MODEL MEL SYLLABUS 2006-07
(12 Sessions/ 80 minutes each)
LEONARD N. STERN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY:
MARKETS, ETHICS & LAW (B02.3101.XX)
(Fall, Spring, Summer) Term 200X
 Dates:
 Meeting Time:
 Classroom:
PROFESSOR XXX
 Office:
 Office Hours:
 Phone:
 Fax:
 Email:
 Teaching Assistant:

Secretary: icoleman@stern.nyu.edu or 998-0048
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this course is to introduce the student to a broad range of “non-market”
issues encountered by managers and business professionals, and to help the student
develop a set of analytical perspectives for making judgments when such issues arise. In
economics many of these issues can be described as market failures or imperfections. To
a limited extent, we will illustrate how the legal system is used to redress such failures of
the market economy. We will also examine the role of ethical norms and reasoning in
resolving such issues in managerial life, and in establishing standards of professional
responsibility.
More directly, the student in this course will exercise professional judgment through
discussion and analysis. Most such exercises will require the analysis of one or more
cases, as indicated on the attached schedule of class assignments. In addition, we will
study writings in the fields of ethical reasoning, professional responsibility, and the law.
DIGITAL COURSEPACK
All cases and readings for this course are found in the digital course-pack:
Professional Responsibility: Markets, Ethics, and Law
Cases and Readings for 2006-07
The digital access codes can be purchased at the NYU Professional Bookstore . Note that
the edition for the current academic year, 2006-07, is different from prior editions.
Make sure you have the current edition.
TO PURCHASE The Professional Responsibility Digital Course-pack:
Do EITHER ONE of the following:
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1. ONLINE:

Go to the NYU Bookstore web site: http://www.bookstores.nyu.edu.

Click on the "Book Inquiry & Ordering" link

Select the "Search by ISBN" option and enter ISBN 0536181357

Proceed to Checkout and complete your order

Within one business day of completing your order you will receive an email
with your access code and instructions for accessing the digital readings.
2. PURCHASE at the NYU Professional Book Store
You must have your NYU ID Card and your NYU email account must be active. After
completing the sale your code and instructions will be sent to your NYU email address.
ACCESSING The PR Digital Course-pack:
After purchasing the PR Digital Course-pack either online or at the bookstore do the
following:
1. Log onto Blackboard.
Stern students should log into Blackboard through http://sternclasses.nyu.edu
Non-Stern students should log into NYUHOME https://home.nyu.edu and click on the
Academics tab.
2. Click on the course listing "Professional Responsibility Digital Course-pack"
Note that this listing is DIFFERENT from your individual professor's Blackboard listing
for the Professional Responsibility course.
3. Click on the large button labeled "START HERE"
4. Check box that says "No, I am a new user."
5. Look for "Access Code" boxes at the center of the page.
6. Fill in your personal access code in the boxes provided.
7. Create your Login by inserting your email address.
8. Create your Password by creating your own personal password.
9. Create your Security Question.
10. Click on Next at the bottom of the page - you are now a Registered User.
11. Once you have registered you will need to navigate back to the Blackboard Site and
login in to the article you want to view.
12. You are now ready to use the PR Digital Coursepack.
PROBLEMS?
1. "403" Forbidden Message received.
COMPLETELY log out of Blackboard. CLOSE all other open windows & programs on
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2. Other problems?
contact http://247.global.pearsoned.com/email/index.asp
3. Still Other problems?
rkowal@stern.nyu.edu
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PREPARATION FOR CLASS
Each class session consists of several study modules. Each study module contains
readings and study questions. Your primary obligation in this course is to prepare for
class discussion by thorough reading and analysis of assigned materials. Case discussions
and in-class activities are an essential part of the course. All students are responsible for
mentally preparing answers to all of the study questions before coming to class. The
instructor will ask some students to provide their answers orally, as a basis for further
discussion.
GRADING
The weights for the student’s overall grade are:
Class Participation
Homework: Written Study Question Analysis
Term Paper Project
20%
40%
40%
HOMEWORK: WRITTEN STUDY QUESTION ANALYSIS (2 to 3 pages typed)
Each student should perform a written analysis for XX study questions over the course of
the term. That is, for XX sessions of his or her choosing the student should write out his
or her analysis of any one of the assigned study questions. These analyses should be 2-3
pages in length. The student can submit more than XX written analyses, but only the top
XX grades will count.
TERM PAPER DESCRIPTION: (1 page typed)
DUE: Session X
A one-page description of your term paper project as described below.
TERM PAPER PROJECT: (8 – 12 pages typed & double-spaced)
DUE: Session X
The purpose of this paper is to allow the student to apply principles of professional
responsibility to an actual, specific business situation. The student will describe a
situation with which he or she has first-hand familiarity. The student may have been a
major or minor actor in the situation, or may have merely witnessed the situation. In any
event, the requirements are that the situation raise ethical or legal issues and that the
student was there. It would not be appropriate to analyze a situation if you were not in a
position to observe it directly.
Organize the term paper as follows:
I. Situation
Provide a description of the situation or practice; this description must be detailed and
rich enough to allow the reader to get a clear sense of the issues and circumstances (2-4
pages).
II. Analysis
Apply some method or methods of ethical (or perhaps legal) reasoning to the situation
and examine the results of this application. Are the results logical, beneficial, counter
intuitive, or in any other way problematic? Here the student should apply, wherever
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appropriate, concepts from the course and its readings. Also, the student should cite the
relevant law (2-4 pages).
III. Resolution & Conclusion
Describe how the situation was actually resolved. Discuss this resolution in light of the
ethical analysis from section II (2-4 pages).
Evaluation of Term Paper Project: Good performance (hence good grades) on this
assignment consists of systematically and thoroughly applying relevant concepts and
methods from the course to the situation, and in testing the worth of those concepts and
methods in resolving the ethical issues it presents.
Confidentiality of Term Paper Projects:
The contents of the term paper projects that you submit are held strictly confidential. The
term papers are not read by anyone other than the professor and are not disseminated in
any fashion to other person(s).
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COURSE SCHEDULE
TOPICS & ASSIGNMENTS
SESSION #1
DATE: XXX
MARKET FAILURES & PROFESSIONAL DILEMMAS
READINGS
Economic Theories of
Regulation: Normative vs.
Positive”
The Price of Lobster
Thermidor
Pollution Case Highlights
Trend to Let Employees
Take the Rap.”
Making An Ethical
Decision
Linda N. Edwards &
Franklin R. Edwards
Digital Coursepack
Course Concepts:
Economics of Market Failure
The Economist
http:/www.suboceansafety.
org
Dean Starkman
Social Responsibility &
Human Rights: Moral
Standards Across Borders
Corporate Governance:
Control By Law
Terry Halbert & Elaine
Ingulli
Course Concepts:
Ethical Theories
STUDY QUESTIONS
1.Why do market failures tend to bring about laws or regulations to counter their effects?
2. Based on the Edwards article which market failures or imperfections are present in the
“Lobster Thermidor” case? In the “Pollution” case?
3. How might ethical methodology help an executive or legislator to make more effective
decisions in the presence of market imperfections?
4. Based on the Halbert & Ingulli reading identify at least one market failure related to
your employment situation and apply the methods of ethical reasoning to this market
failure.
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SESSION #2
DATE: XXX
TRUTH & DISCLOSURE
READINGS
The Business of Ethics
Ethics and the New Game
Theory
Bitter Pill
Familiar Refrain:
Consultant’s Advice on
Diversity was Anything but
Diverse
Today’s Analyst Often
Wears Two Hats
Double Agents in the
Financial System
Norman Chase Gillespie
Gary Miller
Digital course pack
Truth & Disclosure
Ethical Theories
Ralph T. King, Jr
Douglas A. Blackmon
Truth & Disclosure
Truth & Disclosure
Roger Lowenstein
Truth & Disclosure
Roy C. Smith
True & Disclosure
The Numbers Game
Arthur Levitt
Truth & Disclosure
You Have The Only Hard
Copy
Ghost Story
Peter Elkind
Truth & Disclosure
Anna Wilde Mathews
Truth & Disclosure
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Would Gillespie (“The Business of Ethics”) voice any objections to the (i) corporate
actions of Boots described in “Bitter Pill” and (ii) Towers Perrin in the “Familiar Refrain”
case? Do you agree with Carr? Can you identify any market failures in “Bitter Pill” and
“Familiar Refrain”?
2. How would Gary Miller (“Ethics & the New Game Theory”) and Arthur Levitt (“The
Numbers Game”) assess the long-term effects of bluffing as applied to (i) the job of an
equity analyst (“Today’s Analyst”) and (ii) the criteria for revising a stock ratings system
discussed by Hoffman (“You Have the Only Hard Copy”)?
3. Is there anything ethically wrong about the actions of the medical ghostwriters as
described in “Ghost Story”? What would happen if all or most drug companies behaved
in similar ways? Do their actions fall within the scope of business bluffing according to
Gillespie (The Business of Ethics”)?
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SESSION #3
DATE: XXXX
GIFTS, SIDE DEALS & CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
READINGS
Neutral Omni-Partial Rule
Making
Bribery & The Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act
Buynow Stores
Roger Berg
Wall Street and the
Nursery School
Hat Trick
A Bribe by Any Other
Name
Marsh & McLennan
Companies
Drug Maker’s Efforts to
Compete in Lucrative
Insulin Market are Under
Scrutiny
Ronald M. Green
Kenneth W. Clarkson, et al.
Visit: www.transparency.org
Bruce Buchanan
Ronald M. Green
Gretchen Morgenson & Pat
McGeehan
Gretchen Morgenson
Neil Weinberg
Digital course pack
Ethical Theories
Truth & Disclosure:
Gifts, Side Deals &
Conflict of Interest
(GSD&CI)
GSD&CI
GSD&CI
GSD&CI
GSD&CI
GSD&CI
Ingo Walter
GSD&CI
Gardner Harris & Robert Pear
GSD&CI
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Make a list of all the gift practices described in Buynow Stores. In your judgment,
which of these, if any, are inappropriate? Use ethical concepts and methods from the
Green and Halbert/Ingulli readings to support your position.
2. Do the Roger Berg and Wall Street Nursery School cases differ materially from
Buynow Stores? Use ethical concepts and methods from the Green and Halbert/Ingulli
readings to support your position.
3. Has Novo Nordisk and their “anchor in office program” created any market failures or
engaged in any conflicts of interest in their current insulin drug marketing practices
(“Drug Makers Efforts to Compete in Lucrative Insulin Market Are Under Scrutiny”)?
Are the Novo sales representatives engaging in bribery? Should drug companies refrain
from such activities and risk losing business?
4. What was Marsh & McLennan’s exposure to reputational risk versus Putnam’s profits
from the firm’s allowing hedge funds to engage in late trading and market timing? If you
conclude that the risks exceeded the returns, why did the firm engage in the practice?
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SESSION #4
DATE: XXX
AGENCY & FIDUCIARY DUTY
READINGS
Duties of Principals and
Agents
Moral Hazard
Quality Department Stores
Old City Enterprises
The Business Judgment
Rule
The Man Who Paid the
Price for Sizing Up Enron
Plasma International
You Bought, They Sold
My Patients Are Dying
At The Center of Fraud,
WorldCom Official Sees
Life Unravel
Kenneth Clarkson et al.
Digital course pack
Agency & Fiduciary Duty
Robert Pindyck & Daniel
Rubenfeld
Lawrence Zicklin
Lawrence Zicklin
Jane P. Mallor, et al.
Economics of Market
Failure
Agency & Fiduciary Duty
Agency & Fiduciary Duty
Agency & Fiduciary Duty
Richard A. Oppel, Jr.
Agency & Fiduciary Duty
TW. Zimmer & P.L.Preston
Mark Gimein
Lawrence Zicklin
Susan Pulliam
Agency & Fiduciary Duty
Agency & Fiduciary Duty
Agency & Fiduciary Duty
Agency & Fiduciary Duty
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Sketch out the relationships between parties described or implied in the case
“Quality Department Stores.” Which of these can be called “fiduciary” relationships?
Given your analysis, how should the investment manager vote?
2. Which fiduciary duties might be at issue in “Old City Enterprises” and in “Plasma
International”? Are Ed Stevens in Old City and Sol Levin of Plasma acting properly in
terms of shareholder interests and ethical standards? Are there any moral hazards present
here?
3. Considering the Gimein reading (“You Bought, They Sold”) what are appropriate
limits, if any, on sales of stock by corporate insiders? Does this behavior present any
moral hazards, particularly to shareholders? Do the fiduciary duties materially differ with
the behavior of Chung Wu, broker (“Man Who Paid The Price”)?
4. Describe the various fiduciary relationships in “My Patients Are Dying." Are any
fiduciary responsibilities owed to the patients who are dying? Have any fiduciary duties
been breached in this case?
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SESSION #5
DATE: XXX
WHISTLE BLOWING & LOYALTY
READINGS
The Return of Qui Tam
Aircraft Brake Scandal
He Told. He Suffered.
Now He’s a Hero
A Whistle-Blower Rocks
an Industry
Doctor Explains Why He
Blew the Whistle”
How Ex-Accountant
Added Up To Trouble for
Humbled Xerox
Former Mattel Employee’s
Battle Shows WhistleBlowers Walking a Fine
Line
Legal Tangle At The
Fountain of Youth
Fraud Busting Begins At
Home
Priscilla R. Budeiri
Kermit Vandivier
Kurt Eichenwald
Digital course pack
Whistle Blowing
Whistle Blowing
Whistle Blowing
Charles Haddad, with Amy
Barrett
Melody Petersen
Whistle Blowing
James Bandler & Mark
Maremont
Whistle Blowing
Michael Hitzik
Whistle Blowing
Business Week
Whistle Blowing
Mark Green
Whistle Blowing
Whistle Blowing
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Consider the position of Searle Lawson in the “Aircraft Brake Scandal” case. At what
point, if any, should he have blown the whistle to someone outside B.F. Goodrich? Use
ethical concepts and reasoning to support your position.
2. Discuss the role(s) that whistle blowing laws play in the health care industry. Are these
laws primarily a mechanism for preventing health care fraud against the government (“A
Whistle-Blower Rocks an Industry”) or do these laws serve other purposes as well
(“Doctor Explains Why He Blew The Whistle”) and (“Legal Tangle At The Fountain of
Youth”)?
3. Mark Jorgeson (“He Told He Suffered” - Prudential) and James Bingham (“How ExAccountant” - Xerox) worked at major corporations where they tried to bring truthful
accounting numbers to the attention of top management and investors. What personal
risks did they run? How did the outcomes of their cases reflect their different approaches
to whistle blowing?
4. Do you agree with Mark Green (“Fraud Busting Begins At Home”) that enacting
whistle blowing laws is a good idea for state legislatures? Should private corporations
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also utilize whistle blowing; that is, should corporations offer rewards to employees who
blow the whistle on their colleagues?
SESSION #6
DATE: XXX
SALES AND MARKETING
READINGS
Excerpts from Investment
Management: Business...
or Profession…
The Selling of Breast
Cancer
Commissions on Sales at
Brock Mason
West Virginia CIF
Disorders made to Order
Responsibility Yes, but to
Whom
Drug Makers Scrutinized
Over Grants
John C. Bogle
Digital course pack
Sales & Marketing
Susan Orenstein
Sales & Marketing
Tom L. Beauchamp
Sales & Marketing
Ingo Walter
Brendan I. Koerner
Lawrence Zicklin
Sales & Marketing
Sales & Marketing
Sales & Marketing
Gardner Harris
Sales & Marketing
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. In the “Brock Mason” case, Mr. Tithe, the branch manager, describes the situation with
the widow as “unfortunate” but not “unfair.” Do you agree? Use ethical methods and
concepts to justify your position. Is the situation at Brock Mason similar to that in the
“Responsibility Yes, but to Whom” case?
2. In what ways, if any, could we determine that pharmaceutical companies (“Disorders
Made to Order”) are ethically responsible for promoting new mental illnesses in order to
boost their profits from drug sales (“Drug Makers Scrutinized Over Grants”)? Or,
companies that support causes such as breast cancer (“Selling of Breast Cancer”) to
market their brand?
3. In his article, “Investment Management: Business . . . or Profession,” John Bogle
implies that much of the mutual fund business is driven by moral hazards and fiduciary
duty problems. Do you agree? Are any of these problems evident in the “West Virginia
CIF” case?
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SESSION #7
DATE: XXX
TRADE SECRETS
READINGS
Trade Secrets, Patents, and
Morality
Protecting Trade Secrets:
Using ‘Inevitable
Misappropriation’…
Stockbroker’s Story
Fare Game
Corporate Spies: The Pizza
Plot
Judge Says Apple Can
Demand Names of
Bloggers
Digital course pack
Robert E. Frederick & Milton Trade Secrets
Snoeyenbos
Michael B. Carlinsky & Lara
Trade Secrets
Kreiger
Bruce Buchanan
William M. Carley
Adam Penenberg & Marc
Barry
Laurie Flynn
Trade Secrets
Trade Secrets
Trade Secrets
Trade Secrets
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Are customer records, such as those described in “Stockbroker’s Story”, trade secrets
or do they belong to the departing broker? What criteria can we apply is making this
determination?
2. Compare and contrast the situation in “Fare Game” and “Judge Says Apple Can
Demand Names of Bloggers” with respect to the concept of a trade secret? Do you agree
that “Apple suing its most enthusiastic fans is like the Grateful Dead suing its concert
bootleg makers”?
3. Which practices in “The Pizza Plot” do you judge to be inappropriate? What are your
criteria for saying so?
SESSION #8
DATE: XXX
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
READINGS
The Business Judgment
Rule
Our Schizophrenic
Conception of the Business
Corporation
Crisis of Corporate Ethics
The Director’s New
Clothes
Jane P. Mallor, et al.
Digital course pack
Board of Directors
William T. Allen
Ethical Theories
Roy C. Smith
Joan Lubin
Board of Directors
Board of Directors
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Testing the Limits of the
Business Judgment Rule
Excerpts from the Report
of a Special Committee
Investigating Enron
Boeing CEO Resigns Over
Affair With Subordinate
Off To The Races Again,
Leaving Many Behind
Lessons From the Not
Always So Wonderful
World of Disney
CEO Pay in Crosshairs
Roger Leroy Miller &
Gaylord Jentz
Board of Directors
Board of Directors
Renae Merle
Board of Directors
Eric Dash
Board of Directors
Harvey L. Pitt
Board of Directors
Aaron Elstein
Board of Directors
STUDY QUESTIONS:
1. Apply the Business Judgment Rule (Jane P. Mallor) to the situations faced by the
boards of directors of Walt Disney (“Testing the Limits” & Lessons From The Not So
Wonderful World of Disney”) and Enron (“Committee Investigating Enron”). Were the
actions taken by these boards of directors justified by the business judgment rule?
2. The nature of a corporation has been defined by the 1978 and 1990 Business
Roundtables on Governance (“Director’s New Clothes”) as well as by Allen
(“Schizophrenic Conception”) – contrast and compare their definitions of a corporation.
Which conception of the business corporation do you think currently dominates the crisis
in corporate governance?
3. Does the issue of executive compensation (“Off To The Races Again” & “CEO Pay in
Crosshairs”) reflect a failure in corporate governance according to Smith (“Crisis of
Corporate Ethics”)? Are there any market failures created when corporate executives are
paid excessive amounts? And if so, how would you remedy this situation?
SESSION #9
DATE: XXX
INSIDER TRADING
READINGS
Insider Trading Notes
An Accountant’s Small
Time Insider Trading
Raymond Dirks and Equity
Funding of America
Trading Room Ethics”
Martha Stewart
Constance E. Bagley
Tom L. Beauchamp
Digital course pack
Insider Trading
Insider Trading
Roy C. Smith
Insider Trading
Lawrence Zicklin
Roy C. Smith
Insider Trading
Insider Trading
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The Case for Insider
Trading
The Cost of Inequity
Henry G. Manne
Insider Trading
The Economist
Insider Trading
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Should the accountant, Davidson, trade on the information he has obtained from Wolff
(“Accountant’s Small Time”)? Use legal theories of insider trading (“Insider trading
Notes”) and ethical concepts to support your position.
2. Compare the behavior of Dirks (“Raymond Dirks”) with that of Stewart (“Martha
Stewart”) in relationship to the concept of fiduciary duty. Why was Dirks reprimanded by
the SEC but ultimately exonerated by the Supreme Court? Use legal and ethical concepts
to support your position.
3. Read “Trading Room Ethics” carefully and outline the exact procedure Teri Forman
employs to move large blocks of stock. Is this insider trading? Why or why not?
4. Do laws forbidding insider trading make financial markets more or less efficient? Use
ideas from both economics and ethics to justify your position as well as including
Manne’s thesis (”The Case for Insider Trading”) on insider trading.
SESSION #10
DATE: XXX
CONTROL BY LAW
READINGS
Living with the
Organizational Sentencing
Guidelines
The Revised Corporate
Sentencing Guidelines
Strong Law Enforcement Is
Good for the Economy
Prosecutors’ Tough New
Tactics Turn Firms Against
Employees
When the Company
Becomes a Cop
Life in a Federal
Prosecutor’s Cross Hairs
Conviction of Banker
Vindicates New Strategy
by Prosecutors
Deals & Consequences
Jeffrey Kaplan, Linda S.
Dakin, Melinda R. Smolin
Digital course pack
Control By Law
Jeffrey M. Kaplan
Control By Law
Eliot Spitzer
Control By Law
Laurie P. Cohen
Control By Law
Linda Himelstein
Control By Law
Ann Davis
Control By Law
Jonathan D. Glater
Control By Law
London Thomas Jr.
Control By Law
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United States Department
of Justice
Ebbers’ Sentence Adds Up
Thompson Memo 1/20/2003
Control By Law
Dan Small
Control By Law
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. How do you think the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (“Living with the Organizational
Sentencing Guidelines” & “The Revised Corporate Sentencing Guidelines”) will change
corporate behavior? Consider this from the perspective of the corporation as employer
(“When the Company Becomes a Cop” and “Prosecutors’ Tough New Tactics”).
2. Are the compliance costs that the U.S. sentencing guidelines imply justified? Do you
agree with the guideline’s approach to white-collar crime? And with the prosecutor’s
approach (“Conviction of Banker Vindicates New Strategy by Prosecutors” & “U.S.
Dept. of Justice: Thompson Memo”)?
3. What are the implications of the Corporate Sentencing Guidelines for the individual
employee as well as judges? Compare and consider the situations of Daniel Bayly from
Merrill Lynch (“Deals & Consequences”), Sharon Hogge (”Life in a Federal Prosecutor’s
Cross Hairs”) and Bernard Ebbers from WorldCom (“Ebbers’ Sentence Adds Up”).
SESSION #11
DATE: XXX
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY TO STAKEHOLDERS
READINGS
The Social Responsibility
of Business is to Increase
Its Profits
Our Schizophrenic
Conception of the Business
Corporation
Restricted Reasons and
Permissible Violation
Toy Maker Faces Dilemma
as Water Gun Spurs
Violence
Bally’s Grand Casino, For
Elaine Cohen, Is Her One
True Home
Cut Loose
Down and Out in White
Collar America
Credit Card Companies
Milton Friedman
Digital course pack
Social Responsibility
William T. Allen
Ethical Theories
Arthur Isak Applbaum
Ethical Theories
Joseph Pereira
Social Responsibility
Heidi Evans
Social Responsibility
Anne-Marie Cusac
Nelson D. Schwartz
Social Responsibility
Globalization & Domestic
Markets
Social Responsibility
Joseph Cahill
14
Target New Niche: the
Mentally Disabled
The Right Thing: When
Good Ethics Aren’t Good
Business
Jeffrey Seglin
Social Responsibility
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. What advice would Friedman (“The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase
Profits”) and Allen (“Our Schizophrenic Conception of the Business Corporation”) give
to the CEO of Larami Corp., manufacturer of the Super Soaker (“Toymaker Faces
Dilemma”)? Would you agree with Friedman and/or Allen? Use ethical methods and
concepts of fiduciary duty to support your position.
2. If you were the manager of “Bally’s Grand Casino”, would you do anything differently
with respect to Elaine Cohen? What would Friedman (“Increase Profits”) and Allen
(“Schizophrenic Conception”) advise the manager to do? Use ethical methods and legal
concepts to support your position.
3. Did the CEO of Smith & Wesson fulfill his fiduciary duties (“The Right Thing”)?
Justify your position. How would Applbaum (“Restricted Reasons & Permissible
Violation”) judge his behavior?
4. Does IBM owe any duty to Asbeck (“Cut Loose”) regarding his health care benefits
upon retirement? How would Allen (Schizophrenic Conception”) and Friedman
(“Increase Profits”) respond to IBM’s behavior?
5. Do companies violate any fiduciary duties when they outsource American white-collar
jobs to cheaper labor markets in third world countries (“Down & Out in White Collar
America”)? Apply ethical concepts and market failures to this dilemma.
SESSION #12
DATE: XXX
MORAL STANDARDS ACROSS BORDERS
READINGS
United States Bill of
Rights
In Praise of Cheap Labor:
Bad Jobs at Bad Wages…
Human Rights on the Eve
of the 21st Century
Universal Declaration of
Human Rights
The Oil Rig
Digital course pack
Moral Standards
Paul Krugman
Moral Standards
His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Moral Standards
United Nations
Moral Standards
Joanne B. Ciulla
Moral Standards
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For Cruise Workers, Life
is No “Love Boat”
Stretching Federal Labor
Law into the South Pacific
Lives Held Cheap in
Bangladesh Sweatshops
Low-Wage Costa Ricans
Make Baseballs for
Millionaires
Nobodies: Does Slavery
Exist in America?
Up Against Wal-Mart
Joshua Harris Prager
Moral Standards
Seth Faison
Moral Standards
Barry Bearak
Moral Standards
Tim Weiner
Moral Standards
John Bowe
An Ugly Side of Free
Trade: Sweatshops in
Jordan
Evildoers? How the West’s
Net Vanguard Toils
Behind the Great Firewall
of China
United States Citizenship
& Immigration Services:
H-1B Visa
Steven Green house &
Michael Barbaro
Globalization & Domestic
Markets
Globalization & Domestic
Markets
Moral Standards
Karen Olsson
Mure Dickie & Stephanie
Kirchgaessner
Moral Standards
http://www.uscis.gov
Globalization & Domestic
Markets
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. According to the “United States Bill of Rights” and the “Universal Declaration of
Human Rights” have any basic human rights been violated in the “Oil Rig” case? Are the
ex-pats justified in getting better treatment than the Angolans?
2. Should cruise workers that service US ports enjoy the rights of other US workers (“Life
Is No Love Boat”)? Are sweatshops unethical according to Krugman (“In Praise of
Cheap Labor”) or the Dalai Lama?
3. Should US labor and safety laws apply to the Northern Mariana Islands (“Stretching
Federal Labor”)? What about sweatshops or working conditions in America (“Nobodies”
& “Up Against Walmart”)?
4. Do human rights exist? If so, as a corporation how would you apply these ideas to
workers in Bangladesh (“Lives Held Cheap in Bangladesh Sweatshops”), Costa Rica
sweatshops (“Low-Wage Costa Ricans Make Baseballs for Millionaires”) and Jordan
(“An Ugly Side of Free Trade: Sweatshops in Jordan”)?
5. Is Google ethically justified in restricting internet access in China (“Evildoers? How
the West’s Net Vanguard Toils”)? Apply ethical concepts in support of your position.
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What about from the human rights perspective (Universal Declaration of Human Rights
& Dalai Lama)?
SESSION #13
DATE: XXX
PRODUCT LIABILITY
READINGS
Strict Liability & Product
Liability”
A.H. Robins: Dalkon
Shield
The Class-Action
Quandary: Cash Payment,
No Apology
In Breast Implants Scandal,
Where Was Dow
Corning’s Concern for
Women?
Will the Lawyers Kill Off
Norplant?
Legal Myths: The
McDonald’s Hot Coffee
Case”
Unreasonably Dangerous:
Green v. Boddie-Noel
Enterprises, Inc.
Good Pill, Bad Pill:
Science Makes It Hard to
Decipher
Vioxx ‘Trial in a Box’
Cuts Cost of Filing Suit
Repeated Defect in Heart
Devices Exposes a History
of Problems
Kenneth Clarkson, et al
Digital course pack
Product Liability
A. R. Gina & Terry Sullivan
Product Liability
Meryl Gordon
Product Liability
Andrew W. Singer
Product Liability
Gina Kolata
Product Liability
The Public Citizen
Product Liability
J. Jones
Product Liability
Gina Kolata
Product Liability
Heather Won Tesoriero
Product Liability
Barry Meier
Product Liability
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Should A.H. Robins have introduced the Dalkon Shield when it did (“A.H.Robins”)?
Which legal theories of product liability (Clarkson, et al) may apply to A.H. Robins? Do
they have any defenses? What method of ethical reasoning seems most appropriate to this
problem?
2. Was McDonald’s “negligent” and/or strictly liable, i.e. “strict product liability”
(Clarkson, et al) for selling “unreasonably dangerous” coffee in the “hot coffee” case
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(“McDonald’s Hot Coffee Case”)? Does McDonald’s have any legal defenses? Can the
“Greene v Boddie Noell Enterprises, Inc.” case be distinguished from the McDonald’s
case?
3. In terms of litigating product liability cases can you draw any distinctions between the
Vioxx (“Vioxx ‘Trial in a Box’ Cuts Cost of Filing Suit”), Norplant (“Will the Lawyers
Kill Off Norplant?”) and breast implants (“In Breast Implants Scandal, Where Was Dow
Corning’s Concern for Women?”) cases? Are there moral hazards present in these cases
or in product liability cases in general?
4. Have any fiduciary duties been breached in the Guidant heart device case (“Repeated
Defect in Heart Devices Exposes a History of Problems”) and the Vioxx situation (“Good
Pill, Bad Pill: Science Makes it hard to Decipher”). And can you identify any market
failures?
SESSION #14
DATE: XXX
DISCRIMINATION
READINGS
EEOC Guidelines
Sexual-Orientation
Protection Added to New
York Law
Foreign Assignment
EEOC
Casey J. Dickinson
Thomas Dunfee and Diana
Robertson
Jane Gross
Now Look Who’s
Taunting. Now Look
Who’s Suing
When Fear of Firing Deters Jeffrey L. Seglin
Hiring
Too Old to Work
Adam Cohen
Can Employers Alter
Ann Zimmerman
Hiring Practices to Cut
Health Costs?
Digital course pack
Discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. In the “Foreign Assignment” case, how would you judge the actions of Bill
Vitam? Use ethical concepts as well as the law, to justify your position. According to the
EEOC, can the bank (employer) be held liable for sexual harassment created by its
employees? Does the bank have any affirmative defenses as provided by the EEOC?
2. Is discrimination based on age (“Too Old To Work?”) different from discrimination
based on sex (“Now Look Who’s Taunting, Now Look Who’s Suing”)? Should similar
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laws and regulations be applied to all of these classes? Justify your position.
3. Is discouraging unhealthy job applicants a form of discrimination (“Can Employers
Alter Hiring Policies to Cut Health Costs?”)? What about avoiding hiring capable
minority applicants due to potential litigation costs (“When Fear of Firing Deters
Hiring”)?
SESSION #15
DATE: XXX
PRIVACY
READINGS
Monday 9:01 A.M.
Open Secrets
Prying Times
Monitoring of Employees
Still Growing
TGB Insurance Services
Corp v. Superior Court
Ronald Smithies
Ellen Schlutz
Ann Carrns
Allison Michael & Scott M.
Lidman
No. B153400 (Cal. Ct. App.
2002)
Digital course pack
Privacy
Privacy
Privacy
Privacy
Privacy
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Should firms face any restrictions on the internal use of data gathered from their own
employees? Consider this specifically with respect to medical/psychological information.
Use ethical concepts and methods to justify your position.
2. Is the idea of privacy for individuals becoming obsolete in the Internet age? How do
privacy and technology interact?
3. What market failures surround the issue of privacy? How, then, does the right to
privacy interact with economic efficiency?
4. (A) Draft a policy guideline for a firm as to what aspects of its employees lives are to
be considered private, along with applicable safeguards. Assume this memo will be
distributed to all employees, both current and prospective. (B) Briefly state your
reasoning in setting this policy.
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