LGST 210: CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS

THE WHARTON SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

SPRING SEMESTER 2017

Professor Nico Cornell

Huntsman Hall 669
[email protected]
Office Hours: Tuesdays 1:30-3pm & by appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is fundamentally about the question What should I do? as it is posed in various
business contexts. While many other courses implicitly address that question by describing the
consequences of business choices and strategies, this course is different. It concerns the aspects of
that question that are not empirical or strategic. This course is about the principles that ultimately
guide and justify our decisions about what to do. And it is also about how those principles
sometimes constrain us.

The course is simultaneously a course in ethical philosophy and a course in business decision-
making. The course aims (1) to introduce the pervasive role of normative reasoning; (2) to enhance
the students ability to identify ethical problems in business; (3) to familiarize the student with
different approaches to addressing ethical problems; and (4) to improve the students analytic and
critical reasoning skills.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Class Participation (20%) The success of this course depends on active classroom discussion.
Attendance and engagement are expected. Students grades will be dictated by
quality, not quantity of participation. I may cold call occasionally.
In-Class Quizzes (10%) There will occasionally be brief quizzes at the beginning of class. These are
designed to ensure that students are keeping up with the materials and understanding
the course concepts. Students who miss a quiz through absence or tardiness receive
no credit. The lowest quiz score will be dropped.
Short Paper (10%) 1000 word maximum. Topics will be provided at a later date. Due in Canvas by
5pm on March 17.
Final Paper (30%) 3000 word maximum. Similar to a longer version of the short paper. Due in
Canvas by midnight May 2.
Important: Each paper should present a clear normative argument, for more
guidance, see below.
Final Exam (30%) Closed book, multiple choice. Scheduled for Tuesday, May 9 at noon.

READINGS

Readings will be available on Canvas. The reading list is relatively set, but subject to possible
changes.
 Date Topic Readings

Unit 1: Approaches to Ethical Reasoning

Jan. 12 Introduction No Readings

Consequentialism Rachels, The Debate over Utilitarianism
Jan. 17 and Utilitarianism Gioia, Pinto Fires and Personal Ethics
Singer, Famine, Affluence and Morality
Jan. 19 The Duty to Save Merck & Co.
Nonconsequentialism Velleman, A Brief Introduction to Kantian Ethics
Jan. 24 and Kant Bowie, A Kantian Approach to Business Ethics
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Bk I: 1,2, 5, 7; Bk II: 4, 5, 6.
Solomon, Corporate Roles, Personal Virtues: An Aristotelian Approach
Jan. 26 Virtue Ethics to Business Ethics

Unit 2: The Corporate Form and Purpose

Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, Book I.1 & Book IV.2.1-12

Shareholder Value Friedman, The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its
Jan. 31 Theory Profits
Freeman, Managing for Stakeholders
Feb. 2 Stakeholder Theory Stout, The Problem of Corporate Purpose
Feb. 6 Shareholders No Readings
Paine, The Fiduciary Relationship: A Legal Perspective
Feb. 9 Fiduciary Duties Meinhard v. Salmon
Social Contract Plato, Crito
Feb. 14 Theory Donaldson & Dunfee, A Social Contract Approach to Business Ethics
Corporate Social Whitehouse, Corporate Social Responsibility: Views from the
Feb. 16 Responsibility Frontline

Unit 3: Obligations to Clients and Consumers

Feb. 21 Deception I Carr, Is Business Bluffing Ethical?

Feb. 23 Deception II Strudler, Deception Unraveled
Shell, When is it Legal to Lie in Negotiations?
Feb. 28 Fraud Reed v. King
Mar. 2 NO CLASS [To be made-up]
Mar. 7/9 NO CLASS SPRING BREAK
Arrington, Advertising and Behavior Control
Mar. 14 Advertising Crisp, Persuasive Advertising, Autonomy, and the Creation of Desire
Smith, Why I am Leaving Goldman Sachs
McDougall, Born to Run, Ch.25
Mar. 16 Product Obligations H.B. Fuller in Honduras

Unit 4: Work and the Workplace

Wiggins, Work, Its Moral Meaning or Import

Mar. 21 Meaning and Work Wrzesniewski, Interpersonal Sensemaking and the Meaning of Work
Payne v. Western Atlantic R.R. Co.
Walzer, Hard Work
Mar. 23 Employment Heath, Equal Pay: Why some jobs must suck, in every aspect
 Mar. 28 NO CLASS [To be made up]
Larmer, Whistleblowing and Employee Loyalty
Mar. 30 Whistleblowing International Drilling Corp.
Anderson, Recent Thinking about Sexual Harassment
Gender and the Cortina, Unseen Injustice: Incivility as Modern Discrimination in
Apr. 4 Workplace Organizations
Moriarty, How Much Compensation Can CEOs Permissibly Accept?
Kolb, Must CEOs Be Saints? Contra Moriarty on CEO
Executive Abstemiousness
Apr. 6 Compensation Moriarty, The Skys the Limit: A Reply to Kolb

Unit 5: Beyond the Corporation

Zwolinski, Sweatshops, Choice, and Exploitation

Meyers, Wrongful Beneficence: Exploitation and Third World
Apr. 11 Exploitation Sweatshops
Apr. 13 Human Rights Googles China Problem (and China's Google Problem)
Tragedy of the
Apr. 18 Commons Hardin, The Tragedy of the Commons
Newton, Eight Perceptions of the Natural World
Apr. 20 The Environment Arnold & Bustos, Business, Ethics, and Global Climate Change
Apr. 25 Sustainability Solow, Sustainability: An Economists Perspective

CLASS POLICIES & INFORMATION

1. Be Respectful. Rather than setting out a laundry list of classroom rules, I prefer to say simply that
you should treat your classmates and me with respect. This class is about developing your judgment
about how to treat others, and you should exercise that judgment in the classroom. The following
are a few things that I think can often be disrespectful: talking separately while another person is
addressing the group; getting up to leave in the middle of class; snickering at or mocking another
persons comments; eating loudly or in a manner that will distract others. But this is not an
exhaustive list. This is open to your discretion, which I hope will prompt deliberation on your part.

2. No Bullshit. You should do the readings. Philosophy can be challenging to read, and you may
need to read things more than once before you understand them. But dont bullshit if you havent
done the readings for some class. It will only hurt the class discussion (and I will probably know).

3. No Laptops. Laptops and are not allowed in class. Recording devices are also not allowed. I will
permit tablets (without an external keyboard) for the purpose of accessing assigned readings and
notes that annotations that you may have made on the assigned readings. Electronic devices will
also be permitted to respond to in class polls (see below). However, electronic devices are permitted
for these two purposes only. You are not to use electronic devices for taking notes or for recording,
and certainly not for uses unrelated to class. If you abuse this limited use of electronic devices, I
may ask that you no longer bring them at all.

4. No plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious form of academic misconduct, and punishment will be

severe. Any time you use ideas from someone else, whether directly quoting or not, you should
provide a citation. Failure to do so is dishonest and unfair to others. Laziness or accident is not an
excuse.
5. In-Class Polling. I plan to use in-class polling technology. In order to avoid asking you to purchase
a response device (around $50), I plan to allow you to use smartphones. This is an attempt to save
you money. (If you do not have a smartphone, talk to me.) I am aware, however, that, if you have
your phone out in class, the temptation to use your smartphone for other purposes will be high. I
am hopeful that you will prove able to resist this temptation. If I find that you are using your phone
for non-class purposes during class, I may ask you to purchase a traditional clicker.

6. Make-Up Classes. As you will see, there are two scheduled class meetings (March 2nd and March
28th) during which we will not be having class. In order to make-up for these missed classes, we will
schedule a 3-hr session in the evening sometime during the middle of the semester (probably
March). I will survey the class to try to find a convenient time for as many people as possible.

7. Meals. Over the course of the semester, you will be invited and encouraged to sign up on Canvas
for student-faculty meals sponsored by the Wharton Meals Program. The meals are entirely
voluntary, and there is no charge to students. Lunches will take place somewhere near campus (e.g.
Pod, White Dog, etc.).

8. Guidance on Writing Papers. The papers are meant to address a particular decision or a particular
question about what one ought to do. Thus, each paper should present a clear normative argument.
They should say what one should or should not do, or why an argument is or is not correct. It is
essential to have a clear, well-reasoned argument, and the best papers will have something interesting
or somewhat original to say. Clarity in writing and reasoning is critical. The top papers will also add
value (i.e. say something non-obvious).
You might think of each paper like a memo to a boss who is asking for a directive (i.e.
Imagine you boss comes to you and she says, Read this and report back to me on what you think
or Pick some aspect of this and write up how we should react to it.). But this is just meant to be a
suggestion for how to think about approaching the paper. Ignore it if its not helpful to you. The
papers dont have to be written as actual memos (but they can be if you want).
It is perfectly fine to use the first-person, but you dont have to. You also dont have to do
outside research. If you want to draw on additional materials, thats fine; please cite them, but I
dont particularly care what citation format you use.
For more guidance, the following links provide resources for writing a philosophy paper,
which may be useful:
http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/guidelines/writing.html
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~phildept/files/ShortGuidetoPhilosophicalWriting.pdf