Class schedule and topics
Week 1: Introduction to business ethics
Part I. Introductory cases
Week 2: Tuesday: Ben & Jerry’s
Thursday: Financial crisis
Week 3: Tuesday: GlaxoSmithKline and AIDS
Thursday: Fracking and deepwater drilling
Part II. Contemporary debates
Week 4: Free markets
Tuesday: For and against markets
Thursday: Walmart
Week 5: Social responsibilities
Tuesday: Concepts of social responsibility
Thursday: Starbucks and Apple
Week 6: Government
Tuesday: Fairness
Thursday: Healthcare reform
Week 7: Review and preparation of mid-term assignment
Part III. Specific fields
Week 8: Consumers
Tuesday: Choices and advertising
Thursday: Industrial food + Fast food
Week 9: Workers
Tuesday: Fairness, respect, and participation
Thursday: Pay + Working in the U.S.
Week 10: Finance
Tuesday: Shareholder priority?
Thursday: Digital currency + Financial regulation
Week 11: Media
Tuesday: Sex and violence
Thursday: Internet privacy and piracy + News
Week 12: The environment
Tuesday: Sustainability
Thursday: Genetic engineering + Green business
Week 13: International business
Tuesday: Multinationals and global trade
Thursday: Corruption + Tourism
Week 14: Review for final examination
Basic bibliography
Below is a selection of the basic readings, online materials, and documentaries that you will be expected to study for each class, arranged by week and class. These and supporting materials will be provided on the class website.
2. Page and Katz, ‘The Truth About Ben and Jerry’s’
B Corporation, ‘Ben & Jerry’s Impact Assessment’
Ferguson (dir.), Inside Job
Krugman, The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008, ch. 8
3. AVERT, ‘HIV and AIDS in East and Southern Africa’
GlaxoSmithKline, ‘HIV, AIDS and ViiV Healthcare’
Stanford Rural West Initiative, An Unquiet Landscape
Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Deep Water, ch. 10
4. Friedman, ‘The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits’
Cassidy, How Markets Fail
Tierney el al, ‘Long live Walmart’
Crofoot, ‘Wal-Mart: Rolling Back on Ethics’
5. Evan and Freeman, ‘A Stakeholder Theory of the Modern Corporation’
Yunus et al, ‘Reaching the Rich World’s Poorest Consumers’
Starbucks, Global Responsibility Report 2016
Maitland, ‘The Great Non-Debate over International Sweatshops’
6. Rawls, Justice as Fairness, §§ 13.1-2, 14.3, and 16.1
Sandel, Justice, lecture 15
Powell and Laufer, ‘The Promises and Constraints of Consumer-Directed Healthcare’
Oberlander, ‘Between Liberal Aspirations and Market Forces’
8. Machan, ‘Some Contrarian Reflections on Advertising’
Lovas, ‘Advertising: The Uninvited Guest’
Soechtig (dir.), Fed Up
Hall, ‘Does the Movie Fed Up Make Sense?’
Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, chs. 2-6 (extracts)
Freudenberg, Legal but Lethal, ch. 1
9. Bowie, ‘A Kantian Approach to Business Ethics’
Clark, ‘Good Work’
Moriarty, ‘Do CEOS Get Paid Too Much?
‘Neither Rigged Nor Fair’, Economist
Moretti, The New Geography of Jobs, chs. 5-7 (extracts)
Kalleberg, Good Jobs, Bad Jobs, ch. 1
10. Stout, ‘The Shareholder Value Myth’
Martin, ‘The Age of Customer Capitalism’
Vigna and Casey, The Age of Cryptocurrency (extracts)
Lancaster, ‘When Bitcoin Grows Up’
Soule, ‘Regulation’
Murphy, Who Regulates Whom and How?
11. Valdivia, ‘What Can We Get Away With?’
Graham, ‘Sex and Violence in Fact and Fiction’
Bennett and Parsons, ‘Privacy and Surveillance’
Forcehimes, ‘Download This Essay: A Defence of Stealing Ebooks’
Jones, Losing the News, ch. 5
Gans et al, On the Future of News
12. Hawken, Lovins, and Lovins, ‘A Roadmap for Natural Capitalism’
Henderson, ‘Making the Business Case for Environmental Sustainability’
Rauch, ‘Will Frankenfood Save the Planet?’
Bostrom and Roache, ‘Ethical Issues in Human Enhancement’
McDonough, Cradle to Cradle, pp. 17-42, 79-83, and 165-180
Esty and Simmons, The Green to Gold Business Playbook, pt. 4 (extracts)
13. Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, ch. 3
Crane and Matten, ‘Corporate Citizenship’
Velasquez, ‘Corruption and Bribery’
Barstow and Von Bertrab, ‘The Bribery Aisle: How Wal-Mart Got Its Way in Mexico’
Holloway, The Business of Tourism, chs. 5-6
Lansing and De Vries, ‘Sustainable Tourism’