Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Law - Essay Example Legal and ethical issues in Solyndra correlate with each other in the company’s daily functioning. To address the problem, they offer a significant framework for the practice of business and for the relationship of the company with the customers. A manufacturing business establishment is an organization in the secondary sector that processes various natural resources to produce a particular product. Several ethical issues come into play in such organizations, which are much more than in other businesses in diverse sectors. The main reason is that manufacturing involves consumptions of natural resources and labor that require numerous ethical decisions for directors and managers to make. There are several key issues to think about when looking at the ethical performance of manufacturers, especially for solar panel, which necessitates handling of toxics substance in manufacture and removal. They also need to consider the aspects of waste management and disposal. Besides, sustain ability of product (energy and carbon footprint payback time), employees’ rights in manufacture supply chains (child labor, too much overtime and overtime pay less than legal minimum, longer working hours, maternity leave, sick and marital leave, pregnancy, marital position and discrimination based on disability, minimum wage and social insurance.) etc are to be considered. The management will also have to take into account the company’s participation in any kind of controversial activities that may be prejudicial to the society where it operates. Ethical and Legal Issues in Solyndra: Since the year 2005, ethical and legal issues in Solyndra, a solar-panel manufacturing company, have been negatively affecting its overall functioning. In the recent times, business environment has become more competitive and challenging. Therefore, business firms must try to overcome the competition and other challenges to increase overall profitability. Solyndra, however, suffered certa in setbacks primarily due to the fact that their manufacturing process remained highly complex, requiring specialized equipment which were expensive. Thus, their production costs have escalated. Besides, the price of traditional solar panels slumped sharply, which entailed a steep fall in the demand for their products. All these negative trends culminated in heavy financial loss to the company, resulting in their bankruptcy. 1) Bankruptcy’ is the one of the main issues that Solyndra faces currently. This problem has both legal and ethical perspectives. The basic ethical problem in bankruptcy in the company is that insolvents have promised to disburse their debts but at the same time they cannot keep their promise at the given time. Solyndra has obtained a large amount of loan even though could not keep up with the falling solar expenses. However, the loan was urgently needed by the company for installing new solar technologies. Thus, they received a loan guarantee of $535 mil lion from US Energy Department for protection against bankruptcy and pleaded for an extension. Solyndra is the first renewable energy business establishment to receive a federal loan in the year 2009. They went bankrupt the previous year and laid off 1100