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Enron arguments
Enron’s use of creative accounting and business tools (mark-to-market accounting and special purpose entities to distribute risk) could be termed deceptive. But Malcom Gladwell argues that Enron was not at fault for deceiving its investors. Instead of being a puzzle created when conspirators improperly conceal information, Enron was a mystery where all the needed information is publicly available but nobody has the foresight to interpret the information in the proper fashion. (Gladwell points out that a group of students at Syracuse University studied Enron and recommended selling Enron stock long before the so-called experts reached the same conclusion.) Construct arguments for and against the claim that Enron business practices were deceptive and therefore unethical. Use your ethics tests..
Enron group summary
- Evaluate Enron practices using your ethics and feasibility tests.
- Prepare a socio-technical system table on Enron. Go to m14025 (STSs) and make use of the STS table on power generation in Puerto Rico.
- Provide an argument for Gladwell's position that Enron was a mystery. What does this say about Enron responsibility? Provide a table for the position that Enron was a puzzle? What does this say about Enron's responsibility?
Click on Bell: Business Ethics Links Library to find Enron's code of ethics.
Nike
Nike scenario
- Your textbook provides the following description of working conditions for a Nike suppliers located in Vietnam (p 512):
- “Workers who did not meet the aggressive production goals did not receive a bonus. Failing to meet production goals three times resulted in the worker’s dismissal. Workers were sometimes permitted to work additional hours without pay to meet production quotas. Supervisors were strict, chastising workers for excessive talking or spending too much time in the restrooms. Korean supervisors, often hampered by language and cultural barriers, sometimes resorted to hard-nosed management tactics, hitting or slapping slower workers. Other workers in need of discipline were forced to stand outside the factory for long periods in the tropical sun. The Vietnamese term for this practice was phoi nang, or sun-drying.” Business and Society, 512
- Is Nike responsible (or co-responsible) for the actions described above that were committed by its supplier? Explain your position by clarifying whether you are taking a shareholder or stakeholder view of corporate social responsibility. Then outline a plan for how should Nike respond to a supplier that engages in the practices described above?
Nike argument
Your module on corporate social responsibility outlines two different accounts of the target and scope of responsibility. The stockholder view holds that the corporation is responsible only to its investors/owners. Diverting resources from stockholders to other parties represents, according to Milton Friedman, “taxation without representation.” On the other hand, the stakeholder view holds that the corporation as to balance different stakeholder interests and rights; the corporation is responsible to all stakeholders and must treat them equally. Werhane agrees with the stakeholder view but goes one step further; to properly understand stakeholder responsibilities, the corporate manager must imagine the corporate stakeholder complex around each stakeholder taken successively as the center. Argue for a stockholder approach to the responsibilities of Nike for the actions of its suppliers. Argue for a stakeholder approach to the responsibilities of Nike for the actions of its suppliers. Imagine the Nike stakeholder complex as it is seen from the standpoint of the Vietnamese workers depicted in the case above. How should it respond to employee treatment from this perspective?
Source:
OpenStax, Using the ethics bowl to integrate ethics into the business and professional curriculum. OpenStax CNX. Dec 20, 2009 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col10411/1.2
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