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Case Study : Legal And Ethical Issues

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Solyndra: Legal and Ethical Issues Barbara Zimmerman BUSN311-D003 American Military University Professor Teresa Knox Solyndra: Legal and Ethical Issues Dr. Chris Gronet founded the Solyndra Solar Company in 2004. Gronet is prominent in the Silicone Valley for being a technological genius, celebrated for his innovations in alternative energy (Weiner, 2012). Less than a year later Solyndra was solicited by the United States Department of Energy, who was very interested in investing in the “clean” alternative energy that Solyndra promised, and the business soared. Solyndra’s practices made headway and even caught the attention of President Obama. But by 2011 Solyndra had declared bankruptcy and became the core of one of America’s largest business scandals. Throughout this paper I will discuss the legal and ethical issues surrounding Solyndra’s business practices and offer examples as to how the philosophy of Milton Friedman may have influenced the company’s executives. Dr. Chris Gronet was the epitome of a Silicon Valley high achiever. After receiving his decorate in semiconductor processing from Stanford’s School of Engineering, Dr. Gronet founded a startup and jointly filed multiple patents in semiconductor manufacturing (Hull, 2011). Solyndra began as a thriving solar energy company, earning the company a $535 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy within a year of its conception. It may have been the ferocious competition, the drop of silicon

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