Magna Versus Royal Laser
Magna Versus Royal Laser
Society has become very cynical regarding business ethics. With liberalization and globalization becoming increasingly more important in the 21st century, it has become more difficult to evaluate and validate the goals of a business while fulfilling the demands that ethics put on government, business and consumers. Clearly, the purpose of a business can take two opposing views. From a business standpoint, an organization's primary goal is to offer quality to its customers, efficiency from its employees and competitiveness amongst businesses. However, from an ethical standpoint, a business should act "religiously" towards all stakeholders of a company by taking account of the extent of human suffering that their actions might cause in society. Multinational corporations are increasingly being faced with lawsuits, which tend to accentuate the importance that policy planners in government and industry should allocate to ethical issues. For instance, Microsoft has faced numerous lawsuits for monopolizing the market in an unethical manner. These ordeals have cost the company millions of dollars in the past five years or so. Not only do these lawsuits ruin the image of the company but, from an economic perspective, these lawsuits hurt the company's profits, directly and indirectly. In essence, conflict of interest exists between all members involved when dealing with business ethics. This paper will attempt to examine the ethical issues of non-competing clause, the fiduciary obligation of a manager and senior officer, theft of trademark secrets, and employer-employee obligations to one another. These topics will be discussed through the case of Magna International versus Royal Laser Tech Corporation.
Magna International Inc. versus Royal Laser Tech Corporation involves four parties-Mister Fred Jaekel, Royal's current Chief Executive Officer, Mister Nick Orlando, who had been formerly employed at Cosma International Inc., a Magna Unit, as the Executive Vice-President of Finance, the Magna International Corporation and its competitor Royal Laser Tech Corporation, a metal molding company. There are two lawsuits at hand that need to be discussed. First of all, Fred Jaekel, as of August 2001, filed a lawsuit against his ex-employer Magna International Inc. because of his wrongful dismissal for $70 million dollars. Mister Jaekel claims that Magna owes him bonuses, shares and other payments. In response to the accusation, as of October 15, 2001, Magna launched a $50 million lawsuit against Mister Fred Jaekel's employer. Also,...