Walgreens: A Tough Pill to Swallow (2013)

Controversy

Walgreens Pharmacy logo

Walgreens, one of the many successful American drug-stores, was established here in 1901. The company provides goods and services of many kinds to people of all ages and has been for over 100 years.

Despite its Fortune 500 status as a trusted drug-store in the United States, in 2013 Walgreens was found guilty in the illegal distribution of oxycodone. The state of Florida admitted six different Walgreens locations; those of whom distributed absurdly illegal quantities of the powerful painkiller better known as oxycodone. Multiple excerpts from online-articles provide perspectives as to why Walgreens was penalized $80 million for such irresponsible actions. A proper analysis of this controversy reveals information that reinforces the harsh punishment put to Walgreens by the DEA. Fortunately for the public, Walgreens’ head of pharmacy Kermit Crawford “worked closely with the DEA over the past several months to reach this agreement,” noted earlier worth $80Million. According to an online article via Global Trade Talk, “a vulnerability in the supply chain management system and technology may have created an opportunity to divert oxycodone from one of the pharmacy chain’s distribution centers to the black market, triggering the federal investigation,” (Thornton 2013). 

Stakeholders

The Stakeholder Model of Corporate Social Responsibility is defined on Page 68 of An Introduction to Business Ethics when it states, “The basic idea is that businesses, and the executives who manage them, actually do and should create value for customers, suppliers, employees, communities, and financiers (or shareholders)…the primary responsibility of the executive is to create as much value for stakeholder’s as possible, and that no stakeholder interest is viable in isolation of the other stakeholders,” (DesJardins 2014).
Walgreens and CEO Gregory Wasson did give value to customers amidst their operations as a “Pill Mill,” but seemingly the wrong kind of customers. This means that Florida locations drew in crowds of people that were not truly abiding by their prescription, but rather taking advantage of a broken system. Due to such egregious actions, Walgreens agreed to pay a fee of $80 Million, which had to have affected stakeholders at the time being. Not only did Walgreens lose some customers after the debacle, but more importantly actual or even potential investors.

CEO Gregory Wasson

If a respectable supply company that distributed oxycodone to pharmacies like CVS, Walgreens, or Rite Aid, would you not think twice about keeping Walgreens on your list of customers after hearing how they took advantage of you? If you were one of the heads of Walgreens, should it not concern or even worry you that several of your stores was basically dealing painkillers to drug dealers or potential addicts? If a company takes such thoughtless action, it becomes inevitable that shareholders will pull out as investors. Such irresponsible actions ultimately tainted Florida communities with excess amounts of harmful drugs on their streets.

Individualism

The Business Ethics Case Manuel defines the ethical rules of Individualism when it states “business actions should maximize profits for the owners of a business, but do so within the law,” (Salazar 2014). The primary values within Individualism are noted as “The business, the owner’s choices, and business profits.” It becomes obvious that Walgreens was trying to “maximize profits for the owners of a business” but they failed to follow the whole “but to do so within the law,” section. Not only did federal investigators involve themselves, but potential profits of eighty million dollars were pulled from Walgreens’ pockets. The shady business of pharmaceutical drug-dealing is exceptionally profitable, but extraordinarily illegal. This dissonance alone violates the rules of Individualism, stamping this case with the ink of disapproval from an ethical perspective.Walgreens was definitely affected in a negative way, but in the long-run their stock-values have only increased since. Overall, Walgreens is still operates a quality store, but a scandal like this is something that never gets erased from a list of pros and cons. Somewhere, at some time, somebody thought it was okay to sell absurd amounts of oxycodone to absurd amounts of users.Fortunately for upper-management within Walgreens, their stock-value has only risen over the last five years. It seems that when a company shows its ability to make mistakes, or a human side in many ways, the consumer tends to forgive. Walgreens has proven to do exactly that over the years, as stock value in 2010 was rather low at $35 compared to its current value of $60 per share, (Yahoo Finance). Yahoo Finance also reports that the eighty-million dollar fine ultimately cost the company 4—6 cents per share at the time of the incident. Even though it maintains its profits, Walgreens definitely violates the theory of Individualism making its actions unethical. 

Oxycodone Prescription Drug

Utilitarianism

The Business Ethics Case Manuel defines the ethical rules of Utilitarianism when it states, “business actions should aim to maximize the happiness in the long run for all conscious beings that are affected by the business action.” The primary values within this ethical theory include “happiness of all conscious beings, often interpreted hedonistically as pleasure and the absence of pain, but also sometimes interpreted as the satisfaction of desires.”
The only benefits for Walgreens in this case were simply temporary, besides the regulation program put into place because of the scandal. Any revenue they made from this illegal activity, any customers they gained, were all lost. Once the DEA came down hard, the issues amidst this case subsided quickly. Those who were taking advantage no longer could, while those unaware of any issue were certainly made aware. Maybe one benefit Walgreens gained afterward was the public perception of a company that could rebound from such drastic miscues, as Walgreens has only grown since as a business in America.The monetary costs in this scandal surmount to a total of eighty-million dollars, but the ultimate cost of reputation is something that money simply cannot buy. For CEO Gregory Wasson, the scandal caused the company to pay up to the DEA, which was the least he could have done. The DEA eventually put several Florida locations on lockdown; prohibiting them from distributing oxycodone for a whole year. Although Walgreens has only grown as a company since this 2013 scandal, they missed out on even more potential growth, or an opportunity cost. In hindsight, had the six locations in Florida refrained from ever committing such crimes, Walgreens could have kept their eighty million dollars, and prevented any further harm to their brand-name, or business reputation. After weighing the pros and cons within Utilitarianism, the actions taken by Walgreens are ultimately unethical.

Walgreens; Florida Location

Kantianism

The Business Ethics Case Manuel defines the ethical rules of Kantianism when it states, “Always act in ways that respect and honor individuals and their choices. Don’t lie, cheat, manipulate or harm others to get your way. Rather, use informed and rational consent from all.” The primary values within this ethical theory include, “rational decision-making, autonomy of individuals, honesty and freedom.” The Case Manuel adds in the idea that “Kantian analyses are concerned with 1. the moral permissibility of the action, and 2. The moral worth in the motivation of the action.”
Walgreens distinctly lied, cheated, and manipulated those who were obtaining insane amounts of oxycodone from their Florida locations. Keep in mind that Walgreens did not stop their own problems, the DEA did. The company did not have “informed and rational consent from all,” but rather some employees and a bunch of addicted customers. Walgreens gave certain people the freedom to obtain illegal amounts of a controlled-substance, yet those who distributed didn’t know what they were doing? Please, if you are a pharmacist who is dishing out irregular amounts of oxycodone, wouldn’t you think that something is up? If so, did Walgreens offer an honest way for people to explain what was happening, or did this blow over like dust in the wind? According to the Case Manuel, “The formulation of humanity states that it is wrong to use people as a mere means to get what you want,” yet this is exactly what Walgreens did to gain a profit amidst this scandal. Walgreens reaped the rewards from customers who were taking advantage of such a “Pill Mill.” Kant would certainly approve of the regulation guidelines developed by Walgreens after the scandal, as it strictly covers how many prescriptions any given patient can obtain in certain amounts of time. Under the Kantian Theory perspective lens, Walgreens' actions ultimately prove to be unethical. 

US DEA Badge

Virtue Theory

The Business Ethics Case Manuel defines the ethical rules of Virtue Theory when it states, “act so as to embody a variety of virtuous or good character traits and so as to avoid vicious or bad character traits.” The primary values within this ethical theory include, “character traits that promote wellness or flourishing of individuals within a society.”

Certainly Walgreens is guilty of exhibiting vicious or bad character traits, as the greed to make a profit at all costs was taken over the expense felt by the six Florida communities. At not one, but six locations Walgreens was demoting the wellness of those individuals affected within Florida’s society, and our country for that matter. Although Walgreens was fulfilling its role as a pharmacy, they did it in a vicious way, not a virtuous way. Not until after the controversy and eighty-million dollars later did Walgreens develop a responsible system to properly distribute prescriptions to those in need. Virtue Theory lists many virtuous traits that one must follow in order to be considered virtuous, or purposeful. At least Walgreens had the virtuous trait of courage to come out and admit their wrong-doings, in addition to the implementation of prudent guidelines to prevent any similar circumstances in the future. Walgreens lacked the initial care it takes to responsibly run a pharmacy that distributes such powerful substances, although they showed the honesty it takes as a corporation to come out and say, we messed up. Walgreens did exactly that and as mentioned before, only improved upon their mistakes ever since. Looking at this case under Virtue Theory proves that Walgreens was indeed unethical.


References
"DEA Settles Walgreens Painkiller Case for $80M." The Big Story. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.

DesJardins, Joseph R. An Introduction to Business Ethics. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2014. Print.

Heather Salazar " The Case Manual " The Authoritative Step-by-Step Guide to Understanding and Improving the Ethics of Any Business

Yahoo! Finance. "Walgreen Co." Web. Nov. 2014

Thornton, Emily."SUPPLYCHAINVISIBILITY.ORG. GlobalTradeTalk. Amber Road, 22 Oct. 2012. Web. 01 Oct. 2014. 

Samsung: Leaves Two Indian Bloggers in Germany. (2012)

Controversy

Samsung Electronics logo

Samsung Electronics has been dedicated to using advanced technology and diverse business to make a better world. A program, which is known as the Mob!lers, gives people the opportunity to attend events and allows them to review devices ahead of market release. Samsung believes that the Mob!lers should be able to write whatever they want about the devices to better understand how people feel about them. People who are able to attend these conferences with the Mob!lers, receive early access to the conference and also the devices. In 2012 they gave the option to attend the International Franchise Association (IFA) conference in Berlin Germany as either a reporter or promoter, with all expenses included
Unfortunately, this was not the case for the two bloggers from India who was winners of a contest to go to the IFA conference as a Mob!ler.The two blogger's had chosen to report the conference, mainly because they did not want to be stuck behind a desk showing off products. They had made it very clear that they were independent and had no intention of acting as brand ambassadors for the company. After the twelve hour flight to Berlin, the blogger's were handed Samsung shirts and told that they had to be standing in uniform at the booths showing products everyday. After finding this out they had reiterated the fact that they had chosen to be reporters and not promoters. They met with a PR person for Samsung, and moments later while at a coffee shop, they received a call from Samsung India. The company informed the blogger's that if they did not attend the conference and wear the uniform, that their tickets and expenses would not be paid for. This call followed another which informed them that their flights had been canceled. The blogger's attended one day of the conference, wearing the shirts but not demonstrating phones. As soon as they could find a way, they were shuttled home with help from friends at the conference.

Stakeholders

Samsung Mob!lers logo

The stakeholders who are involved and affected by this controversy are from both ends of the situation. On one end Samsung Electronics, Samsung employees, and the blogger's are being affected. On the other end, the airline company, potential customers, and the hotel company are also being affected. Samsung Electronics is getting a bad reputation with all of the stakeholders according to how they handled the situation. Most of the stakeholders will not want to be involved with the Samsung Company anymore because of the poor service and dishonesty they provided.

Individualism
According to the Individualism Theory, a business must maximize their profits while still being lawful. Although the Mob!lers program would have done such a thing if the company was lawful. The company was obviously having a problem during the conference, which was most likely apparent. This could have caused them to lose business and potential customers. Because the company had promised many things, which they clearly knew were not going to happen, they were taking advantage of the blogger's. This was the company's false advertising to the blogger's which lead to them being stranded. At no point is this lawful so this case would be considered unethical according to an Individualist.

Utilitarianism
The Utilitarian Theory is about maximizing happiness for all people involved. The blogger's and also the Samsung Company would have been happy if everything had gone how was originally planned. They would have gotten a great experience, and the company would have gotten great publicity and connections. The bloggers were not happy during the conference and even after. When being stranded in a foreign country, and not allowed to do what you were told, not many people would be happy. The Samsung Company is also not very happy with all of the complications that occurred. To a Utilitarian, this case would be unethical.

Kantianism

Samsung Headquarters in Seoul, South Korea

The Kantian Theory deals with respecting individuals and their choices, also helping them to make rational decisions. This was neglected from the beginning of the situation. The company had manipulated the blogger's to believe that they would be able to do what they had chosen. The company had used false advertisement to do such a thing. Samsung is also taking advantage of the fact that they give these opportunities to people from low-income countries. If they offer this opportunity to these people, they are most likely to agree because of the situation they are in. This causes them to not be making their decision rationally which goes against this theory, therefore, would be considered unethical.

Virtue TheoryThe Virtue Theory has one major value which is that character trait that promotes wellness or flourishing of individuals within a society very beneficial. The theory is mainly about embodying good characteristics to avoid bad ones. The way in which Samsung was willing to, at first, pay for the expenses is acting very virtuously. Although the company had good intentions, they were not honest with the blogger's throughout the entire situation. Samsung had lied about what tasks the bloggers would be performing, and also that they would pay for the expenses. Even if the bloggers did decide they wanted to leave the conference, the company should have paid for them to get home. This would have ensured their safety and demonstrated the good characteristics, but sadly this did not happen. Looking from the Virtue Theory perspective this was unethical.

References 

-Salazar, Heather. The Business Ethics Case Manual: The Authoritative Step-by-Step Guide to Understanding and Improving the Ethics of Any Business. Print.

-"SAMSUNG." Samsung. http://www.samsung.com/us/aboutsamsung/samsung_group/history/ ` (accessed September 30, 2014).

-"Samsung Electronics ." Yahoo! Finance . https://finance.yahoo.com/echart s=005930.KS+Interactive#symbol=005930.ks;range= 0120109,20140110;compare=;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscal =off;source=; (accessed September 24, 2014).

-"Samsung Electronics America Inc. Review - Electronic Equipment & Supplies - Wholesale & Manufacturers in Ridgefield Pk, NJ - BBB Business Review - BBB serving New Jersey." Samsung Electronics America Inc. Review - Electronic Equipment & Supplies - Wholesale & Manufacturers in Ridgefield Pk, NJ - BBB Business Review - BBB serving New Jersey. http://www.bbb.org/newjersey/Business-Reviews/electronic-equipment- and-supplies-wholesale-and-manufacturers/samsung-electronics-america-inc-in- ridgefield-pk-nj- 1004901#reasonrating (accessed October 1, 2014).

-"Samsung Mobilers." Samsung Geeks. http://samsunggeeks.com/samsung-mobile/ (accessed October 1, 2014).

-"Say Hello to Samsung's Fanboy Factory - The Mobilers Program." TNW Network All Stories RSS. http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/09/02/heres-samsung-flew-blogger’s-halfway- around-world-threatened-leave/ (accessed October 1, 2014).

Allstate: Bad Hands for Employees (2014)

By: Danielle Delano

DISCLAIMER: The case discussed in this blog has not received a court ruling; the analysis is based on allegations. Please keep in mind that all parties are innocent until proven guilty in the court of law.

Case Description:
In September of 2014 the class action lawsuit; Jimenez v. Allstate had passed through the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. This lawsuit represents roughly 800 Allstate Claims Adjusters who have accused their managers of neglecting to report overtime and missed lunch breaks in order to receive a bonus for staying within corporate's annual budget. According to the court's ruling Allstate has allegedly broken four different laws which include California Labor Code Sections 201, 202, and 226. These practices have also violated the California Business and Professions Code 17200. Allstate has not yet made any public statements referring to this case.

Stakeholders:

Stakeholders are people who have an interest in a company's actions, typically because it affects them in some way. In this case, stakeholders include all levels of Allstate's employees, stockholders, and consumers. The claims adjusters are directly affected by the managers' actions because they lost pay when overtime was not reported. Other employees within the company are also affected because they may now be more wary about working for a company who have broken these labor laws; they never know if they will be next. Middle management, the ones who allegedly did not report the overtime, are affected because they are now at risk of losing their jobs and will now be known as unethical managers whether or not they stay with Allstate. The executives of Allstate are also considered stakeholders in this case because they have to handle the media, legal fees, and any negative backlash that comes along with this lawsuit. Stockholders now have to be concerned with whether or not this case will tarnish Allstate's reputation and cause the par value of the stocks to decrease. Lastly, the consumers are affected by the managers' decisions not to report ovetime. The ones who had claims adjusters working on their cases in California have to worry whether or not the employees still did their best work even though they were not being compensated properly. Unethical practices like this cause employees' morale to decrease, which can cause employees to decide to not produce their best possible work.

Individualism:

Allstate's (ALL) Stock Performance - September 2014

Individualism is the theory with the least ethical constraints that a business has to follow in order to be deemed ethical. The only requirements of a business is to maximize profits, as long as they are not breaking any laws in the process. The managers' actions did not make the company any more profitable than it already was. According to Individualism, the managers are actually stealing from the stockholders by taking bonuses that they did not work for. The actions have also broken four different laws; this situation would not be deemed ethical based on Individualism. In light of the case, Allstate's performance in the stock market during the month when this case was made public knowledge has not changed drastically. Although this could change when the case is actually presented and a verdict has been made.

Utilitarianism:

Utilitarianism focuses on the happiness in the long run of all involved in a given situation. The managers received short term pleasure by accepting additional bonuses, but this turns into pain as the claims adjusters have come forward with a class action lawsuit. Now, the managers' jobs are on the line. Even though their names have not been released yet, when they are they may be forever known as the people who harmed their employees. Chances are they will not be able to get another management position within a company unless they receive additional ethical training. Claims adjusters were cheated out of money they worked for, and according to a news article by Globe Newswire requesting overtime to complete tasks were considered a performance issue. This puts the employees under more pressure to get the work done on time, and they even skipped meals in order to do so. This brings employee morale down itself, but not being paid for work that they did only causes pain. On top of it, in order to receive money that Allstate allegedly owes them they have to go through the court system which takes time and is not the most pleasurable process. Employees did not receive short term happiness nor will this situation make them happy in the long term. Based on this analysis, this situation would also be deemed unethical in the Utilitarianism context.

Kantianism:
Within Kantianism there is the Law of Humanity. This law states that in order to be ethical, one must simply treat people as they are, rather than a way to obtain what you desire. Employees were working overtime and skipping meal breaks in order to complete an overwhelming work load. This is common within companies, but when managers would not report overtime that they worked even though that was one of their responsibilities there is a serious problem. By reviewing possible reasoning for the managers to avoid reporting overtime, it is revealed that they would receive bonuses for staying within the budget. This budget did include payroll for employees. Therefore, the sensible motivation behind the managers' motives would be to take advantage of the employees in order for them to reap the benefits. For this reason, the actions would be deemed unethical in the Kantianism context.

Virtue Theory:
Virtue Theory has four main virtues that are the basis of ethical evaluation. These virtues consist of courage, honesty, self-control, and fairness. It is cowardice to steal from your employees and mistreat them in the way the managers did in this case. Managers were also far from honest, they were lying about the amount of hours their employees were working by not reporting overtime. Self-control was not being practiced by the managers either, they let greed get the best of them and harmed their employees by not having self-control. Finally, there was not one bit of fairness behind the managers' actions. They did not deserve the bonuses because they were not properly reporting overtime. They were also being unfair to employees because the managers were preventing the employees from receiving the compensation they worked for. Since the actions did not comply with any of the four main virtues, this situation would also be deemed unethical based on Virtue Theory.

Conclusion:
Assuming that the allegations made in the case of Jimenez v. Allstate are an accurate account of the managers' actions, all four theories claim that this situation is unethical. Allstate could have prevented this by installing some form of a time clock when the claims adjusters were switched from salary to hourly employees. In order to conform to the theories, Allstate needs to compensate their employees for the wages they have lost based on the managers' decisions.


References:
"Allstate Corp. (ALL)" CNN Money. N.d. Web. 27 September 2014.

"Federal Appeals Court Certifies Class Action Against Allstate Insurance Company in Wage Case That Could Exceed $200 Million Dollars" CNN Money. Globe Newswire. September 2014. Web. 23 September 2014.

Jimenez v. Allstate. United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2014. LexisNexis Academic. Web. 23 September 2014.

Amazon: Employee Treatment and Working Conditions Exposed (2013)

Controversy

Amazon Co. logo

Amazon.com also known as “Earth’s Most Consumer-Centric Company” has everything you need from clothes to electronics to books, but what actually happens inside the company warehouses is quite shocking. Within the last year, former workers are coming forward to discuss their experiences working inside the largest warehouse in Breinigsville, Pennsylvania. One man, Neal Heimbach as well as many others have filed lawsuits against the world's largest online retailer. The main complaint in the lawsuit alleges that Amazon fails to compensate hourly workers for time spent waiting in security check lines at the end of each shift and again after their lunch break, this process usually takes 20 minutes to undergo. This process involves employees walking through metal detectors at the start of shifts and undergoing wand screening many times a day. The lawsuit also claims that employee’s get a strict 30 minute unpaid lunch break in which the majority of that time can be taken up walking from one end of the warehouse to the other end. Employees get two paid 15-minute breaks but they allege that they constantly monitor you with supervisors that look at computer screens. After this news story was made public, a source went undercover at one of the warehouses in California and witnessed that Amazon wanted each employee to pack 240 boxes per hour, or shift. The standard was only 150 boxes per shift, making it impossible to pack that many boxes per shift. The last major issue that prompted these lawsuits against Amazon is when a woman suffered heat stroke in the Pennsylvania warehouse and was fired from her position the next day.

Stakeholders
The stakeholders of this case include the employees, their families, customers, and those who sell on Amazon.com. Amazon's employees are the most direct stakeholders because they are the ones who are directly being treated unethically. Because some of the employees suffered medical conditions from working in the warehouses, their families could also be affected. Families could have to live with a medical condition the employee suffered which could cause financial problems or could simply just make taking care of the person a lot more difficult. Another stakeholder in this case are customers. Customers who buy from Amazon probably do not know what is going on inside the warehouses. Because Amazon employees pack customer’s packages, the customers are affected because they are the ones contributing to the employee’s unethical treatment, whether they know it or not. The last stakeholder in this case are the sellers. The people who sell items on Amazon are also connected to the customers and ultimately the employees who are suffering in the warehouses.

Utilitarianism

Amazon packaging warehouse

According to the Utilitarianism Theory, the goal of a business is to maximize happiness in yourself and other people. Therefore, its primary goal is to maximize happiness for all affected parties and to minimize unhappiness for all affected parties. There was no pleasure for Amazon employees while working in the warehouses. One could say that making $11 an hour, more than minimum wage would make the employees content but as most of them said, making that much money an hour was not worth it. In the short-term, employees were content with making $11 an hour but as time went on, the working conditions and the treatment of employees got worse. As a result, making that $11 an hour was not worth it in the long-run.
Overall, Amazon could have avoided all of the negative publicity and lawsuits if they had followed the four ethical theories. Not only would following each of the ethical theories be good for the company, but it would also be good for all of the stakeholders.

Individualism
According to the Individualist Theory, the only goal of a business is to maximize profit within the law. Amazon did in fact increase their profit by $34,204 in 2010 to $74,452 in 2013. Amazon was acting within the constraints of the law after a federal investigation was created. Because there is no law concerning the heat issues, Amazon was acting within the law. With the investigation by OSHA, Amazon was not doing anything wrong concerning the 15 minute break times, it didn’t matter that the time spent walking to the break room could take up almost the entire time of the break.

Kantianism

Jeff Bezos, CEO and founder of Amazon

Under Kantianism, an action is deemed permissible or impermissible according to the Categorical Imperative and the Formula of Humanity which states that it is wrong to use people as a means to get what you want because it exploits them. This theory focuses on Good Will and rationality. Amazon failed the Categorical Imperative and the Formula of Humanity because they hired temporary workers during the holidays and then fired them after. Also, Amazon expected their employees to pack way more boxes than the average which was impossible and unreasonable.

Virtue TheoryAccording to Virtue Theory, rationality is what differentiates characteristics of people. This theory focuses on 4 main virtues: courage, honesty, temperance, and justice. Amazon did not have any of these virtues. They were not courageous because they made their employees work in awful conditions and treated them poorly. They were not honest with their employees, the time spent waiting and the short breaks were wrong. Amazon did not have any temperance because they did not have a reasonable expectation of employees packing 240 boxes per shift. Lastly, Amazon was not just to their employees or to the media. Amazon told the media there was nothing was wrong with the working conditions in the warehouse and tried to make it better by saying that employees were paid $11 an hour.
References

Edwards, Jim. "Brutal Conditions In Amazon's Warehouses Threaten To Ruin The Company's Image." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 05 Aug. 2013. Web. 18 Oct. 2014. http://www.businessinsider.com/brutal-conditions-in-amazons-warehouses-2013-8

“Financial Statements for Amazon.com Inc (AMZN)." Businessweek.com. Web. 30 Sept. 2014. http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/financials/financials.asp?ticker=AMZ.

“Jeffrey Preston Bezos." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 30 Sep. 2014. http://www.biography.com/people/jeff-bezos-9542209#related-video-gallery.

Salazar, Heather. The Business Ethics Case Manual: The Authoritative Step-by-Step Guide to Understanding and Improving the Ethics of Any Business. Print.

Soper, Spencer. "Amazon Warehouse Workers Fight for Unemployment Benefits." Themorningcall.com. 17 Dec. 2012. Web. 30 Sept. 2014. http://www.mcall.com/business/mc-amazon-temporary-workers-unemployment-20121215-story.html#page=1.

Yarow, Jay. "Amazon Was Selling 306 Items Every Second At Its Peak This Year." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 27 Dec. 2012. Web. 18 Oct. 2014. http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-holiday-facts-2012-12

Young, Angelo. "Amazon.com's Workers Are Low-Paid, Overworked And Unhappy; Is This The New Employee Model For The Internet Age?" International Business Times. 19 Dec. 2013. Web. 30 Sept. 2014. http://www.ibtimes.com/amazoncoms-workers-are-low-paid-overworked-unhappy-new-employee-model-internet-age-1514780.