Introduction
Corporate Compliance plan refers to an arrangement which is specifically designed to spot and prevent law related violations as well as occurrence of unethical actions by the employees of an agency. The violations may also emanate from the volunteers, service providers or from the directors in the agency. A company needs to develop a system or a procedure to help analyze its situation and choose the correct alternative measures to be taken when it is faced with matters concerning corporate compliance. The process should start internally in the agency or in the company. A risk easing preventive approach should be sought to ensure that the situation does not worsen.
Riordan Manufacturing is a global market leader in the production of plastics. This company is charged with both legal and ethical related responsibilities in its business operations. The company ought to realize that this plan goes beyond internal company affairs but also extends to the other companies, consumers of their products as well as other agencies. This therefore means than the company deals with so many employees and the public at large (University of phoenix, 2009).
This report covers Riordan’s manufacturing compliance plan that is adopted as a guide to the employees to help Riordan to be able to achieve its responsibilities and obligations in observing and respecting the law and the policies that affect the general public. The compliance plan contains all the required resources that aid in solving any questions related to the code of conduct in the work place. The plan also gives a guideline that helps to make sure that the job given is done in the most ethical and law abiding way or manner.
The report will be able to recommend any changes in the policies and measures that would be able to allow the company to be in compliance. An alterative resolution clause stating that any person found violating the corporate compliance plan will have to go through a disciplinary procedure in the company or agency. The discipline measures to be taken will depend on the magnitude of non compliance that may range from being given warnings, suspension from work place or by being dismissed.
Prevention and Management Guidelines for ADR
ADR stands for Alterative Dispute Resolution. This describes a number of ways that are used to resolve a crisis or despute as an alternative to a court of law. It involves the use of negotiations and arbitrations as well as other related methods to avoid the court of law. When dealing with this issue, the dispute resolution involves all the related stakeholders such as the public, local governments and federal agents. The involvement of many stakeholders ensures that there is enough transparency, accountability and outreach.
Prevention and Management Guidelines for Enterprise and Product Liability
Enterprise liability is also called the market share liability. It is a platform where different companies can be held responsible or in liability in a joint way.It is the responsibility of the officials to understand such liabilities and how they occur to help in avoiding both enterprise and product liability. It is also important to understand how to minimize the effects that come with enterprise liability in future.
The board should converse with senior administration the state of the entity’s venture risk management and make available oversight as desired. The board should ensure it is aware of the most important risks, along with actions the administration should take and how to ensure successful enterprise risk management. The board should consider seeking participation from in-house auditors as well as peripheral auditor’s.
Prevention and Management Guidelines for International Law
International law is used to refer to the implied and the precise agreements that bind two or more sovereign nations in recognition of values and standards that guide these two countries. With Riordan Manufacturing Company’s expansion into the international markets, the business form changes to electronic or to e-business which has helped very many companies to flourish more recently. E-commerce or e-business has been used to grow businesses by increasing productivity and efficiency.
Riordan Manufacturing has come to terms with the fact that official authorization and regulatory protection is needed to allow it transact on a global scale and also to protect them and their shareholders from crimes and illegal businesses in the internet. Having most of their business done once, there is a need to have a second look at the way the regulatory and protection personnel contribute to the welfare of the company. Without good regulation, the company is bound to fall into wrong hands and may be sent bankrupt by hackers over the internet. There is therefore a need to comply with the set international law standards to help in regulating businesses as well as protecting investors and shareholders from malicious people in the international trade (Emerson, 2009).
The Export Administration Regulations (EAR) controls the export of items for national protection foreign plan. All exports from the United States must be acknowledged as specified by the EAR and must be cleared through the Customs. Riordan has established out that once the export goods have been manufactured and have been classified, it can be resolved whether or not a license would be required.
It is a law for the states and not necessarily for the citizens in a management setup. There is need to understand the law very well since the businesses will always cross the borders and the rules that are used must be very clear so that the company can easily comply with the set international law standards. With good management, it is possible to avoid any risks and lessen any liabilities to a company that are related to failures to comply wit the internationally set standards (Lane, 2009).
Prevention and Management Guidelines for Tangible and Intellectual Property
Intellectual property is protected at the national level as well as in the international level. The property is generally divided into two sections namely; copyright property (used to protect all artistic works) and industrial property (used to protect the inventions and innovations that are related to the industries). The industry related inventions present new ways of doing things. Items under the industrial patents are trademarks for new product launches especially designs and other geography related indications.
When dealing with the tangibles, the situation is less hard since these can easily be controlled. The risks associated with intellectual property in a company is the ability of the management to distinguish the rights among many disputed and disputable rights. The patents from the original definition must satisfy several conditions to be justified. First, the patent must be new and never produced before. Second, the patent should be giving a solution to a problem. The patent should give or present a new way of handing a certain activity or process. This means that the patent gives an easier way of doing something than the process currently in use. Lastly, the patent should be industry applicable. If the patent does not have an industrial significance, it is null and void.
The directors and officers in a big company such as Riordan should be able to not only protect the employee’s patents locally but also internationally (Jennings, 2006). It is therefore imperative that all the officers and the directors be asked to be more serious and be keen when dealing with patents and tangible goods from the employees in the agency.
Prevention and Management Guidelines for Legal Forms of Business and Governance
Riordan manufacturing is devoted to conducting its trade activities in a legit and ethical way. Any dispute, argument or claim coming up out of or relating to legal agreement, including the analysis, breach or termination, including whether the argument emphasized is arbitral or not, will be referred to and determined by negotiations in accordance with the AAA worldwide Arbitration regulations. Usually, the court consists of three arbitrators. The language used in the arbitral trials is English. The directors should be in a position to ethically govern the agency and conduct business in a logical way to avoid misunderstandings and ambiguities (Emerson, 2009).
The chief decision-maker should bring together section heads and key functional personnel to discuss an early assessment of project risk management capacity and effectiveness. Whatever the outline, an initial appraisal should be used to determine whether there is a need for a broader evaluation. Other unit staff directors and workers should consider how they are conducting their tasks in light of this structure and discuss more high-ranking human resources items for intensification enterprise risk management.
Aspects of Laws to be adhered to by Riordan and the Employees
The efficacy of the compliance plan mostly depends on the leadership’s hard work and level of utilization of key human resources at Riordan. It is the duty of the directors and officers to ensure that their team of employees, contractors and even volunteers comply with the compliance rules and that sufficient information is availed to them. They should be encouraged to comply with the legislations or laws, policies and regulations as well as the ethical issues relating to the manufacturing environment. The key personnel heads such as the officers and the directors must be ready to embrace creating a high level of ethics and compliance.
There is need to have a better and stable legal advice for the company as it expands. For now, Riordan enjoys the services of Mr. Bradford Lowell to answer all legal cases and questions when the company needs to make any legal decisions. In addition, Riordan Manufacturing Company outsources a legal firm in cases when more professional advice is required (University of phoenix, 2009).
Handling Situations when Laws have been Violated
In a business setting, it is expected that foul play may come in especially when dealing with competitors. A company should cultivate honesty and ethical conduct in its people to avoid such instances. This way, the company will have taken a good step towards complying with corporate regulations. The company should avoid conflicts of interest and should try to be complaint with all the applicable governmental laws and regulations. When this is violated by another company or client, the company should be able to report to the relevant regulatory body for action to be taken against the offending company or individuals.
Conclusion
Managing the legal liabilities in a company is very important especially for officers and directors in ensuring sustainable growth. A company should seek the best dispute resolution methods to reduce the costs and time wasting associated with court proceedings. It is important to understand both product and enterprise liability and how they affect the performance of the company. More importantly, it is imperative to understand how enterprise liability is a risk to a company and how such risks can be minimized. Intellectual property can be used to give a niche to an organization when well secured both locally and internationally.
It is important for a company to secure its intellectual property to avoid piracy. For the success of any corporate compliance plan, the senior management should provide all relevant information to all employees which relate to compliance with legal requirements. Lastly, it is a good practice in a corporate plan for a company to seek relevant legal assistance when some of its rights are violated.
References
Emerson, J. (2009). Business Law (5th Ed.). NY: Barron’s Educational Series.
Jennings, M. (2006). Business: Its legal, ethical, and global environment (7th Ed.). Ohio: Thomson Learning Inc.
Lane, H. (2009). International Management Behavior: Leading with a Global Mindset (6th Ed.). NY: Wiley Publishers.
University of Phoenix. (2009). Course Material. Phoenix: University of Phoenix.