Spotted Owl Case Study

Business Ethics

Case Study – Spotted Owl

1. Conduct a stakeholder analysis of this case. Who are the primary and secondary stakeholders, and what are the major concerns of each? Draw a stakeholder map, showing the major lines of expected coalition formation.

Logging and timber industries are concerned to see if they will be able to get back to work and start cutting timber again. Mills and wood manufactures are concerned if they will to get the right wood to produce their products. Employees of the mills and manufactures are concerned if they will be able to provide for their families. Communities and state governments that are concerned with how their economies will fare if the industries cannot provide the financial security that the economies are accustomed to. The federal government is concerned with trying to provide economic growth and environmental protection. Environmentalists are concerned with protecting the old-growth forest to save the spotted owl and the many other species that survive there. The fishing industry is concerned with the habitat that supports the fish population to maintain a healthy supply.

Fishing Industry

Timber Industry

Logging Industry

Environmentalists

Mills

Old-Growth Forest

Federal Government

Wood manufactures

State Governments

Employees of mills and manufactures

Communities

2. If you were a member of the interagency task force assembled by the president to devise a solution to this problem, what goals or principles would you establish to guide development of a plan?

We must not forget the human and the economic dimensions of these problems. Where management policies can preserve the health of forest lands, sales should go forward. Where this requirement cannot be met, we need to do our best to offer new economic opportunities for year-round, high-wage, high-skill jobs. We need to protect the long-term health of our forests, our wildlife, and our waterways. Our efforts...