sample LEONARD N. STERN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY: MARKETS, ETHICS & LAW (B02.3101.XX) Summer) Term 2007 Dates: June 26, July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, 2007 Meeting Time: 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Classroom: KMC 3-80 PROFESSOR PATRICIA AGNELLO Office Hours: By appointment Phone: 917-885-2443 Email: patricia_agnello@yahoo.com Secretary: icoleman@stern.nyu.edu or 212-998-0048 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 course-pack for the current academic year, 2006-07, is different from prior coursepacks. Make sure you have the current course-pack. 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 1 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 three study questions over the course of the term. That is, for three 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 three written analyses, but only the top three grades will count. TERM PAPER DESCRIPTION: (1 page typed) DUE: July 3, 2007 A one-page description of your term paper project as described below. TERM PAPER PROJECT: (8 – 12 pages typed & double-spaced) DUE: Session 17, 2007 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 appropriate, concepts from the course and its readings. Also, the student should cite the relevant law (2-4 pages). 2 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). 3 COURSE SCHEDULE TOPICS & ASSIGNMENTS SESSION #1 DATE: JUNE 26, 2007 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.” Linda N. Edwards & Franklin R. Edwards The Economist http:/www.suboceansafety. org Dean Starkman Digital course pack Course Concepts: Economics of Market Failure Social Responsibility & Human Rights: Moral Standards Across Borders Corporate Governance: Control By Law Making An Ethical Terry Halbert & Elaine Course Concepts: Decision Ingulli 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. 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 Norman Chase Gillespie Gary Miller Ralph T. King, Jr Douglas A. Blackmon Digital course pack Truth & Disclosure Ethical Theories Truth & Disclosure Truth & Disclosure 4 Today’s Analyst Often Wears Two Hats Double Agents in the Financial System Roger Lowenstein Truth & Disclosure Roy C. Smith True & Disclosure The Numbers Game Arthur Levitt Truth & Disclosure You Have The Only Hard Peter Elkind Truth & Disclosure Copy Ghost Story 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”)? SESSION #2 DATE: July 3, 2007 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 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 5 Marsh & McLennan Ingo Walter GSD&CI Companies Drug Maker’s Efforts to Gardner Harris & Robert Pear GSD&CI Compete in Lucrative Insulin Market are Under Scrutiny 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? 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 6 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? 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 7 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 also utilize whistle blowing; that is, should corporations offer rewards to employees who blow the whistle on their colleagues? SESSION #3 DATE: July 10, 2007 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 8 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? 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? 9 BOARD OF DIRECTORS READINGS The Business Judgment Rule Our Schizophrenic Conception of the Business Corporation Crisis of Corporate Ethics The Director’s New Clothes 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 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 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? 10 SESSION #4 DATE: July 17, 2007 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 The Case for Insider Trading The Cost of Inequity Constance E. Bagley Tom L. Beauchamp Digital course pack Insider Trading Insider Trading Roy C. Smith Insider Trading Lawrence Zicklin Roy C. Smith Henry G. Manne Insider Trading Insider Trading 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. CONTROL BY LAW READINGS Living with the Organizational Sentencing Guidelines The Revised Corporate Sentencing Guidelines Strong Law Enforcement Is Good for the Economy 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 11 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 United States Department of Justice Ebbers’ Sentence Adds Up 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. Thompson Memo 1/20/2003 Control By Law 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”). 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 12 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. SESSION #5 DATE: July 24, 2007 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 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 13 Repeated Defect in Heart Devices Exposes a History of Problems 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 (“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? 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 Digital course pack Discrimination Discrimination Discrimination Discrimination Discrimination Discrimination Discrimination 14 Health Costs? 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 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 #6 DATE: July 31, 2007 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 Target New Niche: the Mentally Disabled 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 15 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. 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 For Cruise Workers, Life is No “Love Boat” Stretching Federal Labor Law into the South Pacific Digital course pack Moral Standards Paul Krugman Moral Standards His Holiness the Dalai Lama Moral Standards United Nations Moral Standards Joanne B. Ciulla Joshua Harris Prager Moral Standards Moral Standards Seth Faison Moral Standards 16 Lives Held Cheap in Bangladesh Sweatshops Low-Wage Costa Ricans Make Baseballs for Millionaires Nobodies: Does Slavery Exist in America? Up Against Wal-Mart 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. What about from the human rights perspective (Universal Declaration of Human Rights & Dalai Lama)? 17