Preface

Introduction: The Case Method

PART ONE Personal Values

PETER GREEN'S FIRST DAY A young man's boss expects him to give an unwarranted discount to an important sales account.

DILEMMA OF AN ACCOUNTANT A junior accountant strongly disagrees on ethical grounds when his superior overrides one of his audit opinions, but the professional standards that should guide his subsequent actions are susceptible to different interpretatio interpretations.

MARTHA MCCASKEY When does consulting become industrial espionage--stealing the intellectual property of competitors? What can a middle-level manager do if she has doubts about her own behavior and her company's integrity?

ETHICAL QUAGMIRE Ethics in the consulting business; a specific problem in the context of professional standards.

INTERNATIONAL DRILLING CORPORATION When (or if) and how to blow the whistle on the head of the company

VIKING AIR COMPRESSOR, INC. Conflicting views on what constitutes socially responsible corporate behavior and the means of achieving it.

PART TWO Corporate Values: Looking Inward

THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE CORPORATION When John F. Kennedy is shot, an executive takes a public position on that event which may embarrass his company; his action raises substantial questions about the responsibilities and rights of corporations and executives toward each other

AMERICAN CYANAMID COMPANY When employees are exposed to potentially harmful chemicals, special measures for physical protection may seem in order but also pose the possibility of sexual discrimination in company policies.

JIM SAWYER Policies and problems regarding employees suffering from alcoholism.

MEBEL DORAN & COMPANY The head of a large investment company becomes aware that some of his executives may inadvertently have become involved in insider trading activities.

H. J. HEINZ COMPANY: THE ADMINISTRATION OF POLICY (A) The ethics of executive behavior in the context of incentive compensation, goal setting, and other corporate mechanisms; instances of questionable activity have begun to emerge.

H. J. HEINZ COMPANY: THE ADMINISTRATION OF POLICY (B) The company now has firmer information; what action should be taken?

THREE SHORT CASES ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT In each of the three caselets, based on the experiences of Harvard Business School students, issues of personal judgement and corporate policy are intimately linked.

NOTES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF CORPORATE GUIDELINES CONCERNING DISCRIMINATION IN THE WORKPLACE A major law firm develops a working set of guidelines for its corporate clients to help deal responsibly with the laws concerning employment discrimination.

LEX SERVICE GROUP, LTD.: DEVELOPING THE GUIDELINES (A) Whether, why, and for whom a corporation should develop guidelines for behavior.

LEX SERVICE GROUP, LTD.: CLOSING PORTSMOUTH DEPOT (B)

LEX SERVICE GROUP, LTD.: WORK CONDITIONS AT INGLESBY SHIPYARD (C)

LEX SERVICE GROUP, LTD.: THE READING PALLETS THEFT (D) As executives begin to apply these guidelines to actual situations at the company, ethical courses of action become problematic.

BUILDING TRUST AT WARNER GEAR When trust between management and labor breaks down, it is hard to rebuild. At Warner Gear, the challenge was formidable and the stakes were high.

REELL PRECISION MANUFACTURING, INC.: A MATTER OF DIRECTION When a company has been successful for years partly because of its strong Judeo-Christian culture, how should it respond to those who claim that this is discriminatory?

PART THREE Corporate Values: Looking Outward

TENNESSEE COAL AND IRON Company-community relationships; should a business firm take action regarding issues of race relations that face a community?

THE POLETOWN DILEMMA Should General Motors keep its plant in Detroit or move it to another location? At what cost to shareholders? Should Detroit accommodate General Motors to keep the company from moving? At what cost to the citizens of Poletown?

DAYTON HUDSON CORPORATION: CONSCIENCE AND CONTROL (A)

DAYTON HUDSON CORPORATION: CONSCIENCE AND CONTROL (B)

DAYTON HUDSON CORPORATION: CONSCIENCE AND CONTROL (C) A hostile takeover attempt of a company with an outstanding record of corporate community involvement and the resulting implications to the meaning of ownership and governance in today's corporation

NORTHWEST AIRLINES: PRIVATE SECTOR, PUBLIC TRUST Corporations are called upon to demonstrate responsibility toward communities. Do communities have responsibilities toward corporations?

THE BUSH FOUNDATION: A CASE STUDY IN GIVING MONEY AWAY When a nonprofit foundation takes great pains to give money away with social responsibility, does it also have a duty to invest its principal according to social criteria?

ALCO BEVERAGE COMPANY AND MODERATION ADVERTISING Can a company realistically encourage moderation in the consumption of its product? What is responsible marketing behavior when overconsumption is socially hazardous?

NOTE ON PRODUCT SAFETY A background note for the product safety cases.

MANAGING PRODUCT SAFETY: THE FORD PINTO

MANAGING PRODUCT SAFETY: THE FIRESTONE 500

MANAGING PRODUCT SAFETY: THE PROCTER AND GAMBLE RELY TAMPON Three classic cases on problems of product safety, government regulation, and customer reactions.

SUPER SOAKER What does a company do when people are seriously injured from the misuse of one of its products? Does the company bear any social and moral responsibility in this situation?

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH, INC. PLUS A NOTE ON THE BIOTECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY What responsibility does a company in a new technology have for anticipating possible abuses with its products?

ENVIRONMENTAL PRESSURES: THE POLLUTION PROBLEM What has often been referred to as the "classic pollution case, " wherein a previously authorized mining and processing operation on Lake Superior's shores is now charged with violating a variety of environmental regulations.

DUPONT FREON PRODUCTS DIVISION A case that describes the ozone layer depletion problem and asks how a large company with a big stake in fluorocarbons comes to terms with the ethics of it all.

ASHLAND OIL, INC.: TROUBLE AT FLOREFFE How candid should a chief executive be when the company appears to have been negligent regarding an oil spill? What if the lawyers have a lot to say about potential litigation?

EXXON VALDEZ: CORPORATE RECKLESSNESS ON TRIAL In the highest-profile civil damage case in corporate legal history, the jury had to determine what was fair to all the parties--both as to compensation and as to punishment.

PART FOUR Corporate Values: International Business

THE FOREIGN CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT: A RECONSIDERATION The text of the 1977 act, a discussion of its impact, and proposed changes in it.

CHANGMAI CORPORATION The new general manager of a Malaysian paper-producing subsidiary of an international corporation is asked by the local environmental ministry for a bribe, and weights the consequences

SAFETY FIRST? An American manager in Jakarta is troubled over differing standards of workplace safety between America and Indonesia. When do differences deserve criticism?

THE EVALUATION A Swiss multinational manager faces a dilemma as he tries to apply to a senior Thai employee a corporate performance appraisal system that seemed to pit principle against respect for cultural differences.

THE IBM-FUJITSU DISPUTE Examination of a controversy over intellectual property ownership, its resolution, and implications for future international trade relations.

SMOKING AND HEALTH: UNITED STATES TOBACCO COMPANIES--NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS An industry case that raises issues of smoking and health both in the United States and other countries.

UPDATE ON THE U.S. TOBACCO INDUSTRY A summary of major changes in U.S. tobacco regulation in 1996 and 1997 and a comparison with overseas activity reveals a change of rules but not of issues.

NOTE ON THE EXPORT OF PESTICIDES FROM THE UNITED STATES TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Ethical issues regarding the sales of pesticides to less-developed countries when those pesticides cannot be sold or can be sold only for restricted use in the United States.

VELSICOL CHEMICAL CORPORATION A case that gives life to the Note on the Export of Pesticides case by showing how one company took on the challenge of trying to make an ethical difference in its Third World marketing practices.

DOW CORNING CORPORATION: BUSINESS CONDUCT AND GLOBAL VALUES How to develop a comprehensive ethics policy for a global enterprise, even when local ethical norms may differ.

DOW CORNING CORPORATION: THE BREAST IMPLANT CONTROVERSY Ten years after the Dow Corning case on the global business conduct policy, the company is driven into Chapter 11 by a controversy over the safety of its silicone breast implants.

APPENDIXES

A. ETHICAL FRAMEWORKS FOR MANAGEMENT A new introduction to some of the major concepts of moral philosophy with suggestions for their use in analyzing cases.

B. BRIDGING EAST AND WEST IN MANAGEMENT ETHICS: KYOSEI AND THE MORAL POINT OF VIEW A discussion of some basic similarities between Western and Asian ethical ideals and their application to corporations through the Caux Roundtable Principles of Business Conduct.