Putting Profit in its Place

Jane Burston: Putting Profit in its Place

Wed, 13 Nov 13 http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/fourthought

 

Jane Burston argues that by placing too much emphasis on profit, companies behave in an unethical way, and it is time for social purpose to take centre stage. Listen to the extract up to minute 6:16 and try to answer the following questions.

     1. Some of the language Ms. Burston uses has been extracted in the following lines. Since some of it refers to banking scandals and circumventing labour regulations, you may need to check some of the meaning through the links provided:

My hopes had been pinned on a lecture called Business and social purpose

Zero-hours contracts

Sub-prime mortgage crises

Libor rate rigging

Large scale oil spillages

A stationery company that had developed a terrible reputation for running the small companies in its sector aground

Reality bites

Cut corners and cut costs

2. According to the speaker in what ways do Friedman and Smith believe capitalism to benefit society?
 

     3. In Ms. Burston’s experience at Harvard, what was the solution put forward to make up for and dispel the company’s reputation?

      4. How does the speaker justify and exemplify the following statement: ‘So long as businesses have profit as the end goal, they will inevitably be unethical’?

     5. What threefold solution does Ms. Burston suggest in order for this business model to be changed?

Drugs in sport

Paul Dimeo: Drugs in Sport

Mon, 14 Oct 13 http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/fourthought

 

Paul Dimeo (Scottish accent) argues that drugs made modern sport what it is today. Listen to the programme up to minute 8:14 and notice both the language used and the ideas conveyed through the following questions:

1. Some of the expressions you will hear in this talk are:

A major sporting event

The glories of human achievement and endurance

Performance enhancing drugs

Part and parcel

A household name

Twenty-five years after Johnson’s ignominy

This is one of the most famous, or infamous, events in sports history

The level playing field

Excellence and rivalries fuelled by steroids

  

      2. Why are Johnson and Armstrong said to have doped?

     3. What reason does Mr. Dimeo provide for the prevailing spread in the use of drugs in sport over the last few decades in the 20^th century?

     4. In what way does Mr. Dimeo say the use of drugs in sports has supported the Olympics and made them appealing to current audiences?

If you want, you can continue listening to the argumentation to the end and we can discuss the arguments provided in this talk, the conclusions reached and their relevance to the current situation in sporting competitions in class. You can find a loose transcript of this talk at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24329252