Wallblack’s is a large convenience store company that recent…
Wallblack’s is a large convenience store company that recently discovers it is not following environmental laws when disposing of hazardous chemicals like paint, bleach, and pesticides. Nobody other than a few corporate executives at Wallblack’s are aware that the company is dumping these harmful substances in with their ordinary trash instead of disposing of them separately as the law requires, and these Wallblack’s executives know that it would cost a significant amount of money for the company to change its waste disposal practices to become compliant. They are trying to decide whether they want to continue with their current unlawful (but cheap) method of waste disposal or pay a lot of money to bring their actions in line with the legal requirements. During this decision making process, one executive says, “We are lucky that nobody else outside of the company knows about what we are currently doing with hazardous waste disposal. Could you imagine if the media found out about what we’re doing, and our illegal waste disposal practices were talked about all over national TV? Our customers would be furious!” Which of the following ethical frameworks is the executive most clearly using as a strategy to help guide the business?