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Profiting from Pain: Business and the U.S. Opioid Epidemic

1. What were the pharmaceutical industry’s strategy and actions leading up to the opioid crisis? Was this strategy ethical? Why or why not? Consider the concepts of ethical universalism, ethical relativism, and integrative social contracts theory (Ch. 9).
2. Who are the pharmaceutical industry’s stakeholders? Which stakeholders were directly or indirectly impacted by the opioid crisis? Are there any stakeholders who bear some responsibility for the crisis?
3. You are the CEO of a major publicly-traded pharmaceutical company. You are under pressure from shareholders (i.e., your investors) to improve the company’s financial performance. Would a commitment to ethics and socially responsible business practices be in the best long-term interest of your company’s shareholders? Would it contribute to your company’s competitive advantage? Would it impact profitability?