Business Ethics

The second edition of Business Ethics introduces readers to key ethical issues that arise within the world of business, providing a strong theoretical foundation as well as real world applications. This new edition has been greatly revised, and includes new sections on the financial services industry, globalization, and global economic justice.

• An accessible introduction for beginners, offering a combination of important established essays and new essays commissioned especially for this volume
• Greatly revised - more than half of the selections are new to this edition. Newly commissioned essays address information technology, global economic justice and globalization, stakeholder theory, the corporation as an individual, and other topics
• Uses diverse, authentic business cases to illustrate discussion of concepts
• Cases have been updated to reflect current problems and issues
• Provides students with guidance and tools to write their own case study essays
• Readings are presented to progressively develop the reader's ability to read and apply ethical theory by writing case responses from different vantage points

Preface to the Second Edition xiii

Source Credits xv

1 Ethical Reasoning 1
Michael Boylan

2 Theories of Economic Justice 12

Marxian Liberalism 13
Jeffrey Reiman

Reframing the Commonwealth: Commercial or Civic 32
Marvin T. Brown

Evaluating a Case Study: Developing a Practical Ethical Viewpoint 45

3 What Is a Corporation? 51

A. The Corporation as an Individual 55

Can a Corporation Have a Conscience? 55
Kenneth E. Goodpaster and John B. Matthews Jr.

The Corporation as a Moral Person 63
Peter A. French

Personalizing Corporate Ontology: The French Way 72
Thomas Donaldson

Citizens United v. FTC (U.S. Supreme Court Case, 2010) 81

B. The Corporation as a Community: Stakeholder Theory 87

Corporations as Communities 87
Amitai Etzioni

Business Ethics and Stakeholder Analysis 95
Kenneth E. Goodpaster

Stakeholders and Consent 108
Stephen Cohen

A Fiduciary Argument against Stakeholder Theory 114
Alexei M. Marcoux

Evaluating a Case Study: Finding the Conflicts 136

4 What Are Proper Business Practices? 142

A. Competition and the Practice of Business 145

The Janus Faces of Competition 145
Michael Boylan

The Principle of Fair Competition 155
Michael Boylan

B. Advertising 163

The Advertising of Happiness and the Branding of Values 163
Edward H. Spence

A Model to Explore the Ethics of Erotic Stimuli in Print Advertising 176
Tony L. Henthorne and Michael S. LaTour

C. Information Technology 187

The Importance of Information in Business Ethics 187
Mariarosaria Taddeo

Workplace Monitoring and Surveillance: The Problem of Trust 197
John Weckert

Evaluating a Case Study: Assessing Embedded Levels 214

5 Ethical Issues within the Corporation 223

A. Working Conditions 228

Of Acceptable Risk 228
William W. Lowrance

Working Conditions in Home Care: Negotiating Race and Class Boundaries in Gendered Work 235
Sheila M. Neysmith and Jane Aronson

Sneakers and Sweatshops: Holding Corporations Accountable 247
David M. Schilling

B. Affirmative Action 252

Preferential Hiring 252
Judith Jarvis Thomson

Preferential Hiring: A Reply to Judith Jarvis Thomson 257
Robert Simon

The Future of Affirmative Action 259
Michael Boylan

C. Gender Issues 266

In Shouts and Whispers: Paradoxes Facing Women of Colour in Organizations 266
Rekha Karambayya

Compensation Inequality 275
Jane Uebelhoer

D. Whistle-Blowing 288

Whistle-Blowing 288
Terrance McConnell

Mad as Hell or Scared Stiff ? The Effects of Value Conflict and Emotions on Potential Whistle-Blowers 300
Erika Henik

Evaluating a Case Study: Applying Ethical Issues 311

6 The Context of Business: Nationally and Internationally 321

A. The Financial Services Industry 325

Ethics in Financial Services: Systems and Individuals 325
Ronald Duska

Derivatives and the Financial Crisis: Ethics, Stewardship, and Cultural Politics 339
David E. McClean

Madoff and Kreuger: Fraud Theories, Red Flags, and Due Diligence in the Auditing Process 356
Behnaz Z. Quigley and Mary Jane Eichorn

B. Global Business: Bribing 370

Bribery 370
Michael Philips

Bribery and Implicit Agreements: A Reply to Philips 384
Thomas L. Carson

What’s Wrong with Bribery? 387
Scott Turow

C. Globalization 390

Economic Globalization: An Empirical Presentation and a Moral Judgment 390
Farhad Rassekh

Multinational Enterprises and Incomplete Institutions: The Demandingness of Minimum Moral Standards 409
Nien-hê Hsieh

Evaluating a Case Study: Structuring the Essay 423

Further Reading 430

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