Business Cases in Ethical Focus is a new collection of in-depth case studies from around the world, covering all major areas of business ethics. Cases address a broad range of topics such as the ethics of entrepreneurship and finance, the challenges that diversity raises for business, and whistleblowing. The cases are provocative yet complex, conveying the difficulty of moral dilemmas and the potential for reasonable disagreement.
Comments
“This collection of contemporary cases is well suited for teaching business ethics. The short analyses accompanying each case introduce students to concrete ethical issues without delving into extensive theoretical debates. The open-ended reflection questions encourage readers to develop and justify their own views, so they are excellent prompts for extended classroom discussions. For instructors wanting to avoid theory-heavy approaches to business ethics, this text is a great option. It will hold student interest and stimulate authentic ethical reflection.” — Jeff Lawrence, North Island College
“Business Cases in Ethical Focus contains thirty-six case studies, most of them the work of experts in their areas. The cases cover a wide range of ethical issues in business, from the high salaries of senior management to Sharia in the hospitality industry in Nigeria, from payday lending to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The book allows the instructor a good deal of flexibility in how it is used.” — Michael Davis, Illinois Institute of Technology
Acknowledgments
A Note to Readers
PART 1: INTRODUCTION
- A Brief Guide to Business Ethics and Case Study Analysis (Alex Sager)
PART 2: THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF BUSINESS
- UNIT 2.1: RESPONSIBLE INDUSTRIES
- 1. Corporate Lobbying on GMO Labeling Legislation: Oregon Ballot Measure 92 (Brad Berman)
- 2. The Ethics of the Pornography Industry (Vanessa Correia)
- 3. The Business Ethics of Recreational Marijuana (M. Blake Wilson)
- 4. Of Prices and Pills: Ethical Issues in Pharmaceutical Pricing (Bryan Cwik)
- 5. Private Prisons in the United States: A Case of Profit at Any Cost? (Tom McNamara, Irena Descubes, and Cyrlene Claasen)
- 6. Payday Lending: America’s Unsecured Loan Market (Eric Palmer)
- 7. Children and Gambling: The Ethical Problem of Loot Boxes (Alexander L. Hoffmann)
- UNIT 2.2: RESPONSIBLE BUSINESSES
- 8. The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (Cyrlene Claasen and Tom McNamara)
- 9. Dakota Access Pipeline: Profits v. Protests (Cyrlene Claasen, Tom McNamara, and Irena Descubes)
- 10. Actions Speak Louder than Words: Rebuilding Malden Mills (David Meeler and Srivatsa Seshadri)
- 11. Students Protest University Investments: Vanderbilt’s African Land-Grab (Joshua M. Hall)
- 12. The Rana Plaza Collapse (Alex Sager)
- 13. Distributive Justice: The Case of Café Feminino (Kyle Johannsen)
PART 3: EMPLOYMENT AND DIVERSITY
- UNIT 3.1: EMPLOYMENT
- 14. Want This Job? Provide Your Facebook Username and Password: The Cases of Justin Bassett and Robert Collins (Brett Gaul)
- 15. Professional Misconduct While Off-Duty (Luke Golemon)
- 16. Obligations, Responsibility, and Whistleblowing: A Case Study of Jeffrey Wigand (Brian J. Collins)
- 17. Who Judges Whom: The Ethics of Performance Reviews (Michael Klenk)
- 18. Free Expression in the Workplace: The Firing of James Damore (Nils Ch. Rauhut)
- 19. Distributive Justice and Precarious Work (Kyle Johannsen)
- UNIT 3.2: DIVERSITY
- 20. Religious Commitments in the Workplace (T.J. Broy)
- 21. Guests with Autism and Reasonable Accommodations at Disney (Kevin Mintz)
- 22. Women’s Autonomy and Fetal Protection (Sara De Vido)
- 23. Gender-Based Discrimination: Glass Ceilings and Sexual Harassment (Sara De Vido)
- 24. Women and Advertising (Sara De Vido)
PART 4: BUSINESS PRACTICES
- UNIT 4.1: BUYING AND SELLING
- 25. The Ethics of Bluffing: Oracle’s Takeover of PeopleSoft (Patrick Lin)
- 26. Citibank and Collateralized Debt Obligations (Tom McNamara and Irena Descubes)
- 27. Misplaced Incentives: Large-Scale Fraud at Wells Fargo (Irena Descubes, Tom McNamara, and Cyrlene Claasen)
- 28. Nestlé and Advertising: An Ethical Analysis (Chris Ragg)
- 29. Pharmaceutical Payments and Opioid Prescriptions (Fritz Allhoff)
- 30. Conflict Minerals and Supply Chain Management: The Case of the DRC (Scott Wisor)
- UNIT 4.2: DOING BUSINESS AT HOME AND ABROAD
- 31. Democracy in Business: The Mondragon Workers Cooperative (Tom McNamara, Cyrlene Claasen, and Irena Descubes)
- 32. The Equifax Hack (Leonard Kahn)
- 33. The Case of Sci-Hub and the “Robin Hood of Science” (Georgiana Turculet)
- 34. Shari’a and the Hospitality Industry in Nigeria (Frank Aragbonfoh Abumere)
- 35. Google in China: Censorship Requirements Challenge the Internet Company (Theresa Bauer)
- 36. Buying Influence in China: The Case of Avon Products Incorporated (Peter Jonker)
Fritz Allhoff is Professor of Philosophy at Western Michigan University. Alexander Sager is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Portland State University.
To read a sample case from Business Cases in Ethical Focus, click here. (Opens as a PDF.)
Please note that this sample case is taken from uncorrected proofs and will be updated before publication.
