UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE

2017 May/June Examinations

MBA565: CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND BUSINESS ETHICS

Faculty: COMMERCE

Department: GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

Duration: 3 HOURS

Examiner: DR D. MADZIKANDA

Authorized Materials: None

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. This paper contains Six (6) Questions
2. Answer Question One (40 marks); and any other Three Questions (20 marks each)
3. Start each question on a new page
4. Marks will be awarded for using examples from Cases you have studied, lecturer’s
handout and additional reading, and/or from your own life and work experiences
5. This question paper comprises Three (3) printed pages

NB: DO NOT TURN OVER THE QUESTION PAPER OR COMMENCE WRITING

UNTIL INSTRUCTED TO DO SO BY THE CHIEF INVIGILATOR.

Page 1 of 3
QUESTION 1 (Compulsory – 40 marks)

‘When your colleague, Bill, is out of town, you receive a call from his wife. She's having
a crisis with one of their children and needs to reach Bill immediately. You offer to track
him down for her and when you do, you inadvertently discover that he's vacationing with
Marie, the chief investment officer of a prestigious college endowment fund that Bill
manages. He tells you to keep his hotel location a secret and that he will call his wife
immediately. Two hours later, his wife calls back and screams that his cell phone is off
and she hasn't heard from you or him. What do you do?’

Review this case from a consequential and deontological perspective by addressing the
following aspects in each case when answering questions 1 (a) and 1 (b) below:

(a) Highlight the ethical issues in this case if any. (10 marks)

(b) What did they decide and why? (10 marks)

(c) Explain what you would do in this case based on your preferred philosophical
perspective. (10 marks)

(d) Discuss the most important considerations given these two different frameworks
and demonstrate that the two theoretical perspectives may lead to very different
decisions. (10 marks)

QUESTION 2
Discuss with examples, the complementarity between Corporate Governance and
Corporate Social Responsibility. (20 marks)

QUESTION 3
(a) Discuss the notion why ‘Performance evaluation governing boards in the public
sector has been more challenging than the private sector’ (10 marks)

(b) Make some recommendations of improving performance evaluation in one State

Owned Enterprise that you are familiar with. (10 marks)

Page 2 of 3
QUESTION 4
(a) Discuss any four primary goals of shareholder activism and any five various
shareholder activism forms. (8 marks)

(b) How successful have activists been in their engagements with target firms in
influencing corporate action in Zimbabwe? Make suggestions on how to improve
their effectiveness. (12 marks)

QUESTION 5
Some corporations and other organizations have designed ethical decision-making tests
that incorporate some of the ethical principles and systems. If you had to make up a list
for your company, suggest and justify what your list could consist of. (20 marks)

QUESTION 6
Steven F. Goldstone, Chairman and CEO of RJR Nabisco (one of four biggest U.S.
cigarette manufacturers) said in a magazine interview, “I have no moral view of this
business. . . I viewed it as a legal business. You shouldn’t be drawing a moral judgment
about a business our country says is perfectly legal and is taxed like crazy by it.”

(a) Think about Goldstone’s statement in terms of moral awareness. Explain what
might happen if he began thinking about his business in moral, and not just legal
terms? (10 marks)

(b) Evaluate the case in terms of cognitive moral development and locus of control.
(10 marks)

END OF EXAMINATION PAPER

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