Instructions

Project 1- The Smoking Alternative (Week 3)

NOTE:  All submitted work is to be your original work. You may not use any work from another student, the Internet or an online clearinghouse.  You are expected to understand the Academic Dishonesty and Plagiarism Policy, and know that it is your responsibility to learn about instructor and general academic expectations with regard to proper citation of sources as specified in the APA Publication Manual, 6th Ed. (Students are held accountable for in-text citations and an associated reference list only). 

Purpose:

The purpose of this project is for students to understand the relationship between government, business and society and demonstrate how each attempts to influence the others.  In completing this project, you will discuss the role ethics plays in business and how the actions of a business can influence society.  Government supports businesses but at the same time, government acts as a regulator and must address societal matters to ensure businesses act in a socially responsible manner.

Outcomes Met With This Project:

· discuss the financial, economic, regulatory, sociopolitical, and technological factors as they relate to a dynamic business environment

· describe the ethical and social responsibilities that confront a business

Skill Building:

You are also completing this project to help you develop the skills of critical thinking, writing and developing a personal brand.  Writing is a critical skill because in business it is important to convey information clearly and concisely and to develop a personal brand.  Developing a personal brand is important because it is the ongoing process of establishing an image or impression in the minds of others especially those in positions above you.  Having a strong personal brand can lead to opportunities that include promotions.

Case Scenario:

Read the following case scenario and answer the questions that follow:

James Monsees and Adam Bowen, co-creators of Juul Labs has come under criticism for potentially marketing to teenagers the e-cigarette device.  Monsees did not show much concern because he believed the small percentage of underage consumers were making a lot of noise that was distracting Juul from one of the greatest advances in public health.  Believed to be safer than cigarettes, Juul devices have shown to be safer than traditional cigarettes containing fewer toxins. 

The e-cigarette has captured 70% of the market share for e-cigarettes.  A Juul that transforms a pod of nicotine-laced liquid into inhalable fumes sells for $34.99 with a pack of pods costing about $15.99.  The company’s revenue is expected to grow to $1 billion in 2018 making the value of the company worth approximately $16.3 billion. 

A major attraction of the Juul device is the variety of flavors available to smokers.  Flavors include mango, fruit, crème and cucumber, all attractive to adolescents.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is scrutinizing the company’s advertising to assess whether Juul has intentionally targeted teenagers.  In 2009, President Obama signed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act granting the FDA the authority to regulate the marketing and sales of tobacco products to reduce adolescent tobacco use.  Although the FDA has authority over cigarettes, cigarette tobacco and smokeless tobacco, it does not have jurisdiction over e-cigarettes, cigars, and snus.  However, the FDA proposed e-cigarettes, little cigars and other products be labeled as ‘tobacco products,’ which provides regulatory jurisdiction to the FDA under the Tobacco Control Act. 

Executives at Juul have taken a position that the company did not intentionally target teenagers. Despite its statement, management at Juul admitted to knowing about the popularity of the e-cigarettes among youth.  In fact, since the release of the flash-drive shaped device in 2015, teenagers have been seen vaping Juuls. 

Since coming under scrutiny, Juul has changed it advertising to move away from using young models in their 20’s to models over 35 years of age.  This effort was to better align its advertising to the company mission to appeal to adult smokers.  In 2018, Juul Labs made another change to its advertisements that led to depicting real people who had switch from cigarettes to Juul. 

Juul Labs has an official Marketing & Social Media Code that states, “We adhere to strict guidelines to ensure that our marketing is directed toward existing adult smokers.” 

On October 1, 2018, the FDA made a surprise inspection of the headquarters of Juul Labs confiscating documents that furthered its efforts against marketing tobacco products to children.

Instructions:

You will use the following steps to complete this project.  Make sure to complete each step to ensure the highest possible grade.  Note that you are using the case scenario facts and the course material.  External sources are not permitted.

Step 1:  Write an Introduction paragraph

The Introduction paragraph is the first paragraph of the paper and will be used to describe to the reader the intent of the paper explaining the main points covered in the paper.  This intent should be understood prior to reading the remainder of the paper so the reader knows exactly what is being covered in the paper.

Step 2:  Ethical and Legal Behavior

You learned about business ethics and the nature of ethical and legal behavior in business.  You will use the course material to support your ideas and reasoning to:

· Differentiate between ethical and legal behavior.

· Discuss whether Juul Labs is facing an ethical issue or a legal issue.  If so, identify and explain the ethical issue and/or legal issue.

Step 3:  Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility is about companies conducting their business in a way that is ethical.    Corporate social responsibility goes beyond taking actions that benefit external organizations or individuals but also is about improving processes and behaviors within the organization.  The answer is not reflective of what Juul did in the case scenario in response to the FDA.

· Explain what actions or measures Monsees and Bowen can take to ensure Juul Labs is operated as an ethical organization.

Step 4:  Business, Government and Society

In this step, you will analyze the role of business, government in relation to society using both the case scenario and the course material.

· Explain how society influences business through government activity.

Step 5: Conclusion 

Write a concluding paragraph that is brief and summarizes the main points.  Provide specific information related to the major topics discussed in the paper.   

Step 6:  Review the Paper

Read the paper to ensure all required elements are present.  In conjunction with these instructions, use the grading rubric to ensure that you gain the most points possible for this assignment.

Proofread the paper for spelling and grammatical issues, and third person writing.

· Read the paper aloud as a first measure;

· Use the spell and grammar check in Word as a second measure;

· Consider submitting the paper to the Effective Writing Center (EWC).  The EWC will provide 4-6 areas that may need improvement.

·

Step 7:  Submit the paper in the Assignment Folder (The assignment submitted to the Assignment Folder will be considered the student’s final product and therefore ready for grading by the instructor.  It is incumbent upon the student to verify the assignment is the correct submission.  No exceptions will be considered by the instructor).

How to Set Up the Paper

Create a Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) document that is double-spaced, 12-point font.  The final product will be no longer than 2 pages in length excluding the title page and reference page.  Write clearly and concisely.

Completing the Paper

In order to complete this project, you will want to first read the module, Learn How to Support What You Write, as this assignment requires you to use the course readings and research to support what you write.  Also,

· Read and use the grading rubric while completing the exercise to ensure all requirements are met that will lead to the highest possible grade.

· Third person writing is required.  Third person means that there are no words such as “I, me, my, we, or us” (first person writing), nor is there use of “you or your” (second person writing).  If uncertain how to write in the third person, view this link:  http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/first-second-and-third-person.

· Contractions are not used in business writing, so do not use them.

· Paraphrase and do not use direct quotation marks.  Paraphrase means you do not use more than four consecutive words from a source document.  Instead put a passage from a source document into your own words and attribute the passage to the source document.  Not using direct quotation marks means that there should be no passages with quotation marks and instead the source material is paraphrased as stated above.  Note that a reference within a reference list cannot exist without an associated in-text citation and vice versa.   You may not use more than four consecutive words from a source document, as doing so would require direct quotation marks.  Changing words from a passage does not exclude the passage from having quotation marks.   If more than four consecutive words are used from source documents, this material will not be included in the grade and could lead to allegations of academic dishonesty.

· You are expected to use the case scenarios and weekly course material to develop the analysis and support the reasoning.   There should be a robust use of the course material along with thorough analysis of potential location information.  Material used from a source document must be cited and referenced.  A reference within a reference list cannot exist without an associated in-text citation and vice versa.  Changing words from a passage does not exclude the passage from having quotation marks.   If more than four consecutive words are used from source documents, this material will not be included in the grade and could lead to allegations of academic dishonesty.

· Use in-text citations and provide a reference list that contains the reference associated with each in-text citation.

· The only book you may use is the course eBook.  This project only allows you to use the course material.  You may not use any external sources including a dictionary or Wikipedia.

· Provide the page or paragraph number in every in-text citation presented.  If the eBook does not have pages, provide the chapter title and topic heading.

 

Self-Plagiarism: Self-plagiarism is the act of reusing significant, identical or nearly identical portions of one’s own work.  You cannot re-use any portion of a paper or other graded work that was submitted to another class even if you are retaking this course.   You also will not reuse any portion of previously submitted work in this class.  A zero will be assigned to the assignment if self-plagiarized.  Faculty do not have the discretion to accept self-plagiarized work.