convincing case for an understanding of economic development that transcends
the more common standard of economic growth.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: 6
9-25
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
45. (p. 384) _____ is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Sustainable development
"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 6
9-26
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
46. (p. 385) The _____ treats economic growth as both the solution to all social ills and also as
boundless.
circular flow model
A second observation is that the circular flow model treats economic growth as both the
solution to all social ills and also as boundless.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 6
47. (p. 386) "_____" is continuously leaving the economic system and thus new lowentropy
energy must constantly flow into the system.
Waste energy
"Waste energy" is continuously leaving the economic system and thus new lowentropy
energy must constantly flow into the system.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 6
48. (p. 387) _____ examines what the future will be when we emerge through the Natural Step
funnel.
Backcasting
"Backcasting" examines what the future will be when we emerge through the funnel.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 7
9-27
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
9-28
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
49. (p. 387) The "_____" maintains that he biosphere can produce resources indefinitely, and can
absorb wastes indefinitely, but only at a certain type of economic activity.
biophysical limits to growth
"Biophysical limits to growth The biosphere can produce resources indefinitely, and it can
absorb wastes indefinitely, but only at a certain rate and with a certain type of economic
activity.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: 6
50. (p. 388) Avoiding future governmental regulation is one benefit of the _____.
Natural Step Funnel
Refusing to move towards sustainability offers many downsides that innovative firms will
avoid. Avoiding future government regulation is one obvious benefit.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: 7
9-29
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
51. (p. 388) From the perspective of the Natural Step Funnel, firms that are ahead of the _____
will both have an advantage serving environmentally conscious consumers, and enjoy
competitive advantage.
sustainability curve
Firms that are ahead of the sustainability curve will both have an advantage serving
environmentally conscious consumers and enjoy a competitive advantage attracting workers
who will take pride and satisfaction in working for progressive firms.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: 7
9-30
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
52. (p. 389) In a sustainable business model, resources should not enter into the economic cycle
from the _____ at rates faster than they are replenished.
biosphere
In the simplest terms, resources should not enter into the economic cycle from the biosphere
at rates faster than they are replenished.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 7
53. (p. 390) _____ would make it possible to achieve double the productivity from onehalf the
resource use.
FactorFour
Consider that a fourfold increase, called "FactorFour" in the sustainability literature, would
make it possible to achieve double the productivity from onehalf the resource use.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 8
54. (p. 390) The ultimate goal of _____ is to eliminate waste altogether, rather than reduce it.
biomimicry
The ultimate goal of biomimicry is to eliminate waste altogether rather than reducing it.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 8
9-31
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
55. (p. 390) A business being responsible for incorporating the end results of its products back
into the productive cycle is trait of the _____.
cradletocradle responsibility
Cradletocradle responsibility extends this idea even further and holds that a business should
be responsible for incorporating the end results of its products back into the productive cycle.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 8
56. (p. 391) Beyond ecoefficiency, and biomimicry, a third sustainable business principle
involves a shift in business model from _____ to _____.
products, services
Beyond ecoefficiency and biomimicry, a third sustainable business principle involves a shift
in business model from products to services.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 8
9-32
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
Essay Questions
57. (p. 374 – 375) Describe the characteristics of the conservation movement. Explain the spiritual
aspect of the need to conserve the environment.
By the late 19th century, humans came to recognize the selfinterested reasons for protecting
the natural environment. The conservation movement, the first phase of modern
environmentalism, advocated a more restrained and prudent approach to the natural world.
From this perspective, the natural world was still valued as a resource, providing humans with
both direct benefits (air, water, food), and indirect benefits (the goods and services produced
by business).
Conservationists argued against the exploitation of natural resources as if they could provide
an inexhaustible supply of material. They made the case that business had good reasons for
conserving natural resources, reasons that paralleled the rationale to conserve financial
resources. The natural world, like capital, had the productive capacity to produce longterm
income but only if managed and used prudently.
Besides the obvious reasons to protect human life and health, the natural environment is
essential and valuable for many other reasons. Often, these other values conflict with the more
direct instrumental value that comes from treating the natural world as a resource. The beauty
and grandeur of the natural world provide great aesthetic and inspirational value. Many
people view the natural world as a manifestation of religious and spiritual values. Parts of the
natural world can have symbolic value, historical value, and such diverse psychological
values as serenity and exhilaration. These values can clearly conflict with the use of the earth
itself as a resource to physically, as opposed to spiritually, sustain those who live on it.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Comprehension
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: 1
9-33
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
58. (p. 375 – 376) Distinguish between the two approaches to the aspect of moral status being
assigned to animals.
The moral status of animals has been the environmental value that, arguably, has raised the
greatest challenge to business. Variously referred to as the animal rights, animal liberation, or
animal welfare movement, this approach attributes a moral standing to animals. Such a status
would create a wide variety of distinctive ethical responsibilities concerning how we treat
animals and would have significant implications for many businesses. Two versions of this
perspective are worth mentioning.
The first approach emphasizes the fact that many animals, presumably all animals with a
central nervous system, have the capacity to feel pain. Reminiscent of the utilitarian tradition,
this view asserts an ethical responsibility to minimize pain. Inflicting unnecessary pain is
taken to be an ethical wrong; therefore, acts that inflict unnecessary pain on animals are
ethically wrong. Raising and slaughtering animals for food, particularly in the way industrial
farming enterprises raise poultry, hogs, and cattle, would be an obvious case in which
business would violate this ethical responsibility.
A second approach argues that at least some animals have the cognitive capacity to possess a
conscious life of their own. Reminiscent of the Kantian ethical tradition, this view asserts that
we have a duty not to treat these animals as mere objects and means to our own ends. Again,
businesses that use animals for food, entertainment, or pets would violate the ethical rights of
these animals.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Comprehension
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 1
9-34
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
59. (p. 376 – 377) Enumerate upon the features of approaching environmental responsibilities from
the perspective of efficient markets.
If the best approach to environmental concerns is to trust them to efficient markets, then the
responsible business manager simply ought to seek profits and allow the market to allocate
resources efficiently. By doing this, business fills its role within a market system, which in
turn serves the greater overall (utilitarian) good. Defenders of the market approach contend
that environmental problems are economic problems that deserve economic solutions.
Fundamentally, environmental problems involve the allocation and distribution of limited
resources. Whether we are concerned with the allocation of scarce nonrenewable resources
such as gas and oil, or with the earth's capacity to absorb industrial byproducts such as CO 2
or PCBs, efficient markets can address environmental challenges.
According to William Baxter, society could strive for pure air and water, but the costs (lost
opportunities) that this would entail would be too high. A more reasonable approach is to aim
for air and water quality that is safe enough to breathe and drink without costing too much.
This balance, the "optimal level of pollution" can be achieved through competitive markets.
The free market also provides an answer for resource conservation. From a strict market
economic perspective, resources are "infinite." As the supply of any resources decreases, the
price increases, thereby providing a strong incentive to supply more or provide a less costly
substitute. In economic terms, all resources are "fungible." They can be replaced by
substitutes, and in this sense resources are infinite.
A similar case can be made for the preservation of environmentally sensitive areas.
Preservation for preservation's sake would be wasteful since it would use resources
inefficiently.
AACSB: 3
BT: Comprehension
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: 2
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Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
60. (p. 378 – 380) Discuss the challenges associated with the efficient market approach to
environmental responsibilities.
A variety of market failures involving environmental issues, point to the inadequacy of
market solutions. Since the "costs" of such things as air pollution, groundwater contamination
and depletion, soil erosion, and nuclear waste disposal are typically borne by parties
"external" to the economic exchange (e.g., people downwind, neighbors, and future
generations), free market exchanges cannot guarantee optimal results.
A second type of market failure occurs when no markets exist to create a price for important
social goods. Endangered species, scenic vistas, rare plants and animals, and biodiversity are
just some environmental goods that typically are not traded on open markets. Public goods
such as clean air and ocean fisheries also have no established market price. With no
established exchange value, the market approach cannot even pretend to achieve its own goals
of efficiently meeting consumer demand. Markets alone fail to guarantee that such important
public goods are preserved and protected.
A third way in which market failures can lead to serious environmental harm involves a
distinction between individual decisions and group consequences. We can miss important
ethical and policy questions if we leave policy decisions solely to the outcome of individual
decisions. Because these are important ethical questions, and because they remain unasked
from within market transactions, we must conclude that markets are incomplete (at best) in
their approach to the overall social good.
There are good reasons for thinking that such ad hoc attempts to repair market failures are
environmentally inadequate. One important reason is what has been called the firstgeneration
problem. Markets can work to prevent harm only through information supplied by the
existence of market failures. That is, we learn about market failures and thereby prevent
harms in the future only by sacrificing the "first generation" as a means of gaining this
information. When public policy involves irreplaceable public goods such as endangered
species, rare wilderness areas, and public health and safety, such a reactionary strategy is ill
advised.
AACSB: 3
BT: Comprehension
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: 4
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Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
61. (p. 381 – 382) List the various laws in accordance to governmental regulation of the
environment. Describe the method of addressing environmental concerns prior to the
establishment of laws.
Governmental regulations were seen as the better way to respond to environmental problems.
Much of the most significant environmental legislation in the United States was enacted
during the 1970s. The Clean Air Act of 1970 (amended and renewed in 1977), Federal Water
Pollution Act of 1972 (amended and renewed as the Clean Water Act of 1977), and the
Endangered Species Act of 1973 were part of this national consensus for addressing
environmental problems. Each law was originally enacted by a Democratic Congress and
signed into law by a Republican president. These laws share a common approach to
environmental issues.
Before this legislation was enacted, the primary legal avenue open for addressing
environmental concerns was tort law. Only individuals who could prove that they had been
harmed by pollution could raise legal challenges to air and water pollution. That legal
approach placed the burden on the person who was harmed and, at best, offered compensation
for the harm only after the fact. Except for the incentive provided by the threat of
compensation, U.S. policy did little to prevent the pollution in the first place. Absent any
proof of negligence, public policy was content to let the market decide environmental policy.
Because endangered species themselves had no legal standing, direct harm to plant and
animal life was of no legal concern and previous policies did little to prevent harm to plant
and animal life.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge, Comprehension
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 2
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Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
62. (p. 382) Discuss how businesses and societies had opportunities to establish business's
environmental responsibilities. Discuss Norman Bowie's interpretation.
Government established regulatory standards to try to prevent the occurrence of pollution or
species extinction rather than to offer compensation after the fact. We can think of these laws
as establishing minimum standards to ensure air and water quality and species preservation.
Business was free to pursue its own goals as long as it complied with the side constraints
these minimum standards established. The consensus that emerged was that society had two
opportunities to establish business's environmental responsibilities. As consumers, individuals
could demand environmentally friendly products in the marketplace. As citizens, individuals
could support environmental legislation. As long as business responded to the market and
obeyed the law, it met its environmental responsibilities.
Philosopher Norman Bowie defended a modified version of this narrow view of corporate
social responsibility. Bowie argued that, apart from the duties to cause no avoidable harm to
humans and to obey the law, business has no special environmental responsibility. Business
may voluntarily choose to do environmental good, but it has no obligation to do so. Business
should be free to pursue profits by responding to the demands of the economic marketplace
without any particular regard to environmental responsibilities. In so far as society desires
environmental goods (for example, lowering pollution by increasing the fuel efficiency of
automobiles), it is free to express those desires through legislation or within the marketplace.
Absent those demands, business has no special environmental responsibilities.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: 5
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Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
63. (p. 382 – 383) Describe the challenges associated with Norman Bowie's approach to corporate
environmental responsibility.
Several problems suggest that this approach will prove inadequate over the long term. First, it
underestimates the influence that business can have in establishing the law. The Corporate
Automotive Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) standards provide a good example of how this can occur.
A reasonable account of this law suggests that the public very clearly expressed a political
goal of improving air quality by improving automobile fuel efficiency goals (and thereby
reducing automobile emissions). However, the automobile industry was able to use its
lobbying influence to exempt light trucks and SUVs from these standards.
Second, this approach also underestimates the ability of business to influence consumer
choice. To conclude that business fulfills its environmental responsibility when it responds to
the environmental demands of consumers is to underestimate the role that business can play in
shaping public opinion. The best example would be the advertising industry. Assuming that
business is not going to stop advertising its products or lobbying government, this model of
corporate environmental responsibility is likely to prove inadequate for protecting the natural
environment.
Further, if we rely on the law to protect the environment, environmental protection will
extend only as far as the law extends. Yet, most environmental issues, pollution problems
especially, do not respect legal jurisdictions. Similarly, national regulations will be ineffective
for international environmental challenges.
Finally, and perhaps most troubling from an environmental standpoint, this regulatory model
assumes that economic growth is environmentally and ethically benign. Regulations establish
side constraints on business's pursuit of profits and, as long as they remain within those
constraints, accept as ethically legitimate whatever road to profitability management chooses.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Comprehension
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: 5
9-39
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
64. (p. 384 – 385) Introduce Herman Daly's concepts of sustainable development. Describe the
circular flow model in detail.
Economist Herman Daly has been among the leading thinkers who have advocated an
innovative approach to economic theory based on the concept of sustainable development.
Daly makes a convincing case for an understanding of economic development that transcends
the more common standard of economic growth. Unless we make significant changes in our
understanding of economic activity, unless quite literally we change the way we do business,
we will fail to meet some very basic ethical and environmental obligations. According to
Daly, we need a major paradigm shift in how we understand economic activity.
We can begin with the standard understanding of economic activity and economic growth
found in almost every economics textbook. What is sometimes called the "circular flow
model" explains the nature of economic transactions in terms of a flow of resources from
businesses to households and back again.
Two aspects of this circular flow model are worth noting. First, it does not differentiate
natural resources from the other factors of production. This model does not explain the origin
of resources. They are simply owned by households from which they, like labor, capital, and
entrepreneurial skill, can be sold to business. Services can be provided in many ways and by
substituting different factors of production. In Simon's terms, resources can therefore be
treated as "infinite."
A second observation is that this model treats economic growth as both the solution to all
social ills and also as boundless. To keep up with population growth, the economy must grow.
To provide for a higher standard of living, the economy must grow. To alleviate poverty,
hunger, and disease, the economy must grow. The possibility that the economy cannot grow
indefinitely is simply not part of this model.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: 6
9-40
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
65. (p. 388 – 389) Briefly describe the reasons supporting the practice of sustainability within
businesses.
First, sustainability is a prudent longterm strategy: business will need to adopt sustainable
practices to ensure longterm survival. Firms that fail to adapt to the converging lines of
decreasing availability of resources and increasing demand risk their own survival.
Second, the huge unmet market potential among the world's developing economies can only
be met in sustainable ways. Enormous business opportunities exist in serving the billions of
people who need, and are demanding, economic goods and services. The base of the
economic pyramid represents the largest and fastestgrowing economic market in human
history. Yet, the sheer size of these markets alone makes it impossible to meet this demand
with the environmentally damaging industrial practices. It is obvious that new sustainable
technologies and products will be required to meet these demands.
Third, significant cost savings can be achieved through sustainable practices: Business stands
to save significant costs in moves towards ecoefficiency. Savings on energy use and materials
will reduce not only environmental wastes, but spending wastes as well. Minimizing wastes
makes sense on financial grounds as well as on environmental grounds.
Fourth, competitive advantages exist for sustainable businesses: Firms that are ahead of the
sustainability curve will both have an advantage serving environmentally conscious
consumers and enjoy a competitive advantage attracting workers who will take pride and
satisfaction in working for progressive firms.
Finally, sustainability is a good risk management strategy: Refusing to move towards
sustainability offers many downsides that innovative firms will avoid. Avoiding future
government regulation is one obvious benefit. Avoiding legal liability for unsustainable
products is another potential benefit. Consumer boycotts of unsustainable firms are also a risk
to be avoided.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: 7
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Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
66. (p. 390) Explain the concept of ecoefficiency, biomimicry and cradletocradle
responsibility.
Ecoefficiency has long been a part of the environmental movement. "Doing more with less"
has been an environmental guideline for decades. Some estimates suggest that with present
technologies alone, business could readily achieve at least a fourfold increase in efficiency
and perhaps as much as a tenfold increase. Consider that a fourfold increase, called "Factor
Four" in the sustainability literature, would make it possible to achieve double the
productivity from onehalf the resource use.
Just as biological processes such as photosynthesis cycle the "waste" of one activity into the
resource of another, this principle is often referred to as biomimicry. The ultimate goal of
biomimicry is to eliminate waste altogether rather than reducing it. If we truly mimic
biological processes, the end result of one process (e.g., leaves and oxygen produced by
photosynthesis) is ultimately reused as the productive resources (e.g., soil and water) of
another process (plant growth) with only solar energy added. The evolution of business
strategy towards biomimicry can be understood along a continuum. The earliest phase has
been described as "takemakewaste." Business takes resources, makes products out of them,
and discards whatever is left over. A second phase envisions business taking responsibility for
its products from "cradle to grave." Sometimes referred to as "lifecycle" responsibility, this
approach has already found its way into both industrial and regulatory thinking.
Cradletograve, or lifecycle, responsibility holds that a business is responsible for the entire
life of its products, including the ultimate disposal even after the sale. It extends this idea even
further and holds that a business should be responsible for incorporating the end results of its
products back into the productive cycle. This responsibility, in turn, would create incentives
to redesign products so that they could be recycled efficiently and easily.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: 8
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Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
67. (p. 373) Explain the first aspect of the contemporary environmental reality which underlines
the need for selfinterested reasoning.
Past human societies have often run up against the limits of the local environment's ability to
sustain human life. In these historical cases, environmental degradation has been localized to
a particular region and has seldom affected more than a generation. In contrast, some
contemporary environmental issues have the potential to adversely affect the entire globe and
change human life forever. Global climate change, species extinction, soil erosion and
desertification, and nuclear wastes will threaten human life into the indefinite future.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 1
68. (p. 377) What is the concept of optimal level of pollution?
William Baxter argued that there is an optimal level of pollution that would best serve
society's interests. This optimal level is best attained, according to Baxter, by leaving it to a
competitive market. Denying that there is any "natural" or objective standard for clean air or
water (as this view would deny there is an objective state of perfect health), Baxter begins
with a goal of "safe" air and water quality, and translates this goal to a matter of balancing
risks and benefits. A more reasonable approach is to aim for air and water quality that is safe
enough to breathe and drink without costing too much. This balance, the "optimal level of
pollution" can be achieved through competitive markets.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: 3
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Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
69. (p. 378) What do defenders of the market approach to environmental responsibilities state?
Defenders of a narrow view of corporate social responsibility have responses to these
challenges of course. Internalizing external costs and assigning property rights to unowned
goods such as wild species are two responses to market failures.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 4
9-44
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
70. (p. 383) Explain how relying on the law will result in environmental protection extending
only as far as the law extends with an example.
Most environmental issues, pollution problems especially, do not respect legal jurisdictions.
New York State might pass strict regulations on smokestack emissions, but if the power plants
are located downwind in Ohio or even further west in the Dakotas or Wyoming, New York
State will continue to suffer the effects of acid rain. Similarly, national regulations will be
ineffective for international environmental challenges. While hope remains that international
agreements might help control global environmental problems, the failure of the Kyoto
agreement suggests that this might be overly optimistic.
AACSB: 3
BT: Comprehension
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 5
71. (p. 383 – 384) Why was the Brundtland Commission formed?
The concept of sustainable development can be traced to a 1987 report from the United
Nations' World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), more commonly
known as the Brundtland Commission, named for its chair, Gro Harlem Brundtland. The
commission was charged with developing recommendations for paths towards economic and
social development that would not achieve shortterm economic growth at the expense of
longterm environmental and economic sustainability. The Brundtland Commission offered
what has become the standard definition of sustainable development. "Sustainable
development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs."
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: 6
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Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
72. (p. 386) How does Herman Daly prove that the classical model will prove unstable if
resources move at a pace faster than the productive capacity of the earth?
Daly argues that neoclassical economics, with its emphasis on economic growth as the goal of
economic policy, will inevitably fail to meet these challenges unless it recognizes that the
economy is but a subsystem within earth's biosphere. Economic activity takes place within
this biosphere and cannot expand beyond its capacity to sustain life. All the factors that go
into production—natural resources, capital, entrepreneurial skill, and labor—ultimately
originate in the productive capacity of the earth. In light of this, the entire classical model will
prove unstable if resources move through this system at a rate that outpaces the productive
capacity of the earth or of the earth's capacity to absorb the wastes and byproducts of this
production.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Hard
Learning Objective: 6
9-46
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
73. (p. 386 – 387) Explain Herman Daly's economic system model (sustainable model).
First, the model recognizes that the economy exists within a finite biosphere that encompasses
a band around the earth that is little more than a few miles wide. From the first law of
thermodynamics (the conservation of matter/energy), we recognize that neither matter nor
energy can truly be "created," it can only be transferred from one form to another. Second,
energy is lost at every stage of economic activity. Consistent with the second law of
thermodynamics (entropy increased within a closed system), the amount of usable energy
decreases over time. "Waste energy" is continuously leaving the economic system and thus
new lowentropy energy must constantly flow into the system. Third, this model no longer
treats natural resources as an undifferentiated and unexplained factor of production emerging
from households. Finally, it recognizes that wastes are produced at each stage of economic
activity and these wastes are dumped back into the biosphere.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Comprehension
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Objective: 6
9-47
Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
74. (p. 389) List the general principles that will guide the movement of businesses towards
sustainability.
The precise implications of sustainability will differ for specific firms and industries, but three
general principles will guide the move towards sustainability. Firms and industries must
become more efficient in using natural resources; they should model their entire production
process on biological processes; and they should emphasize the production of services rather
than products.
AACSB: 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 7
75. (p. 390) Explain with an example, how ecoefficiency can be implemented on an individual
and a business scale.
"Doing more with less" has been an environmental guideline for decades. On an individual
scale, it is environmentally better to ride a bike than to ride in a bus, to ride in a fuelcell or
hybridpowered bus than in a diesel bus, to ride in a bus than to drive a personal automobile,
and to drive a hybrid car than an SUV. Likewise, business firms can improve energy and
materials efficiency in such things as lighting, building design, product design, and
distribution channels.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 8
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Chapter 09 - Business the Environment and Sustainability
76. (p. 391) Explain the third sustainable business principle, beyond ecoefficiency, and
biomimicry.
Beyond ecoefficiency and biomimicry, a third sustainable business principle involves a shift
in business model from products to services. Traditional economic and managerial models
interpret consumer demand as the demand for products—washing machines, carpets, lights,
consumer electronics, air conditioners, cars, computers, and so forth. A servicebased
economy interprets consumer demand as a demand for services—for clothes cleaning, floor
covering, illumination, entertainment, cool air, transportation, word processing, and so forth.
AACSB: 2, 3
BT: Knowledge
Difficulty: Easy
Learning Objective: 8
9-49