Business ethics

Comments for this Make Your Case installment are now closed. Thanks to all who participated. This week’s guest commentator, Marshall Goldsmith, has posted his response to your comments and shared some thoughts of his own below. The opening to your cube is darkened by the familiar figure of a longtime colleague. Though you’re his immediate […]

Lessons from a health care system in Texas.

When Ben Franklin wrote Poor Richard’s Almanac and the words, “A little neglect may breed great mischief,” he did not have price fixing in mind. To the 47 executives in companies in the folding-box industry convicted of price fixing, however, the words seem tailored to fit. In those companies convicted under antitrust laws in 1976, […]

The turmoil at OpenAI offers five lessons - and one dire warning.

In Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story, Kurt Eichenwald relates how Enron’s leaders engaged in massive book-cooking with little interference from the dozens of managers, lawyers, and advisers who had a pretty good idea of what was going on. Similarly, at Parmalat, employees not involved in the Italian dairy giant’s fraud apparently were aware of […]

As the 1990s overtake us, public interest in ethics is at a historic high. While the press calls attention to blatant derelictions on Wall Street, in the defense industry, and in the Pentagon, and to questionable activities in the White House, in the attorney general’s office, and in Congress, observers wonder whether our society is […]

In the juiciest political sex scandals, revelations of hypocrisy are often the chief source of glee. There's nothing quite like discovering that a representative...

It’s big news when a 168-year-old dies; it’s even bigger news when the demise is self-inflicted. On Thursday, responding to the astonishing (even for British tabloids) phone-hacking and police-paying charges, News International said that it would shutter its News of the World after one more issue this coming Sunday. The company’s predicament and how it […]

The internet runs on trading personal data for free services - and we can't figure out if it's a fair trade until we acknowledge that.

If there's one thing that the past decade's business disasters should teach us, it's that we need to stop evaluating corporate leaders simply on the basis...

If business schools are to consistently produce outstanding ethical leaders, they should not only focus on teaching ethics in the right way and living up to the right honor code, as Aine Donovan writes. They also need to do a much better job of filtering the people they invite into their exclusive cadres. I say […]

Even social butterflies need places to withdraw.

They've set up teams of psychologists, anthropologists, forensics experts, and others.

It’s impressive that Warren Buffett has earned billions of dollars. It’s even more impressive that he’s the only billionaire with the good grace and social conscience to state the obvious: people like him ought to be paying far higher taxes than they do, especially in these debt-riddled times. But what’s most impressive about Warren Buffett […]

Chicanery is common in the start-up world: With so much at stake, founders are apt to exaggerate, obfuscate, and otherwise stretch the truth when courting...

Joseph Jett’s account of his tumultuous career on Wall Street isn’t just a story of racism and greed. It’s also a cautionary tale for knowledge workers.

In this fictional case, a customer experience manager is torn between loyalty to her family and to her employer after she gets inside information from...

Few people outside the supply chain function used to care where products came from. Nowadays, everyone from company leaders to interest groups to consumers...

Take a hard look at your most profitable customers. Not the biggest, not the best, not the most satisfied: the most profitable. Then ask your colleagues: Do we make most of our margins from our “smartest” customers or from our “stupidest” ones? That is, does your firm capture the bulk of its profitability because your […]

Leaders need to do more to encourage candor.

In January 2020, India-based KhataBook, a digital ledger app for small businesses, is led by CEO Ravish Naresh, as his team faces a series of dilemmas...

The CEO of Beech-Nut Nutrition Corp. must decide what to do when he receives information that the company's supply of apple juice concentrate may be adulterated....

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) was founded in 2010 to develop a common set of sustainability standards for the apparel, footwear, and home textile...

This two-part case series (A and B) puts students into the role of Juan Perez, an investment analyst who works for Suprabanco, a fictional multilateral...

There are few industries in which the effects of technological innovation be seen as clearly as they can in the healthcare industry. Developments in devices,...

In mid-2008, hedge fund manager Steve Maiden was riding high. The self-assured Maiden had launched his own fund in late 2006 and it was substantially...

In this short vignette on ethics in consulting, Daniel Lee, a new Associate assigned to work with an important client executive, must decide whether to...

Supplement to the Li and Fung: Stay Public or Go Private (A). Case B describes the actual outcome and the immediate developments of the company after...

In Differences at Work: Alex (A), HBS Case No. 9-408-011 Alex has been asked an inappropriate question by the interviewer at an interview for his dream...

"Not another Bochum." Nokia Board Chairman Jorma Ollila was clear in the goals he set for the 2011 restructuring that Nokia's new CEO, Stephen Elop, had...

This case presents the logic and execution underlying the launch of Data.gov, an instantiation of President Obama's initiative for transparency and open...

The Ochsner Health System has developed a proprietary software tool designed to treat hypertension. Built into the system's electronic medical records,...

Supplement to case UV7926 This case is part of the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) curriculum. To see other material in the GVV curriculum, please visit...

In May 2020, Rio Tinto, the world's second-largest mining company, destroyed a cave system in Juukan Gorge, in the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia....

An inspirational, practical, and research-based guide for standing up and speaking out skillfully at work. Have you ever wanted to disagree with your...

Set in early October 2017, this case follows Utz Claassen, the founder and chairman of Syntellix - a medical parts company that specialised in the research,...

This case traces the development of Canyou Group over 22 years, starting from its origins as a small computer interest club in 1997 to an organization...

Wes Hall founded Kingsdale Advisors and built it into one of Canada's leading shareholder services and advisory firms. Influenced by the Black Lives Matter...

On the eve of trial, and after nearly 14 years of pre-trial litigation, the parties in Wiwa v. Royal Dutch/Shell jointly announced that the four U.S....

On June 22, 2018, Stephanie Wilkinson, co-founder of the Red Hen, a small farm-to-table restaurant in rural Virginia, was caught off guard when a frantic...

Comments for this Make Your Case installment are now closed. Thanks to all who participated. This week’s guest commentator, Marshall Goldsmith, has posted his response to your comments and shared some thoughts of his own below. The opening to your cube is darkened by the familiar figure of a longtime colleague. Though you’re his immediate […]

Lessons from a health care system in Texas.

When Ben Franklin wrote Poor Richard’s Almanac and the words, “A little neglect may breed great mischief,” he did not have price fixing in mind. To the 47 executives in companies in the folding-box industry convicted of price fixing, however, the words seem tailored to fit. In those companies convicted under antitrust laws in 1976, […]

For legacy companies, culture change is often the biggest challenge of digital transformation. How can they become more agile and innovative without alienating...

The turmoil at OpenAI offers five lessons - and one dire warning.

In Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story, Kurt Eichenwald relates how Enron’s leaders engaged in massive book-cooking with little interference from the dozens of managers, lawyers, and advisers who had a pretty good idea of what was going on. Similarly, at Parmalat, employees not involved in the Italian dairy giant’s fraud apparently were aware of […]

As the 1990s overtake us, public interest in ethics is at a historic high. While the press calls attention to blatant derelictions on Wall Street, in the defense industry, and in the Pentagon, and to questionable activities in the White House, in the attorney general’s office, and in Congress, observers wonder whether our society is […]

Don’t just honor essential work. Pay well for it.

In January 2020, India-based KhataBook, a digital ledger app for small businesses, is led by CEO Ravish Naresh, as his team faces a series of dilemmas...

In the juiciest political sex scandals, revelations of hypocrisy are often the chief source of glee. There's nothing quite like discovering that a representative...