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Business Ethics
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Business Ethics
Contemporary Issues and Cases

January 2019 | 520 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
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The future of the free market depends on fair, honest business practices. Business Ethics: Contemporary Issues and Cases aims to deepen students’ knowledge of ethical principles, corporate social responsibility, and decision-making in all aspects of business. The text presents an innovative approach to ethical reasoning grounded in moral philosophy. Focusing on corporate purpose—creating economic value, complying with laws and regulations, and observing ethical standards—a decision-making framework is presented based upon Duties-Rights-Justice. Over 40 real-world case studies allow students to grapple with a wide range of moral issues related to personal integrity, corporate values, and global capitalism. Richard A. Spinello delves into the most pressing issues confronting businesses today including sexual harassment in the workplace, cybersecurity, privacy, and environmental justice.  

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SAGE edge offers a robust online environment featuring an impressive array of free tools and resources for review, study, and further exploration, keeping both instructors and students. Learn more at edge.sagepub.com/spinello. 

 
List of Case Studies
 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Author
 
Ethical Decision-Making Framework
 
PART I. THEORIES AND PRINCIPLES
 
Chapter 1. Why Capitalism?
What Is Capitalism?

 
Archetypes of Capitalism

 
Capitalism and Its Critics

 
Government Institutions and Market Failures

 
Moral Culture and Modern Managers

 
Conclusion

 
Key Terms

 
Review Questions

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 2. Corporate Moral Agency, Purpose, and Responsibilities
The Corporation and the Triumph of Corporate Rights

 
Corporate Moral Agency

 
Corporate Purpose

 
Corporate Accountability and Economic Mission

 
Conclusion

 
Key Terms

 
Review Questions

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 3. Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
Plato, Aristotle, and Virtue Ethics

 
Consequences and Utilitarianism

 
Ethics as Duty

 
Natural Rights

 
Synthesis and Application

 
Scope of Corporate Social Responsibility

 
Conclusion

 
Key Terms

 
Review Questions

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
PART II. PERSONAL INTEGRITY IN THE WORKPLACE
 
Chapter 4. The Person and the Corporation
An Overview of the Cases

 
CASE STUDY 4.1: Trouble in the Recruiting Office

 
CASE STUDY 4.2: Conscience and the Workplace

 
CASE STUDY 4.3: Karen Preston’s New Boss

 
CASE STUDY 4.4: Confessions of an Appliance Salesman

 
CASE STUDY 4.5: The “Perfect” Job Offer

 
CASE STUDY 4.6: The Product Manager

 
CASE STUDY 4.7: Telling the Truth about the Probable Sale of a Division

 
CASE STUDY 4.8: Should an Engineer Inform the FAA about a Defective Fuselage Design?

 
CASE STUDY 4.9: Who’s Responsible?

 
Conclusion

 
Review Questions

 
Discussion Questions

 
Appendix: How to Analyze a Case

 
 
PART III. CORPORATE VALUES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
 
Chapter 5. The Rights of the Modern Corporation
An Overview of the Cases

 
CASE STUDY 5.1: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission

 
CASE STUDY 5.2: The Hobby Lobby Case

 
Conclusion

 
Review Questions

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 6. Ethics in the Investment and Financial Services Industries
An Overview of the Cases

 
Briefing on Insider Trading

 
CASE STUDY 6.1: Texas Gulf Sulphur

 
CASE STUDY 6.2: All in the Family: The Stewart Insider Trading Case

 
CASE STUDY 6.3: Manipulating the LIBOR

 
CASE STUDY 6.4: Fraud or Shrewd Business? The Case of Goldman Sachs

 
CASE STUDY 6.5: The Wells Fargo Sales Scam

 
Conclusion

 
Key Terms

 
Review Question

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 7. Patients, Patents, and the Pharmaceutical Industry
An Overview of the Cases

 
A Note on Patents and Intellectual Property Rights

 
Briefing on Big Pharma and Industry Regulations

 
CASE STUDY 7.1: The New Economics of Drug Pricing: Valeant Pharmaceuticals International

 
CASE STUDY 7.2: Big Pharma Confronts AIDS

 
CASE STUDY 7.3: Myriad Genetics: Patenting the Genome

 
Conclusion

 
Key Terms

 
Review Questions

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 8. Protecting the Consumer: Product Safety and Marketing
An Overview of the Cases

 
Briefing: Spotlight on the Tobacco Industry

 
CASE STUDY 8.1: Plain Packaging and the Ongoing Trials of Big Tobacco

 
Briefing on Safety and the U.S. Automotive Industry

 
CASE STUDY 8.2: The Chevy Cobalt Ignition Switch Crisis

 
CASE STUDY 8.3: Takata’s Airbag: Unsafe in Any Car?

 
CASE STUDY 8.4: The Samsung Recall: A Galaxy of Troubles

 
Conclusion

 
Review Questions

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
PART IV. GLOBAL CAPITALISM, CULTURE, AND JUSTICE
 
Chapter 9. Business and the Environment
An Overview of the Cases

 
CASE STUDY 9.1: Poisoned Land: The Tragic History of Love Canal

 
CASE STUDY 9.2: Deepwater Horizon: BP on the Edge

 
CASE STUDY 9.3: Volkswagen’s Dieselgate

 
CASE STUDY 9.4: Chevron in the Amazon: Anatomy of Environmental Degradation and Its Aftermath

 
Conclusion

 
Key Terms

 
Review Question

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 10. Informational Privacy and Cybersecurity
An Overview of the Cases

 
Briefing on Privacy Rights and Security

 
CASE STUDY 10.1: Data Breaches at Yahoo

 
CASE STUDY 10.2: Going Dark: Apple versus the FBI

 
Conclusion

 
Key Terms

 
Review Question

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 11. Fair Competition in the Era of Informational Capitalism
An Overview of the Cases

 
CASE STUDY 11.1: Microsoft Accused: The Browser Wars and the Antitrust Case

 
CASE STUDY 11.2: Challenging the Google Monopoly

 
Conclusion

 
Key Terms

 
Review Question

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 12. Employee Rights and Sexual Harassment
An Overview of the Cases

 
Briefing on Duties to Employees

 
CASE STUDY 12.1: Sexual Harassment or Imprudence?

 
CASE STUDY 12.2: Voluntary Redundancies at PSA Group

 
CASE STUDY 12.3: GPS Monitoring and Employee Privacy Rights: Excerpts from Cunningham v. New York State Department of Labor

 
Conclusion

 
Key Terms

 
Review Question

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
PART V. GLOBALIZATION AND CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
 
Chapter 13. Global Politics and Disinvestment Strategies
An Overview of the Cases

 
Briefing on the History and Challenges of Globalization

 
CASE STUDY 13.1: ITT in Chile: Corporate Executives and Marxist Presidents

 
CASE STUDY 13.2: Rubber at Any Price: Firestone and the African Strongman

 
Conclusion

 
Key Terms

 
Review Question

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 14. Bribery and Corruption in Foreign Markets
An Overview of the Cases

 
Briefing on Bribery and the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

 
CASE STUDY 14.1: GlaxoSmithKline in China

 
CASE STUDY 14.2: Seeds of Scandal at Monsanto

 
CASE STUDY 14.3: The Resource Curse and Equatorial Guinea

 
Conclusion

 
Key Terms

 
Review Question

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Chapter 15. Responsible Outsourcing: Fair Wages and Worker Safety
An Overview of the Cases

 
CASE STUDY 15.1: Worker Abuses in the Supply Chain: The Disturbing Case of Apple in China

 
CASE STUDY 15.2: Sweatshops and Deathtraps: The Garment Industry in Bangladesh

 
Conclusion

 
Review Question

 
Discussion Questions

 
 
Glossary
 
Notes
 
Selected Bibliography
 
Index

Offers excellent case studies that help students understand and put into perspective the concept of ethics in business.

Dean Evelyn Castillo Sorrentini
Management, Inter American University of Puerto Rico
November 29, 2020
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Key features

KEY FEATURES: 

  • Recent and provocative cases, such as Hobby Lobby, Volkswagen's Dieselgate, and data breaches at Yahoo offers current material that students will want to engage with.
  • The book’s interdisciplinary approach integrating perspectives from all social sciences to business ethics will appeal to a broad array of students.
  • An emphasis on global capitalism and global ethical issues offers interested students a look at multinational ethical behavior.
  • Presents a unique, decision-making approach to ethical theory using the Duties-Rights-Justice Framework.
  • Chapter on Employee Rights and Sexual Harassment explores organizations’ responsibility to protect employees from abusive and threatening behavior.
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