BUSINESS ETHICS ASSIGNMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

BUSINESS ETHICS ASSIGNMENT - Essay Example ny name, Kenneth Lay was made the Chief Executive Officer and he wanted to expand Enron’s market share as well as the type of markets Enron was in since he had a very different vision for the new shape of the company (Welch, 2005). Houston Natural Gas had previously been in the business of making their money from junk bonds which were also used in the formation of Enron. At the same time, Kenneth Lay wanted to become the biggest player in the energy sector through successful trade earnings from futures contracts (NPR, 2006). To his advantage, Spectrum 7, an oil-well concern welcomed a partnership with Enron a year after its creation. Spectrum 7 was headed by George W. Bush, son of the then-Vice President George H. W. Bush. With falling gas prices in the mid 1980’s, Enron and other gas firms vigorously lobbied for deregulation to get benefits for themselves (Thomas, 2002). It has been known for many years that ethically dubious political connections can help a business but such situations often come to light if the business is unsuccessful (Medawar, 1976). The deregulation action came into effect when buyers switched to the fuel oil as the cheaper alternative. Fluctuating gas prices allowed Enron to start marketing gas futures; securing gas prices at a later date promised to their stakeholders. Similarly, the company lobbied once again for electricity just before selling electric power futures contracts (NPR, 2006). From then on, Enron was aggressive in expanding its services in other sectors such as the water utility sector by creating a company named Azurix which partly collapsed on the NYSE in 1999 and finally shut down operations in 2001 (Thomas, 2002). Concurrently, Jeffery Skilling who had been hired in 1990 to lead the financial side of Enron’s operation became a major personality of the energy trading businesses and became the president and COO for Enron. He built wealth reserves for the company by trading in thirty different industries and was