The W. R. Grace Company was founded by, yes, a man named W. R. Grace. He was Iri

Question

The W. R. Grace Company was founded by, yes, a man named W. R. Grace. He was Irish and it was a shipping enterprise he brought to New York in 1865. Energetic and ambitious, while his company grew on one side, he was getting civically involved on the other. Fifteen years after arriving, he was elected Mayorof New York City. Five years after that, he personally accepted a gift from a delegation representing the people of France. It was the Statue of Liberty.

Grace was a legendary philanthropist. He provided massive food donations to his native Ireland to relieve famine. At home, his attention focused on his nonprofit Grace Institute, a tuition-free school for poor immigrant women. The classes offered there taught basic skills—stenography, typewriting, bookkeeping—that helped students enter the workforce. More than one hundred thousand young women have passed through the school, which survives to this day.

In 1945, grandson J. Peter Grace took control of the now worldwide shipping company. A decade later, it became a publicly traded corporation on the New York Stock Exchange. The business began shifting from shipping to chemical production.

By the 1980s, W. R. Grace had become a chemical and materials company, and it had come to light that one of its plants had been pouring toxins into the soil and water underneath the small town of Woburn, Massachusetts. The poisons worked their way into the town’s water supply and then into the townspeople. It caused leukemia in newborns. Lawsuits in civil court, and later investigations by the Environmental Protection Agency, cost the corporation millions.  

J. Peter Grace retired as CEO in 1992. After forty-eight years on the job, he’d become the longest-reigning CEO in the history of public companies. During that time, he also served as president of the Grace Institute. The nonfiction novel A Civil Action came out in 1996. The best-selling, award-winning chronicle of theWoburn disaster soon became a Hollywood movie. The movie, starring John Travolta, continues to appear on television with some regularity.

To honor the Grace Institute, October 28 was designated “Grace Day” by New York City in 2009. On that day, the institute defined its mission this way: “In the tradition of its founding family, Grace Institute is dedicated to the development of the personal and business skills necessary for self-sufficiency, employability, and an improved quality of life.”

Questions:

1. Write the Introduction

2. Do corporations have an ethical responsibility to finance environmental protections? Did the W.R. Grace Corporation have a financial responsibility to protect the environment? Explain

3. How does a Cost-Benefit Analysis align with Utilitarianism? How might a cost-benefit analysis pertain to the W.R. Grace Company?

4. Is the creation of “Grace Day” an ethical issue? Why or why not?

Explanation / Answer

1. Since this the story of a W.R.Grace and his organisation the introduction can go something like this:

This the Story of the W.R.Grace, one of the pioneering philanthropist and an ambitious man who founded an shipping organisation in the city of New York. He was known more for his contribution towards the society and welfare measure for the people of the country,especialy women. Despite many allegations on his company(when his grandson was in power) October 28 of every year is celebrated as the 'Grace day'.His story goes like this.

2. Yes, the corporation do have a ethical responsibility towards environmental protection. Although the firms do not have to mandatorily finance environmental but it is bound by law to maintain a Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) regulations.If any negative externality is created by the corporation, like the Grace institute has done, the corporation is bound by law to offer compensation to the victims of the externality. CSR , as a concept, has been in talks since 1960's . Since W.R.Grace seems to be a person involved in civil resonsibilities,the corporation did have a financial responsibility towards environmentla protection. This had to be done regardless of who was heading th eorganisation at that time.

3.Cost-benefit aligns with Utilitarianism in the sense that the an individual or a firm gets utmost utility when its benefits are maximisied and costs minimised. Although profit plays a major role in creating utility, CSR should also play a role in utlity but it would pertain more to individual utility rather than that of the organisation.A cost-benefit analysis of the Grace organisation semms to have been more in individual utility of W.R.Grace, as he was more involved in civility than organisational growth. Although, his grandson followed his footsteps, he seems to neglected certain duties that the organisation should have taken care of and hence put organisational benefit rather than utility. The Woburn disaster became a costly(benefits would depend on what the organisation profit from the particular project) lesson to the organisation.

4. The creation of 'Grace Day' is , in fact , an ethical issue as naming a day with a person's name is always debated upon, speculated and even contradicted. I think that the victims of the Woburn disaster would have been unhappy about it. Although, W.R.Grace, as protrayed by the above article, seemed to be an honest man commemorating him with the day is a nice gesture, it would still be an ethica issue as ther would have been different views so as to the credibility of the rperson as well as the organisation.Given the mistakes, there might have been a opposition to it.

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