Class schedule and topics
Week 1: Introduction to business ethics
Part I. Introductory cases
Week 2: Monday: Ben & Jerry’s
Wednesday: General Motors
Week 3: Monday: GlaxoSmithKline and AIDS
Wednesday: BP, deepwater drilling, and fracking
Part II. Contemporary debates
Week 4: Free markets
Monday: For and against markets
Wednesday: Walmart
Week 5: Social responsibilities
Monday: Concepts of social responsibility
Wednesday: Starbucks
Week 6: Government
Monday: Efficiency and equality
Wednesday: Healthcare reform
Week 7: Review and preparation of mid-term assignment + Project work preparation
Part III. Specific fields
Week 8: Consumers
Monday: Choices and advertising
Wednesday: Industrial food + Fast food
Week 9: Workers
Monday: Fairness, respect, and participation
Wednesday: Apple and sweatshops + Working in the US
Week 10: Finance
Monday: Shareholder priority?
Wednesday: Ethical investment and anti-corporate ethics + Financial crisis
Week 11: Media
Monday: Sex and violence
Wednesday: Internet privacy and piracy + News
Week 12: The environment
Monday: Sustainability
Wednesday: Genetic engineering + Green business
Week 13: International business
Monday: Multinationals and global trade
Wednesday: 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 or in class and detailed references to all materials will also be given on the class website.
2. Ethical Consumer, ‘Swallowed Up’
Page and Katz, ‘The Truth About Ben and Jerry’s’
Economic Policy Institute, ‘An Investment, Not a Bailout’
The Economist, ‘Saving Detroit is a Mistake’
3. AVERT, ‘AIDS, Drug Prices and Generic Drugs’
Gray (dir.), Fire in the Blood
Stanford University Rural West Initiative, An Unquiet Landscape
Sierra Club, ‘Ending Our Dependence on Oil’
4. Friedman, ‘The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits’
Cassidy, How Markets Fail
Greenwald (dir.), Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices
Hemphill, ‘Demonizing Wal-Mart: What Do the Facts Tell Us?’
5. Evan and Freeman, ‘A Stakeholder Theory of the Modern Corporation’
Donaldson and Dunfee, ‘The Social Contract for Business Ethics’
Starbucks, Global Responsibility Report 2014
Global Exchange, ‘Starbucks Campaign’
6. Rawls, A Theory of Justice
Simmons, ‘Pathological Politics: An Anatomy of Government Failure’
Kaiser Foundation, ‘Health Reform’
Herzlinger, ‘Healthcare Reform and its Implications for the U.S. Economy’
8. Smith, ‘The Consumer Sovereignty Test’
Kilbourne, Can’t Buy My Love
Soechtig (dir.), Fed Up
Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Warner, Pandora’s Lunchbox
Nestle, Food Politics
9. Bowie, ‘A Kantian Approach to Business Ethics’
Orlando, ‘The Fourth Wave: Corporate Downsizing’
Maitland, ‘The Great Non-Debate over International Sweatshops’
Duhigg and Barboza, ‘In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad’
Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, Bait and Switch
Moretti, The New Geography of Jobs
10. Boatright, ‘What’s So Special About Shareholders?’
Norman, ‘The Financial Theory of the Firm’
Bakan (dir.), The Corporation
Schwartz, ‘The “Ethics” of Ethical Investing’
Krugman, The Return of Depression Economics
Davies, The Financial Crisis: Who is to Blame?
11. Valdivia, ‘What Can We Get Away With?’
Gordon and Kitross, ‘Violence and Pornography’
Morozov, ‘Saving Face’
Solove, ‘Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have “Nothing to Hide”’
McChesney, Rich Media, Poor Democracy
Jones, Losing the News
12. Hawken, ‘A Roadmap for Natural Capitalism’
Garvey, The Ethics of Climate Change
Rauch, ‘Will Frankenfood Save the Planet?’
Bostrom and Roache, ‘Ethical Issues in Human Enhancement’
McDonough, Cradle to Cradle
Esty and Simmons, The Green to Gold Business Playbook
13. Friedman, The Lexus and the Olive Tree
Crane and Matten, ‘Corporate Citizenship’
Shaw, ‘Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’
Council on Foreign Relations, ‘Google and Saving Face in China’
Holloway, The Business of Tourism
Honey, Ecotourism and Sustainable Development
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