Business ethics - After reading a case The Ford Pinto I came to the conclusion that Ford acted unethically in resolving the issues with a gas tank in the cars.

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The business ethics includes three main theories: utilitarianism, deontology and theory of justice. One of the most influential in business ethics is the concept of utilitarianism (Act Utilitarianism) which states that morally justified action is an action which eventually leads to the maximum benefits for everyone who is involved.

After reading a case “The Ford Pinto” I came to the conclusion that Ford acted unethically in resolving the issues with a gas tank in the cars. As I understand, Ford calculated that human life is not worth enough for them to spend extra $8 on the production cost of each car. Ford’s economists did the following: using the statistics of accidents, they estimated approximately how many such accidents will happen in all the years of exploitation of Pinto, and how many people will be burnt alive. Then they calculated the cost of payments for the insurance and the claims of the victims. They also estimated that the cost of remaking all Pinto is several times higher than the cost of the claims. Accordingly, Ford decided that it is more economically profitable to burn people, than to alter cars.

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 In my opinion Ford’s decision was unethical and I support my opinion with an Act Utilitarianism theory. The decision that Ford made was a morally incorrect. The reason why I say this is because; even intellectually challenged person can see that human life is worth more that $8 or the whole Pinto car. In my mind you don’t need to be an economist to resolve the issues with a gas tank without losing any money. What Ford had to do is to add this $8 dollars to the price of the car and the problem could have been solved ($8 ...

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