Transcript EM6

EM
213.32
6
Winter 2015
Reading Assessment 1 Notes
• general comment:
•
writing that is below a professional standard
is getting in the way of good analysis and
ideas
Reading Assessment 1 Notes
•
careless mistakes were surprisingly common
•
•
confusion or inconsistency about capitalization
•
“Target” and “target”
•
“states” vs “United States”
Confusion about apostraphes
•
“customer’s”
•
“Canadian’s”
•
footnotes in different font than body of essay
•
incorrect name of course on cover page
•
body of essay not behind cover page
•
bibliography not behind body of essay
Reading Assessment 1 Notes
Two big problems
1. some (not all) did not follow
Chicago/Turabian rules for footnotes and
bibliography
•
this is a basic requirement
•
if this is not done in the next Reading
Assessment, the maximum mark you can get is 5
out of 10
Reading Assessment 1 Notes
Two big problems
2. some (not all) have grammar problems
• if I’ve written “grammar” anywhere on your paper,
or suggested you work with the tutor in the library,
you need to do this
•
your writing needs to improve before you will be
able to work in business in English
Reading Assessment 1 Notes
• “brainwashing”
•
Skinnerian Conditioning
• training
• If a business “does what comes naturally”:
Does that mean it’s behaving ethically?
• Does it mean it’s behaving unethically?
•
• How do we judge a business with mixed
motives?
ch 5 text
The Corporation
 limited-liability
 moral agency
 corporate responsibility
 broadening responsibility
 institutionalizing ethics
your thoughts
Limited Liability
What is it?
Why does this exist?
What effect does it have?
http://www.economist.com/node/347323
enthusiasm
reluctance
Moral Agency
What does this mean?
What is the problem?
Moral Agency
What is “moral responsibility?”
 being able to make moral decisions
 being held accountable
• for past actions
• for care & treatment of others
 the obligations of a role in a society
Moral Agency
Can corporations make decisions?
 Are moral decisions different than others?
Moral Agency
YOU.
BOUGHT 228 MILLION POUNDS OF RESPONSIBLY
GROWN, ETHICALLY TRADE COFFEE LAST YEAR
Everything we do, you do. You stop by for a coffee.
And just by doing that, you let Starbucks buy more
coffee from farmers who are good to their workers
community and planet. It’s using our size for good.
And you make it all possible Well done, you.
Moral Agency
vanishing individual responsibility
 individuals
• refuse
 groups
• diffuse
 structure gives distance
• investor
board
• manager
staff
Corporate Responsibility
arguments
 utilitarian
 rights
Corporate Responsibility
 only profit maximization
• or
 social responsibility
“the social contract”
“social license to operate”
“externalities”
Corporate Responsibility
“the promissory relationship”
 what does it
? require
? forbid
? permit
Broadening Responsibility
the arguments against
 invisible-hand
 role-of-government
 inept-custodian
 materialization-of-society
Institutionalizing Ethics
Should they exist?
What should be in them?
How should they be developed?
How should they be enforced?
“settled economic life”
Capitalism
today’s challenges
 productivity
 short term focus
 manufacturing decline
 attitudes towards work
 instability
 unsustainability
Capitalism Now
criticisms
1. persistence of
• inequality
• poverty
2. rise of oligopolies
• reduced competition
• reduced social mobility
3. competition
• encourages conflict
• gives people what they
want
4. destroys traditions
5. unstable
6. drives globalization
7. implicit view (and
shaping) of human
nature
•
•
greed
short-term focus
8. employee’s
• alienation
• exploitation
9. excessive political,
legal & social power
•
“corporations are not
people”
Capitalism
criticisms
1. persistence of
• inequality

•
inequality of opportunity
poverty
responses



government causes poverty
capitalism can be softened
benefits outweigh harms
•
better than the alternatives
Dickens
GDP
source: World Bank
inflation-adjusted per capita GDP
$25,000
$20,000
$15,000
$10,000
Angus Madison, Historical Statistics of the World Economy: 1-2008 AD
2000 AD
1500 AD
1000 AD
0
$0
500 AD
$5,000
http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/Historical_Statistics/horizontal-file_02-2010.xls
inflation-adjusted per capita GDP
world
$30,000
Canada
$20,000
Japan
$10,000
Angus Madison, Historical Statistics of the World Economy: 1-2008 AD
2000
1980
1960
1940
1920
1900
1880
1860
1840
1820
$0
http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/Historical_Statistics/horizontal-file_02-2010.xls
world
$8,000
Canada
$6,000
Japan
$4,000
China
$2,000
India
Nigeria
2000
1980
1960
1940
1920
1900
1880
1860
1840
1820
$0
$20,000
$16,000
$12,000
South Korea
$8,000
$4,000
North Korea
$0
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
$14,000
$12,000
$10,000
$8,000
$6,000
world
$4,000
Hungary
$2,000
Portugal
1900
1920
1940
1960
1980
2000
Effects (?) of Globalization
% of GDP derived from trade
world trade in goods
world per capita GDP
60%
$8,000
$6,000
40%
$4,000
20%
$2,000
2000
1980
1960
1940
1920
1900
1880
1860
1840
1820
$0
The World Bank World Development Indicators & Global Development Finance http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators
% living on less than $2/day
% living on less than $2/day
100%
Nigeria
India
75%
50%
China
25%
Brazil
Mexico
0%
1980
1990
2000
World Bank World Development Indicators http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators
Capitalism
criticisms
1. persistence of
• inequality
• poverty
2. rise of oligopolies
3. implicit view of human nature
4. shortcomings of competition
5. employee’s
• alienation
• exploitation
natural direction
corporate welfare
modern economy
multinationals
Multinationals
Multinationals
Multinationals
Multinationals
Multinationals & Sweatshops
Multinationals & Sweatshops
Multinationals & Sweatshops
Multinationals & Sweatshops
The Economist Jul 29, 2010 “The Next China”
Multinationals & Child Labour
International Labor Organization
 International Programme on the Elimination of
Child Labour
• 2010 report:
 “Accelerating action against Child Labour”
http://www.ilo.org/ipec/lang--en/index.htm
Multinationals & Child Labour
250m
200m
150m
100m
under 15
50m
53m under 15
215m child labourers
1.6b children
http://www.ilo.org/ipec/lang--en/index.htm
0
2000
2004
2008
Multinationals & Child Labour
industry 15m
services 55m
agriculture 129m
http://www.ilo.org/ipec/lang--en/index.htm
not defined 16m
Capitalism
criticisms
1. persistence of
• inequality
• poverty
2. rise of oligopolies
3. implicit view of human nature
4. shortcomings of competition
5. employee’s
• alienation
• exploitation
natural direction
corporate welfare
modern economy
multinationals
Capitalism
criticisms
1. persistence of
• inequality
• poverty
2. rise of oligopolies
3. implicit view of human nature
• no ideals to aspire to
•
reinforces “natural” tendencies
•
caricatures society
Capitalism
criticisms
1. persistence of
• inequality
• poverty
2. rise of oligopolies
3. implicit view of human nature
4. shortcomings of competition
 prevents cooperation
Capitalism
criticisms
1. persistence of
• inequality
• poverty
2. rise of oligopolies
3. implicit view of human nature
4. shortcomings of competition
5.
employee’s
•
alienation
•
exploitation
Capitalism
criticisms
1. persistence of
• inequality
• poverty
2. rise of oligopolies
3. implicit view of human nature
4. shortcomings of competition
5.
employee’s
•
alienation
•
exploitation
“Wealth” and “Happiness”
The Pew Global Attitudes Project
Q.20 What do you think about the growing trade and business ties
between [survey country] and other countries. Do you think it is a very
good thing, somewhat good, somewhat bad or a very bad thing for
our country?
Canada
very good
somewhat good
goodsomewhat
bad bad
very bad
Japan
India
China
Nigeria
Pew Research Center 2007 World Publics Welcome Global Trade - But Not Immigration http://www.pewglobal.org/files/pdf/258.pdf /
The Pew Global Attitudes Project
Q.18a Please tell me whether you completely agree, mostly agree,
mostly disagree or completely disagree with the following statements:
a. Most people are better off in a free market economy, even
though some people are rich and some are poor.
Canada
completely agree
mostly agree
agree
mostly
disagree
completely disagree
disagree
Japan
India
China
Nigeria
Pew Research Center 2007 World Publics Welcome Global Trade - But Not Immigration http://www.pewglobal.org/files/pdf/258.pdf /
Capitalism
my cricitisms
my view
 utilitarian?
• really?
 Hindu gods
 instability
 constructed
• freedom and norms
• changeable
• responsible
 disposability
 consumer-only
 debt
 all-encompassing
 works against
• work as sacred
• generosity
• Year of Jubilee
 Maddison
All-Encompassing
Roman Empire
 all of society
• authority
• relationships
• work
• commerce
• belief
understood within the idea of “the empire”
All-Encompassing
Medieval Europe
 all of society
• authority
• relationships
• work
• commerce
• belief
understood within the idea of “the church”
All-Encompassing
Fascism
 all of society
• authority
• relationships
• work
• commerce
• belief
understood within the idea of
“the state” or “the nation”
All-Encompassing
modern capitalism
 all of society
• authority
the church as consumer item
• relationships
• work
• commerce
• belief
understood within the idea of “the market”
All-Encompassing
empire
medieval Europe
fascism
modern capitalism
“My kingdom is not
of this world.”
all of life captive to an
overarching idea of what a
society is
so, saying “Render unto Caesar
what is Caesar's and unto God
what is God’s” remains an
outsider’s position
Capitalism
 works against
• work as sacred
The LORD God took the man and put him in the
Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Genesis 2
All hard work brings a profit…
Proverbs 14
So I saw that there is nothing better for a man
than to enjoy his work...
Ecclesiastes 3
Capitalism
 works against
• generosity
Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour
into your lap a good measure--pressed down,
shaken together, and running over. For by your
standard of measure it will be measured to you in
return.
Luke 6
a generous God  a generous response
Capitalism
 works against
• Year of Jubilee
This fiftieth year is sacred—it is a time of freedom
and of celebration when everyone will receive
back their original property, and slaves will return
home to their families.
Leviticus 25
My View
Hindu gods
Lakshmi
Shiva
Kali
Agency
principle
agent
If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall surely be
stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox
shall go unpunished.
If…an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has
been warned, yet he does not confine it and it kills a man or a
woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to
death.
Exodus 21
servants in parables
I think we’re responsible for the actions of our money.
ch 5 articles
Cassidy
 The Greed Cycle
Orlando
 Ethics of Corporate Downsizing
De George
 Ethical Dilemmas for Multinational Enterprise
Camenish
 Business Ethics: On Getting to the Heart of the Matter
The Greed Cycle
interesting Adam Smith quote
 “Negligence and profusion, therefore, must
always prevail, more or less, in the
management of the affairs of such a company
[in which the owners aren’t also the
managers].”
The Greed Cycle
a pretty good blow-by-blow
 repeat of the 1920’s cycle
 “corporate raiders” became +
• as if pirates became the navy
 rewards & punishment
• truth, lies & spin
The Greed Cycle
role of politics & accounting
 options
 accounting dodges
• recording dubious revenue
• not recording liabilities
• shifting revenues or expenses
 through time
 between capital and operating
The Greed Cycle
the focus on shareholder value
 no discussion of what “value” is
• becomes = to current stock price
The Greed Cycle
“impersonal” forces
 supposedly driven to actions
• focus on motives = exoneration
Corporate Downsizing
? moral primacy of shareholder
 risk
 $ vs. time
Corporate Downsizing
fiduciary duties
 not same in all situations
 not absolute
 “unstated contracts”
• who decides what they are?
• which has primacy?
• how are they changed?
• what if parties unequal?
Corporate Downsizing
ownership ?=? investment
 investors expect ethical behaviour?
Corporate Downsizing
utilitarian
 does it really benefit company?
 should this be the only consideration?
Corporate Downsizing
legitimate?
 survival of firm
 if uncontrollable, result can’t be fair
 actual situations
 owner’s risk
Corporate Downsizing
investors expect ethical behaviour
 is this expectation voluntary?
 obligations of agents
• responsibilities of principles
principle
agent
Business Ethics: On Getting to the
Heart of the Matter
Heart of the Matter
not specific to business
 constraints
 “charitable” responsibilities
Heart of the Matter
what does business actually do?
 provision goods & services
 profit
Camenisch asserts:
 moral of provision > moral profits
• Are they really goods?
• Are they really services?
Heart of the Matter
business as custodian
 natural resources
Heart of the Matter
business as dominator
 culture
 freedom
 creativity
 individuality
Heart of the Matter
Camenisch
 limits business only to
• provision of goods & services
• creation of profits
Heart of the Matter
Camenisch
 ignores
• work
• saving/borrowing
• communal activity
• generator of social wealth
• creativity
• potential of support for the
poor
• passing on to children
• brake against war
Heart of the Matter
Camenisch
 ignores
• debt
Multinationals
both hope & scourge
Multinationals
1. can’t simply equate

US norms = ethical standards
but

don’t have to abandon idea of norms
text
Multinationals
2. proposed
1. no intentional direct harm
2. more good than harm
3. contribute to host’s development
4. respect employee’s human rights
5. pay fair share of taxes
6. respect cultural norms if…
7. just background institutions
text
Multinationals
3. valid critiques


specific
fact-based
4. lack of adequate “background
institutions”

make ethical norms more relevant
5. host governments not absolved
text
Multinationals
how to implement?
text