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Research Assistant / Research Associate (m/f) at ESMT

Prof. Dr. Thomas Beschorner — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 11:39:15 +0000

ESMT European School of Management and Technology was founded in 2002 to establish an international business school, based in Germany, with a distinct European focus. ESMT offers excellence and innovation through rigorous academic research, teaching and consulting – with a practice-oriented approach to business education. The international business school offers full-time MBA and executive MBA programs, as well as executive education.

ESMT focuses on three main topics: responsible and … [visit site to read more]

Euro-Krise: Die Finanzwirtschaft wird zur Rahmenordnung für den Staat!

Einzelmeldung — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:14:44 +0000

Abstract und Fragen der Redaktion: Die Eurostaaten stehen unter dem Diktat des Finanzmarktes. Der Primat der Politik über die Wirtschaft steht am Beispiel der Staatsverschuldung auf dem Spiel. Zwar sind die Staaten für ihre übermässige Verschuldung selbst verantwortlich, aber dass Private aus der öffentlichen Not Gewinne zu Lasten der Steuerzahler machen können, ist ein Systemfehler. Der Finanzmarkt ist zu einem Service Public zu machen (vgl. den Text zum gleichen Thema im Fenster … [visit site to read more]

Die kapitale Frage hinter der Schuldenkrise

Einzelmeldung — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 16:08:35 +0000

Die Eurostaaten stehen unter dem Diktat des Finanzmarktes. Der Primat der Politik über die Wirtschaft steht am Beispiel der Staatsverschuldung auf dem Spiel. Zwar sind die Staaten für ihre übermässige Verschuldung selbst verantwortlich, aber dass Private aus der öffentlichen Not Gewinne zu Lasten der Steuerzahler machen können, ist ein Systemfehler. Der Finanzmarkt ist zu einem Service Public zu machen (vgl. den Text zum gleichen Thema im Fenster “Wirtschaftsethik”). Fragen: … [visit site to read more]

Die Politik ist Gefangene der Finanzmärkte

Einzelmeldung — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 15:54:26 +0000

Das Schuldenproblem Griechenlands ist z.T. von europäischen Banken mit verschuldet. Auch die Lösung des Problems wird durch sie behindert. Wenn sie die eigenen Banken nicht in Gefahr bringen wollen, sind die europäischen Regierungen zum Durchwursteln verurteilt. Vergangenheit: Welche Verantwortung für die gegenwärtige Eurokrise tragen die Politiker, welche die Finanzmarktakteure? Zukunft: Zu welcher Handlungsweise sind die Politiker bzw. Finanzakteure verpflichtet, um die Krise zu … [visit site to read more]

Veranstaltung: St.Galler CSR-Tage 2012

Prof. Dr. Thomas Beschorner — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 12:08:19 +0000

Die St.Galler CSR-Tage initiieren einen Theorie-Praxis-Dialog mit dem Ziel, Lerneffekte auf beiden Seiten anzustossen und das Thema Unternehmensverantwortung zu stärken.

Corporate Social Responsibility ist ein wichtiges Thema in Theorie und Praxis. Ein zielführender Fachdialog zwischen Unternehmensvertretern, Vertretern der Zivilgesellschaft und Vertretern der Politik auf der einen Seite und Wissenschaftlern auf der anderen Seite konnte dazu bislang im deutschsprachigen Raum nicht … [visit site to read more]

Call for Applications: Transatlantic Doctoral Academy (TADA) on Corporate Responsibility

Prof. Dr. Thomas Beschorner — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 18:28:20 +0000

Seminar series for PhD students working on corporate responsibility/ business ethics. Study stipends available.

Background
Corporate responsibility has become a crucial issue in modern societies and an emerging field in social sciences and humanities. Due to an ongoing process of globalization along with the lack of national regulatory mechanisms, questions of how to avoid “bad” corporate behavior and how to foster “good” business practices have … [visit site to read more]

Jetzt bewerben: Transatlantische Doktoranden-Akademie Unternehmensverantwortung

Prof. Dr. Thomas Beschorner — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 12:36:12 +0000

Seminarreihe für Doktoranden

Die „Transatlantische Doktoranden-Akademie Unternehmensverantwortung“ (TADA) befähigt zukünftige Führungskräfte in Wirtschaft, Gesellschaft und Wissenschaft in besonderer Weise dazu, einen Beitrag für ein gerechtes Wirtschaften zu leisten. Sie stellt für diesen Zweck einen institutionellen Rahmen zur Verfügung, der in besonderem Maße auf eine zugleich gehaltvolle akademische und qualitativ hochwertige … [visit site to read more]

sneep und VÖW veranstalten Sommerakademie

cfriedrich — Tue, 17 May 2011 08:34:58 +0000

Welche Werte werden in globalen Wertschöpfungsketten geschaffen?
Wie können ökologische, soziale und ökonomische Werte gleichberechtigt berücksichtigt werden?

sneep – das studentische Netzwerk für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik - und die Vereinigung für ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung (VÖW) veranstalten vom 22.08.-26.08.2011 ihre erste gemeinsame Sommerkademie in Berlin. In fünf Tagen haben die Teilnehmer Gelegenheit, in Zusammenarbeit mit hochkarätigen … [visit site to read more]

Weiterbildungsprogramm: “Certified CSR Professional” an der Universität St. Gallen

Prof. Dr. Thomas Beschorner — Fri, 13 May 2011 21:08:32 +0000

Der Zertifikatskurs “Certified CSR Professional (CSR-HSG)” ist ein Weiterbildungsangebot für Praktiker und Praktikerinnen aus Wirtschaft, Zivilgesellschaft, internationalen Organisationen und Politik. Er vermittelt umfassende Perspektiven zum Thema Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) ist im 21. Jahrhundert kein schmuckes Beiwerk, sondern ein immer bedeutender werdendes Element moderner Unternehmensführung. Die Gesellschaft fordert heute verstärkt, … [visit site to read more]

International Workshop on Business Ethics – Call for Papers

Prof. Dr. Thomas Beschorner — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 21:31:56 +0000

The Institute for Business Ethics (University of St. Gallen) and the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management are holding their first Joint Workshop on Business Ethics this year, November 10-11, in Brussels, Belgium.

The first workshop deals mainly with recent developments in business ethics in the post-crisis world in research and practice. The research workshop will address:

- Corporate Social Responsibility and Globalization
(Chairperson: Thomas Beschorner, University of … [visit site to read more]

Neu an der Hochschule Luzern: CAS-Programm Corporate Social Responsibility

Einzelmeldung — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 16:32:33 +0000

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) und Nachhaltige Entwicklung – zwei Stichworte, die sowohl in Unternehmen als auch in der Gesellschaft stark an Bedeutung gewinnen. Ab März 2011 bietet die Hochschule Luzern neu eine Weiterbildung mit ausgewiesenen Fachpersonen aus Wissenschaft und Praxis an: das CAS-Programm Corporate Social Responsibility.

Immer mehr Unternehmen sehen die verantwortungsvolle Unternehmensführung und das ökologisch nachhaltige Handeln als Chance und … [visit site to read more]

Führung und Verantwortung

Björn Brömmelsiek (CSR NEWS) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 06:53:05 +0000

Die Klage über schlechte oder nicht vorhandene Führung ist schon lange ein bekanntes Phänomen. Aber was macht gute und verantwortungsvolle Führung aus? Diese und weitere Fragen erläutert Dieter Wagner auf der Basis seiner Erfahrungen als Top-Manager, zuletzt bei der ABBOTT GmbH in Ludwigshafen.

In meinen letzten 30 Berufsjahren kann ich auf mindestens fünf verschiedene „Führungsstile mit Erfolgsgarantie“ zurückblicken. Eine Aussage aber hat sich nicht … [visit site to read more]

Wikileaks, Credit-Card Companies, and Complicity

Chris MacDonald — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 13:48:20 +0000

I was interviewed last night on CBC TV’s “The Lang & O’Leary Exchange” about Mastercard and Visa’s decision to stop acting as a conduit for donations to the controversial secret-busting website Wikileaks. [Here's the show. I'm at about 15:45.] (For those of you who don’t already know the story, here’s The Guardian‘s version, which focuses [...] … [visit site to read more]

Four Myths About Business Ethics

Chris MacDonald — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 15:15:41 +0000

Here are four important myths about business ethics. There are surely many myths about business ethics, but these 4 in particular cause trouble, and pose significant challenges for anyone trying to have a productive discussion about right and wrong in the world of business. Myth #1. “Business ethics” is an oxymoron. The idea that “business [...] … [visit site to read more]

Lokale Antworten auf globale Herausforderungen

Kristin Vorbohle (editor) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 21:12:27 +0000

Integrative Kooperationen zwischen Unternehmen und Nonprofit-Organisationen im Kontext von Corporate Social Responsiveness

von Kristin Vorbohle

Es ist kein neues Phänomen, dass globale, gesellschaftliche Herausforderungen auch an Unternehmen herangetragen werden: Sie sollen sich für die Bekämpfung der Armut in den Schwellenländern einsetzen, faire und sichere Arbeitsbedingungen in der gesamten Lieferkette gewährleisten und umweltschonend produzieren. Neu ist … [visit site to read more]

Call for Papers: Multinational Companies, Global Value Chains and Social Regulation

Björn Brömmelsiek (CSR NEWS) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 18:31:54 +0000

International CRIMT Conference

June 6th to 8th 2011, HEC Montreal, Montreal, Canada

As part of its Major Collaborative Research Initiatives project, the Interuniversity research Centre on globalization and work (CRIMT) will host an international conference on multinational companies, their global value chains and emerging forms of labour regulation. This conference will take place from June 6th to … [visit site to read more]

Intellectual Property and the Chilean Miners

Chris MacDonald — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 20:10:04 +0000

Last month I posted about some Ethical Issues for the Chilean Miners. There, I pondered the moral force of the contract that the 33 trapped miners signed while still underground, promising each other to share equally the eventual profits of any future publicity. This month, I’m quoted in an article on that same topic, in [...] … [visit site to read more]

Conflict of Interest at the Business/Politics Interface

Chris MacDonald — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:46:57 +0000

People tend not to trust big business. And they tend not to trust the world of politics. But when those two worlds intersect, people really get nervous. Witness, for example, this story by Eric Lipton, for yesterday’s New York Times: A Journey From Lawmaker to Lobbyist and Back Again The story is about Dan Coats, [...] … [visit site to read more]

MBA Ethics Education: Designing the Designers

Chris MacDonald — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 18:28:11 +0000

As a Visiting Scholar at the Rotman School of Management (more specifically at the Clarkson Centre for Business Ethics and Board Effectiveness), I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how we educate tomorrow’s business leaders. This is the first of a series of blog entries on that topic. Clearly, what we need to teach future [...] … [visit site to read more]

Walmart & Free Shipping: Who Will Suffer?

Chris MacDonald — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 03:08:32 +0000

Once again, Walmart is making headlines with a business practice that will be good for its customers, and bad for its competitors. Here’s the story, by Stephanie Clifford for the NYT: Wal-Mart Says ‘Try This On’: Free Shipping For years, Wal-Mart has used its clout as the nation’s largest retailer to squeeze competitors with rock-bottom [...] … [visit site to read more]

Social Responsibilities of Business

Chris MacDonald — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 23:27:54 +0000

The question of what a company’s social obligations are is an interesting one, and a vexed one. Unfortunately, the question is complicated by the fact that the very term “Corporate Social Responsibility” (“CSR”) has come to be associated with a particular view about the right answer to that question. As I’ve argued here before, the [...] … [visit site to read more]

Management Ethics & Oaths Without Professionalization

Chris MacDonald — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 20:19:56 +0000

Here’s a piece I wrote as part of a debate on the MBA Oath, in a recent Canadian Business magazine: The MBA oath helps remind graduates of their ethical obligations. In the article, I express the view that the MBA Oath, in its current incarnation, is “not a revolutionary thing, not a perfect thing, [but] [...] … [visit site to read more]

Pennies-Be-Gone: The Ethics of Rounding

Chris MacDonald — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 00:55:25 +0000

The always-useful Consumerist brings us this story, with a self-explanatory title: A Lone Dunkin’ Donuts Sort Of Abolishes Pennies One donut shop is taking a stand against the bacteria-ridden zinc disks of suck that are pennies. Reader Tom sent us [a photo of a sign] from a store he recently visited. In a policy change [...] … [visit site to read more]

UNICEF’s Deal With Cadbury: A Trick, or a Treat?

Chris MacDonald — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 20:25:51 +0000

This is now an entire genre of ethics stories, involving a charity facing criticism for aligning itself with a corporate sponsor whose values seem inconsistent with its own. Here’s the story, by Carly Weeks, for the Globe and Mail: UNICEF sold out by making deal with Cadbury, medical journal says One of the world’s most [...] … [visit site to read more]

Governance, Both Political and Corporate

Chris MacDonald — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 23:12:11 +0000

The word “governance” (as in, “corporate governance”) is obviously quite similar to the word “government.” And just as obviously, that’s no coincidence. The two words share the same roots. In the abstract, the word “governance” just refers to the act of governing something. But it’s not just the meaning of the words that overlaps — [...] … [visit site to read more]

Is a Board Position a Conflict of Interest?

Chris MacDonald — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:05:21 +0000

Here’s an story (in which I was quoted) by Paul Turenne, in the Winnipeg Sun: Gerrard slams WRHA manager’s ‘moonlighting’. The story is basically about a senior executive (Brock Wright) at the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (the public body responsible for administering hospitals in and around that city) who took a position on the Board [...] … [visit site to read more]

Corporate Governance and Ethics

Chris MacDonald — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 13:50:55 +0000

“Corporate governance” is the term used to refer to the policies and processes by which a corporation (or other large, complex institution) is controlled and directed. It refers especially to the way power and accountability flow between shareholders, boards of directors, CEOs, and senior managers. For most corporations, the basic governance structure is this: shareholders [...] … [visit site to read more]

Ethics and Economics (And Coffee Too)

Chris MacDonald — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 15:48:34 +0000

A bit of economics can go a long ways in helping understand a range of issues in business ethics. I’m not an economist myself, but I’ve read a fair bit of economics here & there. And I want to read more. In order to arrive at sound ethical conclusions, you need more than just ethical [...] … [visit site to read more]

Ethical Issues for the Chilean Miners

Chris MacDonald — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 01:52:21 +0000

On August 5, 33 miners went down into the San José copper-gold mine; over two months later, 33 entrepreneurs emerged from the mine. They were labourers once. Now they’re businessmen, and celebrities. Their fame is already being used by major corporations for public relations purposes. The New York Times reported, for instance, that Apple has [...] … [visit site to read more]

Wall Street (1987) — “Greed is Good”

Chris MacDonald — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:26:55 +0000

I just re-watched the original 1987 film, Wall Street. (The sequel, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, is in theatres now, and apparently doing very well.) In the original Wall Street, Michael Douglas’s character, Gordon Gekko, is a corporate raider — essentially, he buys up underperforming companies, breaks them up and sells their parts at a [...] … [visit site to read more]

Chilean Miners: What is Rescue Worth?

Chris MacDonald — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 15:52:02 +0000
Happily, rescue crews seem to have made better progress than anticipated toward rescuing 33 Chilean miners trapped deep underground since August. Here’s a recent story giving details, by Alexei Barrionuevo and Christine Hauser writing for the NYT: Drill Reaches Miners in Chile, but Risks Remain As the rescue proceeds, most of us will (rightly) be focused on the human side of this story, the ordeal those 33 men have gone through. But this story also has an important business- and economic component. Last month, I blogged about whether the trapped miners ought to be paid, and by whom. But another issue is that the rescue effort itself is likely to be exceptionally expensive. What should the companies doing the drilling be paid? Back in April, after a mine collapse in West Virginia, I blogged about the Ethical Obligation to Save Trapped Miners, and pondered the extent of the financial obligations of the mining company and the government in the face of such a disaster. Today, I’d like to look at the question from a different angle. How much should drilling companies involved in such a rescue be charging for their work? Now, just to be clear, I’m not talking about the actual companies involved. Brandon Fisher, founder & president of US-based Center Rock Inc., the company that made the drill used, is reported to have nobler motives:
He says the Chilean government is paying for his time and equipment — “that’s the plan anyway.” But he is not at the Mina San Jose for the money. He is there for the miners. “I don’t know that there’s 10 minutes that you’re out here that you don’t look down there and think, ‘There’s 33 guys 600 feet below our feet,’ ” he said. “Whenever you’re tired, it’s real easy to think, ‘Hey, I’m out here seeing sunlight and breathing fresh air. It’s time to suck it up and get these guys out of here.’ ”
It’s also worth noting that, in fact, this is a competitive arena — there are apparently quite a few companies with relevant capacities, and they’re likely competing with each other to bid for the work. Perhaps they’re even charging less for this high-profile job than they normally would, because it’s good advertising. But let’s set that complication aside for the moment. So, a thought experiment: what if there were only one company qualified to do the rescue work, or only one company available locally? What should that company charge? A few quick options: 1. They should charge whatever the market will bear, which would essentially amount to charging the most the Chilean government and/or the mining company involved are willing to pay. 2. They should charge nothing. They should be happy to be involved, and to charge anything would be to put a price on human lives, which is unacceptably exploitative. 3. They should charge just enough to cover their own costs — machinery, fuel, and maybe their own workers’ wages. 4. They should charge exactly the same to drill this hole as they would to drill any other hole of similar size, depth, and complexity. No more (that would be exploitative), and no less (that would be foolish). Do you favour one of those four? On what grounds? Or can you suggest another principled answer?

Ethics & Foreclosures

Chris MacDonald — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 14:53:44 +0000

The number one business story of the week is surely the foreclosure story. A number of U.S. banks, including most notably Bank of America, have suspended mortgage foreclosures for the time being due to worries over flawed paperwork. Here’s just one of many news items on the topic, by David Streitfeld and Nelson D. Schwartz [...] … [visit site to read more]

When Personal Problems Become Business Problems

Chris MacDonald — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 22:27:01 +0000

A divorce is a very private thing, except of course when it isn’t. And an employee’s (or executive’s) private struggles are, well, private — except when various kinds of business analysts start taking notice of those struggles. Case in point: the bitter lawsuit over the terms of the difficult divorce of Elon Musk, one of [...] … [visit site to read more]

Corporate Participation in the Death Penalty

Chris MacDonald — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 23:51:54 +0000

Drug companies are often accused of engaging in, or of complicity in, all manner of wrongdoing. It’s less often (though certainly not unheard of) that they’re accused of participation in actual killings, or offered the opportunity to save a life. This is one of those cases. The story begins here, with a heinous crime not [...] … [visit site to read more]

California’s Marijuana Industry: Ethical Issues

Chris MacDonald — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 16:14:17 +0000

I’ve blogged about the insurance industry, the mining industry, the auto industry, even the donut industry. But the pot industry? Yes, it’s time. From the Sacramento Bee: Growth of California’s Pot Industry is Good News for Unions As Californians prepare to vote on a November ballot initiative that would expand legalization to recreational pot use, [...] … [visit site to read more]

Consumers’ Right to Information

Chris MacDonald — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 15:03:01 +0000

Over on my Food Ethics Blog, I recently posted a piece on the oft-proclaimed “right to know what I’m eating.” That right is often asserted, but seldom explained. Do we have a right to know everything about what we’re eating? Basically I argue that rights are a very serious kind of moral mechanism, to be [...] … [visit site to read more]

Back to Playboy…errrr School

Chris MacDonald — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:38:34 +0000

Marketing to kids is always a touchy subject. But even worse is when a company accidentally markets to kids. And when you accidentally market to kids something that is seriously adult-oriented…watch out! Check out this story, from the Globe & Mail‘s Business section: Firm regrets back-to-school ad for Playboy thongs, bras Giant Tiger, a discount [...] … [visit site to read more]

Corporations, Persons, and Human Dignity

Chris MacDonald — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 22:13:47 +0000

The U.S. Supreme Court is once again diving into the waters of corporate personhood. See this story, by Adam Liptak, for the NYT: Supreme Court Takes Cases on Rights of Corporations. The Supreme Court added 14 cases to its docket on Tuesday, including three concerning the rights of corporations in unusual settings…. The story notes [...] … [visit site to read more]

Zukunft geht anders! – Jubiläumstagung von IÖW und VÖW

Björn Brömmelsiek (CSR NEWS) — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 19:44:27 +0000

Unter dem Titel „Transformationen – Auswege aus der Wachstums- und Klimakrise“ fand heute die Jubiläumstagung des Instituts und der Vereinigung für ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung (IÖW und VÖW) in Berlin statt. Rund 170 Teilnehmer aus Wissenschaft, Politik und Wirtschaft diskutierten in Berlin gemeinsam mit den Jubilaren Konzepte und Umsetzungsstrategien für einen nachhaltigen Wandel der Gesellschaft.

Katrin Lompscher, Berliner Senatorin für Gesundheit, Umwelt und … [visit site to read more]

Symantec Directors: $250,000/Year Not Enough to Log in to Annual Meeting

Chris MacDonald — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 22:58:47 +0000

The shareholders of a public company are sometimes said to own the company. That’s not literally true, for lots of reasons. (See: Do Toyota’s Shareholders Own the Company?) What shareholders really own is the right to part of a company’s profits (if any) after all of its other expenses are paid. At any rate, the [...] … [visit site to read more]

Neu an der Hochschule Luzern: CAS-Programm Corporate Social Responsibility

Einzelmeldung — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 06:05:13 +0000

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) und Nachhaltige Entwicklung – zwei Stichworte, die sowohl in Unternehmen als auch in der Gesellschaft stark an Bedeutung gewinnen. Ab März 2011 bietet die Hochschule Luzern neu eine neue Möglichkeit, sich in diesem zukunftsträchtigen Bereich weiterzubilden: das CAS-Programm Corporate Social Responsibility.

Immer mehr Konsumentinnen und Konsumenten erwarten heute von den Unternehmen, dass sie sich sozial und ökologisch … [visit site to read more]

Tools for Corporate Funding of Elections

Chris MacDonald — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 21:49:44 +0000

What sorts of things are corporations — and charities and associations and churches and unions and so on? Should we think of such organizations as things that are themselves capable of taking action, or should we think of them as tools that people use when they want to take action? Case in point: the controversial [...] … [visit site to read more]

Directors of Failed Companies

Chris MacDonald — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 03:36:50 +0000

Question: What does one do after losing a position on the Board of Directors of a failed company?

Answer: Why, join another Board of Directors, of course!

At least, that’s the case for a number of former Directors of companies like A.I.G., Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers — companies at the heart of the financial crisis. See this story from the NYT: Companies … [visit site to read more]

Competence, Ethics & HP’s Board

Chris MacDonald — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 20:50:47 +0000

A corporation’s Board of Directors has a fiduciary duty to represent the interests of the company’s shareholders. In particular, the Board does that by selecting a CEO (and sometimes by participating in selection of other members of the management team) and by helping set the company’s strategic course. The work they do is of crucial [...] … [visit site to read more]

When Companies “Play Games” With Prices

Chris MacDonald — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 16:41:04 +0000

Is it ethical for companies — without deception — to make use of well-documented human tendencies and weaknesses in order to get us to buy more? Social scientists have long been aware that humans are subject to a range of cognitive biases that affect the way they think in fairly predictable ways. And, apparently, smart [...] … [visit site to read more]

Ethics of Hiring Illegal Immigrants

Chris MacDonald — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 15:45:00 +0000

Should restaurants (and other companies) stop hiring illegal immigrants? What would happen if they did? The question is posed here, on the NYT‘s “Diner’s Journal” blog: What If Restaurants Stopped Hiring Illegal Immigrants? What if the restaurant industry — one of the largest employers of immigrants, a good number of whom, it is no secret, [...] … [visit site to read more]

Contest: Critical Thinking and Business Ethics

Chris MacDonald — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:18:38 +0000

Critical thinking is essential to the study of business ethics. In its simplest form, critical thinking just means subjecting our own beliefs, and other people’s beliefs, to critical scrutiny, to figure out which beliefs are well-founded and which are not, in order to try to establish which beliefs are worth retaining and which aren’t. It’s [...] … [visit site to read more]

The Oil Sands, and the Battle of the Boycotts

Chris MacDonald — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:38:59 +0000

The Athabasca oil sands (in Alberta, Canada) are not pretty. But they are vast, constituting one of the largest deposits of oil in the world — something in the range of 150 billion barrels, enough to help make Canada a net exporter of oil. The oil sands (also known, colloquially and sometimes pejoratively, as the [...] … [visit site to read more]

Forbes.com’s New White Collar Crime Blog, by Walt Pavlo

Chris MacDonald — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 13:57:26 +0000

Here’s a new blog worth checking out. Walt Pavlo is now blogging for Forbes.com, a blog called simply White Collar Crime. Walt is a special sort of expert on white collar crime: he was for a couple of years better known as “Inmate Number 52071-019″ in the U.S. penal system. You see, Walt did time [...] … [visit site to read more]

Should Trapped Miners Be Paid?

Chris MacDonald — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:59:09 +0000

Most people don’t expect to be paid when they’re not doing work. Sure, most people get paid during coffee breaks, and lucky folks get paid vacations. And some people get paid sick days. But what about when you’re not working for months on end? Does any employer have an obligation to pay you under those [...] … [visit site to read more]