NAME: ZAIN JAWAID ID: 10238

CASE STUDY: Archer Daniels Midland and the Friendly Competitors

QUESTION 01:
ANS:
In this case study we will discuss that According to the situation, the ADM plant could
manufacture “250 million tons of lysine a year – enough to meet half of the annual global
demand,” implying that global lysine demand was about 41.7 tons per month on average.
Calculate how much money the lysine firms made per month when their price-fixing scheme
was in effect (i.e., when lysine was selling for $1.20 a pound). The lysine firms made $ 50.04
million while lysine was selling for $1.20 a pound and their price-fixing strategy was really
operating. $50.04 million = 41.7 million tons x $1.20.
The difference between what the companies made each month their price-fixing actually
worked is $ 25.02 million $ (50.04 - 25.05) = $25.02 million
YEAR 1992 SEP-DEC 41.7M TON*4 MONTH*($1.05-$0.6) $75.06 M
YEAR 1993 JUL-DEC 41.7M TON*6 MONTH*($1.05-$0.6) $112.56M
YEAR 1994 JAN-DEC 41.7M TON*12 MONTH*($1.2-$0.6) $300.24M
YEAR 1995 JAN-APIRL 41.7M TON*4 MONTH*($1.2-$0.6) $100.08M
TOTAL MONOPOLY PROFIT $587.97M.

Now from there we Finally, estimate the total number of months that you think the price-fixing
scheme was actually working?
The price-fixing scheme was actually working through when the price of lysine is increasing. So
we can find that the price of lysine is increasing when Year 1992(September- December) Year
1993(July- December) Whole year of 1994 The first 4 month of year 1995.
Did the U.S and European government fines fully recover the total amount of monopoly profit
the companies made?
The U.S and European government fines were: $100 million + $350000 x 2 + $2.5 million +
$75000 x 2 + $46 million = $148.5 million So from the previous part we found that the total
amount of monopoly profits the companies made were $587.97 million. The fines only can
recover 25% from the whole market.
Question 02:
ANS: IN This question the Mark Whitacre should be blamed because of the moral responsibility
that he broke and he also broke down the capitalist justice for himself. Capitalist Justice is the
justice that is distribute according to contribution. let’s take the example, the more investment
invests, the more return will get. The lysine production of ADM was generating profit but no
because of the high investment. The profit of lysine generated by the Mark’s tactic that is price-
fixing. This is no parallel with the capitalist justice. The term moral responsibility is sometimes
used to mean “moral obligation”. In philosophy, moral responsibility is the status of morally
deserving praise, blame, reward, or punishment for an act or omission, in accordance with
one's moral obligations. For example, Mark Whitacre is morally responsibility for what he did
when he trying to fix the lysine’s price.
There are several reasons are important for getting clear about what moral responsibility
involves in our life and in our values. First, allow us to ensure that we do not mistakenly blame
an innocent person help keep us from wrongly trying to rationalize our conduct. Lastly, to
identify who should fix the wrong. For example, Mark is morally responsible for fixing the
lysine’s price and theft money from ADM he done this just for himself and to gain some money
which is not morally good, then he is the one who should sentence to 20 months in prison, plus
9 years for steal money and forced to return the money he took. Being clear about what moral
responsibility involves will help us see our own responsibility more clearly and help us avoid
rationalizations and self-deception in our daily life and in our business also.