How could this situation have been handled differently to avoid such a lengthy and bitter battle?
> Divide into two groups and prepare arguments for and against the following behavior: You are a senior manager at a pharmaceutical company that is facing financial difficulties after failing to receive FDA approval for a new experimental drug for the trea
> Divide into two groups and prepare arguments for treatment (Group A) and prevention (Group B) in the following situation: You work in your city for a local nonprofit organization that is struggling to raise funds for its programs in a very competitive gr
> Divide into two groups and prepare arguments for and against the following behavior: You are attending an employee team-building retreat at a local resort. During one of the free periods in the busy agenda, you observe one of your colleagues in a passion
> Is it ever acceptable to justify unethical behavior? Why or why not?
> Why should a short-term or long-term consequence make a difference in resolving an ethical dilemma?
> If a carbon-offset project is already profitable, is it ethical to provide credits over and above those profits? Why or why not?
> Based on the history of business ethics reviewed in this chapter, do you think the business world is becoming more or less ethical? Explain your answer.
> Since you are traveling on company time, does the free ticket belong to you or your company? Defend your choice.
> How could Instagram have handled this situation differently? What should the company do now?
> Should your company offer a clearly stated policy on this issue, or should it trust its employees to “do the right thing?” Explain your answer.
> What if the offer only reached a $100 discount coupon on another ticket—would you still take it? If so, would you hold the same opinion about whether the coupon belonged to you or your company?
> If the later flight was actually the next day (and the airline offered you an accommodation voucher along with the meal vouchers) and you would be late getting into work, would you make the same choice? Explain your answer.
> Locate the website for the Ethics Compliance Initiative (ECI) and review the ‘Ethics Compliance Toolkit’. The ’PLUS Ethical Decision Making Model’ lists seven steps to ethical decision making. What are they?
> The Ethics Resource Center (www.ethics.org) is also part of the ECI. a. What is the stated goal of the ECI’s research arm? b. List the three categories of ECI research. c. Identify the topic of the most recent Global Business Ethics Survey
> Should people have the moral right to end their lives if they so please?
> Do you think if the study were repeated today we would get the same kind of results? Why?
> What do you think Milgram’s research tells us about our individual ethical standards?
> Which is more ethical: altruistic CSR or strategic CSR? Provide examples to explain your answer.
> The treatment of the participants in the study raised as much criticism as the results the study generated. Was it ethical to mislead them into believing that they were really inflicting pain on the learners? Why?
> Critics and many Instagram customers reacted very strongly to the TOS change. Was there an error of judgment on the company’s part? Why or why not?
> If the phone hacking had been restricted just to the cell phones of celebrities, would the public outcry have been so large? Why or why not?
> A new system that bills corporate clients is under development, and there is a discussion over how much to invest in error checking and control. One option has been put forward so far, and initial estimates suggest it would add about 40 percent to the ov
> Are your telephone calls monitored where you work? If they are, how does that make you feel? If they aren’t monitored, how would you feel if that policy were introduced?
> Would you use that new Blackberry for personal calls and e-mails? Why or why not?
> You have just been issued a new company Blackberry (to make sure you never miss an important e-mail or phone call!). Are you now obligated to answer those calls and e-mails at any time, day or night? Why or why not?
> What would you do if someone sent you an e-mail at work that you found offensive? Would you just delete it or say something to that person?
> Should you be allowed to surf the web at work? Why or why not?
> If you had the chance to work from home and telecommute, would you take it? If the opportunity meant that you had to allow your company to monitor every call on your phone and every keystroke on your computer, would you still take it? Explain why or why
> On the assumption that the downloadable software patches can greatly improve updates for its client, does Matrix have an ethical obligation to get involved here? Explain your answer.
> What kind of message does this send to the employees of Matrix’s client?
> Why would newspaper journalists resort to such methods in order to deliver “breaking news”?
> How well did Matrix’s client handle this situation?
> What other options were available here?
> Visit the website for the RAND Center for Corporate Ethics and Governance (CCEG) at www.rand.org/jie/centers/corporate-ethics.html. a. What does the CCEG do? b. What are the stated comparative advantages of the CCEG? c. Select and summarize a current CCE
> Visit the website for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) at www.eff.org. a. What does the EFF do? b. What is the EFF “Bloggers’ Rights” Project? c. What is the “Open Wireless Movement”?
> Birkenfeld was adamant that his prison sentence is unfair when compared to the fact that no one else (e.g., Olenicoff or UBS bankers) went to jail. Did he have a point?
> What do you think would have happened if Dr. Olivieri’s fellow academics had not supported her in her fight?
> Even though Dr. Olivieri later admitted that she should never have signed the agreement with Apotex that included a confidentiality clause, does the fact that she did sign it have any bearing on her actions here? Why or why not?
> Was it ethical for Apotex to include a three-year gag clause in the agreement with Dr. Olivieri?
> After the 2012 accounting scandal, Olympus Corp. committed to a major overhaul of its accounting practices. What do the 2016 settlements convey about that overhaul??
> How did the executive leadership respond to Woodford’s revelations?
> Your friend has been unemployed for two years. She decides to boost her résumé by claiming to have been a consultant for those two years in order to compete in a very tough job market. She explains that a colleague of hers did the same thing to cover a s
> Critics are concerned that even with the large qui tam award, Birkenfeld’s prison sentence will discourage other tax whistle-blowers from coming forward. Is that a valid concern? Why or why not?
> Given that there was an immunity agreement in place, what did the Department of Justice gain from prosecuting Birkenfeld?
> If we identify the key players in this case as Dr. Olivieri, Apotex, the Hospital for Sick Children, and the University of Toronto, what are the conflicts of interest between them all?
> Was Olivieri’s decision to publish her findings about the trial an example of universalism or utilitarianism? Explain your answer.
> Critics argue that Woodford could have been more effective if he had taken a longer-term approach to addressing the accounting scandal, rather than the “showdown” approach he took with Kikukawa. Is that a fair assessment? Why or why not?
> What accounting irregularities did Michael Woodford uncover at Olympus?
> Why did UBS elect to settle with the U.S. government?
> Divide into two groups and prepare arguments for and against the following behavior: In the case of Dr. Jeffrey Wigand and the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company, the CBS Broadcasting Company chose not to air Dr. Wigand’s 60 Minutes interview with Mike W
> Divide into two groups and prepare arguments for and against the following behavior: You work in the accounting department of a family-owned mushroom grower based in California that sells premium organic mushrooms to local restaurants and high-end retail
> Apparently no relatives of any of the victims sued Johnson & Johnson. Would they have had a moral case if they had? Should the company have foreseen a risk and done something about it?
> Divide into two groups and prepare arguments for and against the following behavior: You work for a large retail clothing company that spends a large amount of its advertising budget emphasizing that its clothes are “Made in America.” You discover that o
> Divide into two groups and prepare arguments for and against the following behavior: You work in the meat department of store 2795 of a large retail grocery chain. The company recently announced a change in the meat-handling protocols from the primary su
> Why is trust such an important issue in whistle-blowing?
> Why would a whistle-blower be concerned about retaliation?
> Is it reasonable for a whistle-blower to expect a guarantee of anonymity?
> Why would an organization decide to ignore evidence presented by a whistle-blower?
> Which whistle-blowing option is better for an organization: internal or external? Why?
> Why are whistle-blowers regarded as models of honor and integrity?
> Should the driver get his job back? Why or why not?
> You later discover that one of the drivers was not a part of the scheme but was fired anyway when the information was made public. What do you do?
> Imagine that a third-world country volunteers to take the recalled product. Its representatives make assurances that all the tablets will be visually inspected and random samples taken before distribution. Would that be appropriate in these circumstances
> What would you do if your company did not have a whistle-blowing policy?
> You work for a meatpacking company. You have discovered credible evidence that your company’s delivery drivers have been stealing cuts of meat and replacing them with ice to ensure that the delivery meets the stated weight on the delivery invoice. The co
> There are now two whistle-blowing websites separated by only one letter. Summarize their differences and propose which one offers the greatest assistance to a potential whistle-blower.
> Visit the National Whistleblowers Center at www.whistleblowers.org. a. Select the biography of one whistle-blower (not already mentioned in this book) and briefly summarize the details of the case. b. Which publication is recommended for information pert
> Visit the Government Accountability Project (GAP) at www.whistleblower.org. a. What is the mission of GAP? b. How is GAP funded? c. kind of assistance is available through GAP for someone thinking about becoming a whistle-blower?
> Explain how a Ponzi scheme works.
> Why would pharmaceutical companies choose to continue such practices even when it is made clear that they are illegal?
> What benefits do Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Satyam hope to achieve with the announced merger? Explain.
> Can the investors who put their money in Madoff’s funds without any due diligence, often on the basis of a tip from a friend or a “friend of a friend,” really be considered victims in this case? Why or why not?
> Does the fact that Madoff offered less outrageous returns (10-18 percent per year) on investments compared to Ponzi’s promise of a 50 percent return in only 90 days make Madoff any less unethical? Why or why not?
> What was the moral minimum required of the company in this case? Would it favor some stakeholders more than others? How would you defend balancing the interests of some stakeholders more than others?
> Is the payment of a monetary fine sufficient restitution for these offences? Why or why not?
> Critics argue that fines are too affordable. In other words, a $1 billion fine for activities that generate several billion dollars in illegal sales simply becomes a cost of doing business. Should fines be more punitive? How much would be enough?
> What should the respective boards of directors be doing here? How should they be held accountable?
> Why would illegal marketing activities feature so frequently in the pharmaceutical industry? At what point would they be considered endemic?
> Will the response of the Securities and Exchange Board of India be enough to prevent another scandal like Satyam? Explain.
> Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PWC) made a public commitment to cooperate with investigators. Did the Satyam situation represent the same threat for PWC as Enron did for Arthur Anderson? Why or why not?
> Outline the similarities between the Enron scandal and Satyam Computer Services’ situation.
> Why do you think Satyam’s board of directors refused to support the proposed purchase of the construction companies?
> Does Ramalinga Raju’s assertion that this fraud only “started as a marginal gap” change the ethical question here? Would the situation be different if there was evidence that there had been a deliberate intent to deceive investors from the beginning?
> What should investors with Bernard Madoff have done differently here?
> James E. Burke reportedly said that he felt that there was no other decision he could have made. Do you agree? Could he, for example, have recalled Tylenol only in the Midwest? Was there a moral imperative to recall all Tylenol?
> Does the competitive pressure to get hired justify the decision to boost your résumé? Why?
> Can a public firm with a lower-than-prime credit rating issue commercial paper?
> What is the difference between a direct and an indirect placement of commercial paper?
> What is the purpose of trading zones? What are some of the most important zones for world trade?
> Describe the various sources of capital funding available to public firms.
> As a new or small firm considers going public what must the owners consider?
> What are the advantages and disadvantages to a new or small firm of getting capital funding from a venture capital firm?
> What are the different types of venture capital firms? How do institutional venture capital firms differ from angel venture capital firms?
> What is venture capital?
> What types of programs does the Small Business Administration offer to new and small businesses? Under what conditions would a new or small firm use each program?
> What is the difference between a fixed-rate and a floating-rate loan?
> What is meant when it is said that the U.S. dollar is strengthening? How would it impact your vacation abroad and foreign visitors to the United States?
> Why do banks charge up-front fees and back-end fees on loan commitments?
> What is the difference between a spot loan and a loan commitment?
> What process do banks use to evaluate bank loans to small versus midmarket business firms?
