This final essay gives you an opportunity to address an issue of interest to you in the dynamics of stakeholder relationships. I ask that your essay topic fulfill three basic requirements: Consider a stakeholder group and its relationship to a specific organization or industry Take a normative position about how the stakeholders should behave or how the firm should behave with respect to the stakeholders Account for the strategic issues to explain why this issue has proven difficult to solve and (ideally) how a different strategy might help. The wider purpose for the assignment is to consolidate some of what you now understand by reflecting on the learning goals of the course. To help you to see how some of these pieces fit together, I provide an annotated list of the goals and some insights that we have explored in class discussions: Propose and evaluate normative justifications for business policies and practices in ways that are sensitive to competing interests within a firm. Is a policy fair? Did stakeholder have an opportunity to deliberate or benefit from an open and transparent procedure? Have managers focused appropriately on making a positive impact and/or avoiding harm? Identify moral issues that are likely to stress relationships among key organizational constituencies and organize deliberation to help these constituencies to better understand each other, to voice their concerns, and to consider competing solutions. Organizational inequality Climate change and environmental justice Going beyond surface appearances to interrogate historical injustices and their legacies in contemporary institutions (e.g. mass incarceration) Challenge established practices with a rhetorically cogent and politically nuanced understanding of the business environment. Using alternative business forms Developing purpose-centered businesses The priority of efficiency (for and against the market) Evaluate an organizational culture to make informed decisions about where to work. Virtue in the character of employee conduct Incentives to do the right thing Accountability for personal and organizational transgressions (e.g. #metoo) As you explore stakeholder relationships in your paper, please look back on the readings from the class and notes from discussion. Try to use this paper as a way to encapsulate some of the conversations and considerations that are especially meaningful to you. Your submitted essay should be roughly 4000 words (~15 pages). The deadline is during the scheduled exam period, though earlier submissions are enthusiastically welcomed.