Reference no: EM133312529

HealthyLife (HL) is a publicly-traded company in the Food Manufacturing Industry. HealthyLife has been around since the 1970s, and is mainly focused on the production and wholesale of "organic and healthy breakfast cereals with no preservatives or additives". In fact, HealthyLife markets itself as a producer of "organic, all-natural cereals that nurture people so that they can constantly develop and thrive". The cereals are marketed to adults who have a busy lifestyle, with the packaging of the cereals involving an environmentally-friendly, fully biodegradable bowl that contains individual sized cereal portions, so that an adult can simply add milk and enjoy the cereal "on the go". Because HealthyLife has been around for so long, many of its senior employees are from a time when few women or members of minority races were hired. Even among more junior employees, the firm is disproportionately male and white. In response to this, HealthyLife's Human Resources department has recently announced a diversity policy, which states that "HealthyLife is an equal opportunity employer that seeks contributions from all genders, races and different forms of ability". HealthyLife's investors have recently been complaining about HealthyLife's below market returns for the last three years. In response to this, there has been mounting pressure by senior employees to shift HealthyLife's focus towards producing the more-traditional, processed cereal that is marketed and sold to children. HealthyLife's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) decided to venture into the production and marketing of children's cereal, albeit by producing and marketing a single "chocolate" flavoured cereal for children. The cereal will be low-sugar, organic and all natural, and will be marketed as a healthy and sustainable "on the go" breakfast for school-going children. The same environmentally-friendly, fully biodegradable bowl with individual sized cereal portions will be used, but with more attractive packaging and colors that appeal to children. HealthyLife's CEO also decided to hire a "Product Manager" to spearhead this initiative. The candidate has to have a Bachelor Degree in Business, an MBA, and 7 years of relevant employment experience. The CEO hopes that this initiative will prove to all stakeholders that HealthyLife is a sustainable business financially, socially, and environmentally. One long-range, but exciting, possibility for HealthyLife's new product would be if it were adopted by one or more of the early-drop breakfast programs operated by some school boards for children whose parents need to be at work very early. This would result in very steady, bulk sales of the new cereal to a government-funded buyer that would be immune from recession or other economic pressures.

Discuss the relevant ethical considerations in such a situation, focusing on: (i) building arguments that apply the relevant means-based theories, ends based theories, and cultural relativist theories to determine the appropriate course of action, and (ii) considering counter-arguments to any arguments or actions you propose.

Given the facts in the case , and assuming that you are the CEO, discuss what decision you should make, focusing on building arguments, and considering counterarguments, that apply means-based theories, ends-based theories and theories responding to cultural relativism to determine the appropriate course of action.