Which of the following best describes the reason the author mentions the boycott of a corporation's products by its customers?
Directions: The question
is based on the following reading passage.
Choose the best answer to the question on the
basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.
Multinational corporations frequently
encounter impediments in their attempts
to explain to politicians, human rights
groups, and (perhaps most importantly)
(5) their consumer base why they do business
with, even seek closer business ties to,
countries whose human rights records
are considered heinous by United States
standards. The CEOs propound that
(10) in the business trenches, the issue of
human rights must effectively be detached
from the wider spectrum of free trade.
Discussion of the uneasy alliance between
trade and human rights has trickled down
(15) from the boardrooms of large multinational
corporations to the consumer on the street
who, given the wide variety of products
available to him, is eager to show support
for human rights by boycotting the products
(20) of a company he feels does not do
enough to help its overseas workers.
International human rights organization also
are pressuring the multinationals to push
for more humane working conditions in
(25) other countries and to in effect develop a
code of business conduct that must be
adhered to if the American company is to
continue working with the overseas partner.
The president, in drawing up a plane for
(30) what he calls the "e;economic architecture
of our times,"e; wants economists, business
leaders, and human rights groups to work
together to develop a set of principles that
the foreign partners of United States
(35) corporations will voluntarily embrace.
Humans rights activists, incensed at the
nebulous plans for implementing such
rules, charge that their agenda is being
given low priority by the State Department.
(40) The president vociferously denies their
charges, arguing that each situation is
approached on its merits without
prejudice, and hopes that all the groups
can work together to develop principles
(45) based on empirical research rather than
political fiat, emphasizing that the
businesses with experience in the field
must initiate the process of developing
such guidelines. Business leaders, while
(50) paying lip service to the concept of these
principles, fight stealthily against their
formal endorsement as they fear such
"e;voluntary"e; concepts may someday be
given the force of law. Few business
(55) leaders have forgotten the Sullivan
Principles, in which a set of voluntary
rules regarding business conduct with
South Africa (giving benefits to workers
and banning apartheid in the companies
(60) that worked with U.S. partners) became
legislation.