Are positive abstractions that capture our sense of what is good or desirable?

Term
Definition
the study and practice of decisions about what is good or rightTerm
Definition
the application of ethics to the special problems and opportunities experienced by business peopleTerm
Definition
a problem about what a firm should do for which no clear, right decision existsTerm
social responsibility of businessDefinition
the expectations a community imposes on a firm doing business within its bordersTerm
the WPH framework of ethical decision makingDefinition
ethical guidelines (practical steps) to making ethical decisionsTerm
Definition
Whom would this decision affect? Stakeholders (consumers, owners/investors, mgmt, employees, community, future generations))Term
Definition
PURPOSE (Values); decisions should be made in pursuit of a particular purpose (an ethical end) freedom, security, justice, efficiencyTerm
Definition
HOW (Guidelines); how to make ethical decisions; public disclosure, universalization, Golden RuleTerm
Definition
positive abstractions (ideas) that capture our sense of what is good or desirableTerm
How do we make ethical decisionsDefinition
The golden rule; public disclosure test; universalization testTerm
Definition
treat others as you would like them to treat youTerm
Definition
how would your decision change if the entire world knew your decision? how would people react?Term
Definition
Think: if others were to follow my example, would the world be a better place?

The decisions affect particular groups of stakeholders in the operations of the firm. The pertinent question is thus, Whom would this decision affect?

The decisions are made in pursuit of a particular purpose. Business decisions are instruments toward an ethical end.

The decisions must meet the standards of action-oriented business behavior. Managers
need a doable set of guidelines for how to make ethical decisions.

The stakeholders of a firm are the many groups of people affected by the firm’s decisions. Any given managerial decision affects, in varying degrees, the following stakeholders:

Microsoft has responded to a list of concerns regarding its ongoing $68bn attempt to buy Activision Blizzard, as raised by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), and come up with an interesting statistic.

In response to continued questions over whether Microsoft owning Call of Duty would unfairly hobble PlayStation, Microsoft claimed that every COD player on PlayStation could move over to Xbox, and Sony's playerbase would still remain "significantly larger" than its own.

Microsoft does not go into detail on its mental arithmetic here, but does note elswhere in its comments that PlayStation currently has a console install base of 150 million, compared to Xbox's install base of 63.7 million.

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That claim is part of a range of comments given to Eurogamer sister site GamesIndustry.biz in response to the CMA's latest report, which otherwise mostly repeats many of the same concerns raised by the UK regulator - and others around the world - already.

For those following the case, the CMA's latest intervention will not come as a surprise - it is the next step on the regulator's recent roadmap for how and when it will weigh in with its final ruling. This month, we were due the CMA's October "issues statement" - and it seems that this is the document to which Microsoft has now publicly responded.

The usual topics are covered - surrounding the potential for the deal to harm competitors should Microsoft gain too much of an advantage owning Activision Blizzard franchises (mainly, Call of Duty) and therefore being able to leverage their brand power to become a dominant market leader in the console market and cloud streaming.

Specifically, the CMA sees potential for the deal to harm Sony but also other streaming services such as Google (perhaps a moot point now), Amazon and Nvidia.

"Having full control over this powerful catalogue, especially in light of Microsoft's already strong position in gaming consoles, operating systems, and cloud infrastructure, could result in Microsoft harming consumers by impairing Sony's – Microsoft's closest gaming rival – ability to compete," the CMA wrote, "as well as that of other existing rivals and potential new entrants who could otherwise bring healthy competition through innovative multi-game subscriptions and cloud gaming services."

In response, Microsoft said such "unsupported theories of harm" were not enough to even warrant the CMA's current Phase 2 investigation - which was triggered on 1st September.

"The suggestion that the incumbent market leader, with clear and enduring market power, could be foreclosed by the third largest provider as a result of losing access to one title is not credible," Microsoft told GamesIndustry.biz.

"While Sony may not welcome increased competition, it has the ability to adapt and compete. Gamers will ultimately benefit from this increased competition and choice.

"Should any consumers decide to switch from a gaming platform that does not give them a choice as to how to pay for new games (PlayStation) to one that does (Xbox), then that is the sort of consumer switching behavior that the CMA should consider welfare enhancing and indeed encourage. It is not something that the CMA should be trying to prevent."

The CMA is due to notify Microsoft of its provisional findings in January 2023, at which point it can seek possible remedies to any sticking points raised. The regulator's final report - and overall ruling - will then be published no later than 1st March next year.

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Are positive abstractions that capture one's sense of what is good or desirable?

Values are positive abstractions that capture our sense of what is good or desirable.

What is a positive abstraction?

Values. Positive abstractions that capture our sense of what is good and desirable.

Which of the following is the study and practice of decisions about what is good or right?

Ethics is based on well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues.

What is universalization test?

We call this mechanism for making moral judgments “universalization”: People decide whether it is morally permissible for a person to perform an action by asking what would happen if (hypothetically) everybody felt free to do the same.