Table Of Content

THIS IS BUSINESS ETHICS THIS IS PHILOSOPHY Series editor: Steven D. Hales Reading philosophy can be like trying to ride a bucking bronco—you hold on for dear life while “transcendental deduction” twists you to one side, “causa sui” throws you to the other, and a 300‐word, 300‐year‐old sentence comes down on you like an iron‐shod hoof the size of a dinner plate. This Is Philosophy is the riding academy that solves these problems. Each book in the series is written by an expert who knows how to gently guide students into the subject regardless of the reader’s ability or previous level of knowledge. Their reader‐friendly prose is designed to help students find their way into the fascinating, challenging ideas that compose philosophy without simply sticking the hapless novice on the back of the bronco, as so many texts do. All the books in the series provide ample pedagogical aids, including links to free online primary sources. When students are ready to take the next step in their philosophical education, This Is Philosophy is right there with them to help them along the way. This Is Philosophy: An Introduction Steven D. Hales This Is Philosophy of Mind: An Introduction Pete Mandik This Is Ethics: An Introduction Jussi Suikkanen This Is Political Philosophy: An Introduction Alex Tuckness and Clark Wolf This Is Business Ethics: An Introduction Tobey Scharding Forthcoming: This is Early Modern Philosophy Kurt Smith This Is Environmental Ethics Wendy Lee This is Epistemology Clayton Littlejohn and Adam Carter This is Metaphysics Kris McDaniel This Is Bioethics: An Introduction Udo Schuklenk THIS IS BUSINESS ETHICS AN INTRODUCTION TOBEY SCHARDING This edition first published 2018 © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. 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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication data applied for Hardback ISBN: 9781119055051 Paperback ISBN: 9781119055044 Cover design by Wiley Set in 10.5/13pt Minion by SPi Global, Pondicherry, India Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 BRIEF CONTENTS Preface xii Part I Problems in Business Ethics 1 1 Ethics: Doing the Right Thing 3 2 Business: Maximizing Profit 14 3 Classic Business Ethics Dilemmas: When Doing the Right Thing Does Not Maximize Profits 32 Part II Tools to Solve Business Ethics Dilemmas 47 4 Ethical Theories 49 5 Theories of Corporate Personhood 77 6 Theories of Political Economy 92 Part III Contemporary Case Studies 119 7 Business Ethics in Employment 121 8 Business Ethics in Advertising 149 9 Business Ethics in the Financial Sector 167 10 Business Ethics in the Environment 190 11 Business Ethics in Globalization 210 Part IV The Future of Business Ethics 229 12 Predicting and Preventing Future Business Ethics Scandals 231 Index 247 CONTENTS Preface xii Part I Problems in Business Ethics 1 1 Ethics: Doing the Right Thing 3 Introduction to Ethics 3 What are ethical questions 3 How to answer ethical questions 4 Introductory Case Studies 5 Sam and the substandard notes 5 Casey and the overly‐demanding internship 6 Tatiana and the fair distribution of chores 7 Alex and the too‐easy‐to‐cheat course 8 Evaluating the Case Studies 9 Non‐ethical guidelines for thinking about the cases 9 Ethical guidelines for thinking about the cases 11 Limitations of ethical evaluation: the problem of controversy 12 Reference 13 2 Business: Maximizing Profit 14 Theory of the Firm 14 Firm organization 15 Why the firm exists at all 16 Problems for firm organization 17 Business Decision‐Making: Shareholders and Cost‐Benefit Analysis 17 The Dominant Model 19 Shareholder Theory 22 Cost‐benefit analysis 25 Contents vii Business in Society: Consumers, Employees, and Community 27 References and Further Reading 31 3 Classic Business Ethics Dilemmas: When Doing the Right Thing Does Not Maximize Profits 32 Doing Right by Consumers: The Ford Pinto Case 33 Doing Right by Employees: The Walmart Case 38 Doing Right by the Community: The B.P. Case 40 Doing Right by Shareholders: The Enron Case 42 References and Further Reading 46 Case Cited 46 Part II Tools to Solve Business Ethics Dilemmas 47 4 Ethical Theories 49 The Three Major Ethical Theories 51 Utility‐based ethics 52 Kant’s duty‐based ethics 61 Aristotle’s virtue‐based ethics 67 Other Bases for Ethics 72 Natural law theory 72 Contract theory 73 Ethics of care 74 Feminist ethics 75 References and Further Reading 76 5 Theories of Corporate Personhood 77 Businesses as Ethical Persons 78 Businesses as Bureaucracies 83 Businesses as Collective Persons 87 References and Further Reading 91 6 Theories of Political Economy 92 Private Property 95 The justification of private property 96 Distributive justice 106 The Division of Labor 112 Smith’s productivity‐based defense of the division 112 Marx’s alienation‐based criticism of the division 115 References and Further Reading 118 viii Contents Part III Contemporary Case Studies 119 7 Business Ethics in Employment 121 Employment at Will: The Bechtel Case 121 Bechtel’s corporate identity 122 Facts of the case 122 What happened 124 Historical significance 124 Ethical significance: conditions of employment 125 Executive Compensation: The A.I.G. Case 130 A.I.G.’s corporate identity 131 Facts of the case 131 What happened 133 Historical significance 133 Ethical significance: executive compensation 134 Preventing Discrimination and Achieving Diversity: The Google Case 136 Google’s corporate identity 137 Facts of the case 138 What happened 139 Ethical significance: unconscious bias 141 Work‐Life Balance: The Amazon Case 143 Amazon’s corporate identity 144 Facts of the case 144 What happened 145 Historical significance 146 Ethical significance: work‐life balance 146 References and Further Reading 147 Case Cited 148 8 Business Ethics in Advertising 149 Manipulative Advertising: The Four Loko Case 149 Phusion Projects’ corporate identity 150 Facts of the case 150 What happened 151 Historical significance 152 Ethical significance: manipulative advertising 152 Targeted Advertising: The Facebook Case 155 Facebook’s corporate identity 156 Facts of the case 156