Debriefing Experiential Learning Exercises in Ethics Education

The major conclusion of this paper is that to obtain optimum pay-off from using experiential learning exercises in teaching business ethics, faculty must pay close attention to debriefing. The paper presents an approach based on a conceptual model for systematic and analytical debriefing of experiential learning exercises in ethics education. The paper also suggests that faculty must provide structure and ambiguity so that students can personalize the learning – experiencing meaningfulness (i.e., usefulness) in its application – so that learning is r0elevant to the individual.     

Growth pattern of academic entrepreneurial firms

Academic entrepreneurship, the creation of new business ventures by university professors, technicians, or students, is increasingly being promoted by university-based innovation centers and university business offices. It is seen as an efficient university-industry technology transfer mechanism, and, in some cases may contribute to university revenue. Whereas most entrepreneurs leave the university at time of start-up, others keep their academic postings as full-time or part-time professors. “Part time” entrepreneurship may be interesting from a university point of view, because (i) it keeps in the laboratory a creative individual, (ii) it may provide through part-time academic positions for a more efficient use of university resources, and (iii) it encourages more contacts between faculty, students, and the business world. However, manufacturing firms led by part-time entrepreneurs do not seem to be as aggressive and growth-oriented as “independent” firms. The university professor interested in the successful transposition of an idea, an invention, to the commercial sector, may therefore have to do it through licensing, or resign from the university to devote all his time and energy to the development, manufacturing, and commercialization process. And the university interested in investing in a new “academic firm” created to exploit commercially an invention made in its own laboratories should beware of keeping the academic entrepreneur on staff, or, if he stays on staff, of involving him with the management of the new company.These are the main conclusions of a study of the evolution from 1980–1981 to 1984–1985 of 38 young firms originally created by entrepreneurs while at various universities in several Canadian provinces. The results, supported by the observation of a small control group of 8 Canadian hightechnology companies, bring out a dichotomy: for firms offering technical services, the continued this project were made by Colleen Bigelow and Branko Peterman. Their help was greatly appreciated. academic posting of the firm's creator does not appear to overly affect its operations and growth; however, manufacturing firms completely independent from the university tend to g row faster. Other results support the negative correlation that seems to exist between the growth rate of sales and closeness to academic life, as measured, for example, by the use of university laboratories and equipment. Whether they are still closely connected to a university or not, the entrepreneurs in our sample do note many potential positive benefits from continuing contacts with the academic world. It is possible that the negative correlation between growth and university links observed in the sample results more from the individual characteristics of the entrepreneurs than from a negative influence by the university. As venture capitalists have long noticed, one of the main determinants of growth and success is the entrepreneur himself. The entrepreneurs staying close to the university and using university services may be less aggressive and less risk-oriented than the others.     

Alternative Dispute Resolution and Employee Voice in Nonunion Employment: An Ethical Analysis of Organizational Due Process Procedures and Mechanisms -- The Case of the United States

The purpose of this paper is to integrate and analyze the research findings of previous studies dealing both directly and tangentially with the strategic ethical issues involved in alternative dispute resolution procedures and systems found in nonunion employment. Particular attention will be given to one of the most significant issues in this area at the operating and tactical level of individual companies: the procedural techniques with respect to the processing of the complaints and grievances of employees in nonunion companies and firms. The paper concludes with policy recommendations for managers and recommendations for future research.     

Psychological Determinants of Paying Attention to Eco-Labels in Purchase Decisions: Model Development and Multinational Validation

Environmental labels are useful from an environmental policy perspective only if they are noticed by the consumer in the shopping situation and next – what is more – understood, trusted, and valued as a tool for decision-making. In this paper, a psychological model explaining variations in consumer attention towards environmental labels is developed and its ability to predict attention towards environmental labels in various European countries is tested.     

The Competencies of Regions – Canada's Clusters in Biotechnology

Knowledge-intensive industries tend to concentrate geographically, because of the many spillovers that they generate. Thus new biotechnology firms often set up in regions that have innovative firms, government laboratories and universities, which attract them to enter. In this paper we unveil some of the characteristics of Canadian clusters in biotechnology: the key regions, their relative importance, and the main firms and government laboratories that attract new entrants. Moreover, we develop the concept of regions as nexus of competencies, a notion already put forward for firms, but that may be relevant to regions within nations and, ultimately, to nations as well. Capabilities of organizations and regions vary, and a thorough study of organizational and regional capabilities should precede the analysis of knowledge spillovers.Toronto is the main center of biotechnology in Canada, followed by Montreal, and Vancouver. The total population of the metropolitan area (a proxy for immediate market size and venture capital) explains the size, location and characteristics of most Canadian clusters. University research is also a key factor explaining the size of the biotechnology clusters, once population is held constant.Within nations, scientific and technical competencies vary strongly among regions. Some regions within countries concentrate a disproportionate share of the capabilities of all developed and developing nations. Moreover, regions tend to concentrate competencies on a few domains of expertise. This is what literature calls "agglomeration effects": companies active in the same field of technology tend to cluster geographically. They do so in order to share a common labor pool, and to obtain ready access to research institutions such as government laboratories and universities, or to key markets and customers, such as large assemblers or government facilities (Feldman et al., 1999). The specialized literature calls these institutions and key markets/customers "entry attractors" (Swan et al., 1998).In many types of science-based industries (SBIs), such as biotechnology, information technology and advanced materials, the major attractors are universities and government laboratories. In a few more mature SBIs, including aerospace and aircraft, large assemblers tend to naturally attract smaller producers of, components and specialized software.In this respect Canada is similar, to other nations (Niosi, 2000). Its competencies cluster around a few large and medium-sized urban agglomerations, such as Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Edmonton, and Calgary. Specialized clusters have also developed around smaller cities. This study builds a theory of the competencies of regions using biotechnology as a case study. Government laboratories, as well as universities and a few large firms, attract entry. The goal of the paper is to examine – using quantitative data – the relative competencies of regions in biotechnology, and the role of NRC laboratories and university research.     

Internationalizing the business ethics curriculum: A survey

This article reports on a telephone survey of business school faculty in the United Kingdom, Asia and North America concerning efforts to internationalize the teaching of business ethics. International dimensions of business ethics are currently given only limited coverage in the business school curriculum with over half of the faculty surveyed indicating that less then 10% of their ethics teaching focuses on global issues. Teaching objectives vary widely with some faculty emphasizing a relativistic, diversity oriented perspective while others stress the universality of values. The respondents identified a great need to develop teaching materials based upon non-U.S. corporations and/or non-U.S. incidents.Christopher J. Cowton is University Lecturer in Management Studies at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Templeton College. An author on many facets of management, his previous paper in theJournal of Business Ethics was on corporate philanthropy in the United Kingdom. Current research interests include the implications of just-in-time production for accounting, and ethical (or socially responsible) investment.Thomas W. Dunfee is the Kolodny Professor of Social Responsibility at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He was President of the American Business Law Association 1989–1990, served as Editor-in-Chief of theAmerican Business Law Journal 1975–1977 and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Society for Business Ethics. He has published articles in theAcademy of Management Review, Business Ethics Quarterly, theBusiness and Professional Ethics Journal, and theJournal of Social Philosophy in addition to a variety of business and legal journals.     

The Principles of European Contract Law and the Protection of the Weaker Party

The Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) must be seen as a major step forward in the development of a body of European rules and principles which enshrine the common heritage of different national legal orders and cultures. They are meant to define general rules equally applicable to any person independent of his or her status as a professional supplier and/or as a consumer. The leading principles are party autonomy and self-determination, restricted by the notion of good faith. This paper tests whether and to what degree the European Principles manage to deal with consumer protection law as it has developed over the last 20 or 30 years. It is argued that – with some effort – the European Principles can be read so as to leave room for integrating the protection of the weaker party, albeit to a limited extent only. The insufficiencies can be overcome only by merging the acquis communautaire in consumer law with the European Principles.     

John Meriwether and the Promethean Hero: A Cautionary Tale in Financial Ethics

Ethicists typically understand unethical actsto be those that either violate social normsand mores or that prevent people fromdeveloping the character needed to thrive. This paper looks to a classical source – the mythof Prometheus' creation of man – to explore analternative understanding of what it means toact unethically. On this classical view,acting in an evil fashion is less a matter of asingle violation of some norm or of developingan unwholesome character and more a matter ofworldview or outlook. Evil enters the worldwhen humans cease to understand themselves inrelation to the divine and cast themselves asgods. The rise and fall of the Long-TermCapital Hedge Fund (LTCM) and its legendaryfounder John Meriwether nicely illustrates thehuman attempt to supplant the gods and itsuntoward consequences.     

Morality and marketing human organs

Recent break-throughs in surgery and the discovery of an effective immunosupressive drug called cyclosporin, have brought a Renaissance in organ transplants. These medical advances have also heightened concern over the already critical shortage of body organs. Several alternatives have been suggested which may help alleviate the organ shortage. One such alternative is to allow commerce in human organs. This article discusses the morality of commercialization of human organs within the framework of several ethical theories. Shaheen Borna is Associate Professor of Marketing at the Ball State University and has written several articles on advertising. Latest publication: The Informative and Persuasive Functions of Advertising: a Moral Appraisal — A Comment, Journal of Business Ethics 4 (1985), pp. 151–153.The first draft of this paper was presented to the faculty of Ball State University in the Bureau of Business Research Faculty Seminar Series. The author would like to thank all the faculty who provided insightful comments, particularly Dean Palomba, professors Williams and Hendrix. The author also would like to thank Mrs. Sandra Marsh for her invaluable editorial help.     

Contrasting Single User and Networked Group Decision Support Systems for Strategy Making

The use of computers to support group work – as a Group Decision Support System (GDSS) – on strategy making has grown over the last decade. Some GDSS's have a facilitator managing the computer with the group viewing a public screen displaying the debate, problem definition, and agreements of the group as it negotiates strategies. Others involve members of the group in the direct input of data that forms part of the problem definition – data that is then used by the group employing electronic voting and other organizing devices. This paper discusses a real case relating to an organization seeking to reach important agreements about its strategy. The case involved the top management team and over 50 senior managers. The organization used a facilitator driven GDSS for some of this work, and a networked system for other parts. Some of the meetings were video taped, some were observed through one-way mirrors, and all of the participants were interviewed about their reactions to the different systems. This paper reports on some of the significant contrasts between the two approaches.     

The role of incubator organizations in the founding of growth-oriented firms

The role of incubator organizations, those organizations where entrepreneur work before starting their own firms, is examined. Using a sample of 161 new, growth-oriented firms, the relationships of the new companies to their incubator organizations are considered, as well as the characteristics of the incubator organizations. 5The findings have implications for prospective entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs in most industry categories do not change geographic location and, in most technical industries, usually start businesses related to what they did before. An individual's decision to join a particular organization results in a particular geographic location and in knowledge about a particular industry. The would-be founder located in an unpromising geographic area and getting experience in an industry offering few opportunities for company start-ups is unlikely to be able to start a growth-oriented technical firm, regardless of personal motivation. However, the prospective founder of a nontechnical firm appears to be less tied to the experience gained in an incubator organization.There are also implications for regional economic development. Because technically oriented start-ups are tied closely to the business of their incubator organizations and because most entrepreneurs don't move when starting, the possibilities for high-technology start-ups may be very limited in many geographic regions. There have been no studies, to date, on why some founders move when starting. Programs to attract entrepreneurs at the time of start-up may have promise, but, at least to date, there is not much evidence of entrepreneurs being mobile at this stage of their careers.Local and regional programs to attract branch facilities of larger corportions have a long history. The emphasis is usually upon attracting facilities that will offer the maximum number of blue-collar jobs. In contrast to this traditional approach, it might be beneficial to shift the emphasis to those facilities most likely to function as incubators. The greatest benefits might come from laboratories or divisions that would “seed” a region with people learning about promising technologies or industries.The role of universities in this process appears to be less direct than is often assumed. Based upon our sample, it appears that software and biotechnology/medical firms often have spun-off from universities or hospitals. However, in other industry categories, it is business firms that have primarily served as incubators. There are currently many experiments underway to create university-affiliated innovation centers or incubator centers intended to help aspiring entrepreneurs. Whether these will enable universities to function more effectively as incubators, spinning off students and faculty who start growth-oriented firms, remains to be seen.     

The compleat executive: The state of international business education and some future directions

This essay examines the current state of International Business education worldwide and comments on evolving trends. The degree of internationalization of curricula at the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral levels is examined. In a world facing the contrary pulls of global consumerism versus the search for a local identity, what exactly should the manager learn about International Business in order to complete his or her education? The essay also examines alternative methods for organizing International Business studies at universities, as well as in the growing number of off-site and certificate programs. It also ventures opinions on the value of an International Business major in the job market for graduating students, on whether the International Business label confers an advantage on faculty, or whether it confers a stigma, and on academic orthodoxies which have slowed the internationalization of business curricula.     

What Can Eastern Philosophy Teach Us About Business Ethics?

This paper examines what, if anything, "Eastern philosophy" can teach us about business ethics. The whole idea of "Eastern ethics" or so-called "Asian values" is suspect on a number of scores. The paper argues that It is better to refer to specific ideas of particular thinkers influential within one country or tradition. The paper concentrates on the philosophy of two such thinkers – Watsuji Tetsuro of Japan and Confucius. When this more "micro" approach is adopted, we can learn some important lessons with respect to the meaning of trust, the longterm nature of relations, and ethics that extend far beyond the limited idea of rights. The paper considers these lessons in the business context.     

Equity Agency Costs Amongst Manufacturing SMEs

The principal objectives in this paper are to assess and to build upon the recently published research of Ang et al. (2000) making a pioneering attempt to estimate equity agency costs in a large cross-sectional sample of smaller, non-publicly traded companies in the United States. The present research employs panel data for 871 manufacturing SMEs legally organised as proprietary companies, taken from the Australian federal government's Business Longitudinal Survey conducted over four financial years from 1994–1995 to 1997–1998. The two proxies for equity agency costs that are trialed – operating expense ratio and asset turnover ratio – both appear lower in more complex agency relationships. It is also found that greater enterprise growth is significantly more evident amongst SMEs with more complex agency relationships. Thus, it is possible that observed differences in values for the two equity agency cost proxies are not the direct consequence of differences in management and ownership structures; but, rather, of differences in the experience of enterprise growth, possibly enabled to some degree by the management and ownership structures adopted. This raises the question of whether, in fact, operating expense ratio and asset turnover ratio can be reliably used as proxies for equity-related agency costs in SME research.     

The internationalization of management knowledge dissemination: A dialectic

Most management academics today are concerned with making what they teach more relevant, just as employers operating internationally seek management graduates with at least an exposure to global issues, if not actual experience. In the light of increasing globalization of business, this relevance would undoubtedly be concerned with the internationalization of management education. How to do this effectively is not a simple issue—it involves a number of dimensions, including the student body, faculty, and the method of instruction as well as what is taught. This paper adopts two diametrically opposed approaches to international business, namely those of Porter and Ohmae and contrasts the globalization of management education under these criteria. The conclusion is, not unexpectedly, that neither perspective is entirely right or wrong, but that each offers a valuable framework for the evaluation of options.     

Virtuous Individuals, Organizations and Political Economy: A New Age Theological Alternative to Capitalism

With the dramatic collapse of bureaucratic dictatorial socialism, Business Ethicists need an antithesis to capitalism to enrich our reformist writings. Reliance on self-regulation and requesting that business executives behave in a socially responsible manner are necessary, but not sufficient, conditions for creating a "good society." The purpose of this article is to introduce readers to the works of two new age theologians – Neale Donald Walsch and Reverend Sun Myung Moon – who offer an alternative vision and paradigm for understanding business and society relationships. They provide unique insights about economics, organizational structures and policies, and individual attitudes and behaviors necessary for creating an ethical society. Pertinent economic and organizational concepts emanating from their writings include mission statements and codes of ethics; meaningful and joyful work; autonomy and self-management; workplace diversity; parentism and participatory management; stakeholder governance boards; democratic social capitalismwith upper and lower income limits; and the principle ofvisibility. Work should support family units and individualgrowth and development, not supersede or destroy them.     

Business Ethics: Brightening the Corner Where We Are

It is suggested that we canmost effectively teach ethics by carrying onactual ethical inquiry – basing our questionsand our analysis on a situation in which allparticipants are invested and in which all areaware of the risks associated with suchinquiry. It is further suggested that inuniversity-based business ethics courses, aninitial focus on the questions that need to beasked about the structure and practice of theuniversity is likely to be useful. Additionally, it is suggested that only whenthese internal questions, and the difficultiesin the way of asking them, have been addressed,should the dialogue be extended to businesscontexts. Finally, it is suggested thatproceeding in this way can help provide aneeded integrative function in the businessschool – that it can help faculty to becomemore broadly collegial and that it can put thebusiness ethics course at the very heart of aliberal education for business students.     

New Audiovisual and Information Services and the Protection of Children: The European Dimension

This information paper outlines how the interests of minors are dealt with in the European Union's (EU) embryonic policies for new audiovisual and information services, in the context of what has happened – and is currently happening – in broadcasting and telecommunications. It is written from the public interest and consumer perspective rather than that of the industries involved, with a particular concern that the major contribution that new, technology-based services can make to the mental and moral development of children should not be prejudiced by harmful and damaging content. The author also addresses the virtually complete neglect of the need to protect children from economic exploitation through the new technologies.In general, the momentum of EU policy to ensure free movement of services, combined with the practical problems of developing an effective international regulatory structure for the new trans-border technologies, suggests that there will be considerable technological and commercial pressures to relax existing provisions which aim to protect minors, while there will be major obstacles in the way of developing new legislative or regulatory measures. This is a pessimistic scenario for those concerned with the interests of children. Nevertheless, there are some opportunities, which are outlined in the final section of the paper.     

Latin American Universities and Technology Commercialization

A small but significant percentage of the discoveries made by university researchers have commercial value, especially in fields such as the biomedical sciences, material science, and information technology. Early stage technologies emerging from university labs represent an important source of innovation for technology firms in the United States (US), especially those located in close proximity to elite universities in regions characterized by high levels of entrepreneurial dynamism. Based in part on the U.S. demonstration effect, policymakers in the developing world increasingly view universities as institutions capable of accelerating technology-based economic development. In this article we examine the efforts of elite universities in Chile, Mexico, and Brazil to transfer faculty inventions to the marketplace. On average these institutions have upgraded commercialization infrastructure since the mid-2000s and a select few are beginning to generate significant licensing revenue and viable spinoffs. We conclude with policy recommendations and suggestions for future research.     

Academic perceptions: Ethics in the Information Systems discipline

This study obtained data about faculty attitudes on the ethical propriety of and estimated involvement with 38 activities. A questionnaire, mailed to 480 randomly selected Information Systems (IS) academicians provided insights into the ethical standards held by IS faculty. Several attitudinal differences, based upon individual and institutional demographic characteristics were identified. The most discriminating individual characteristic explaining differences in faculty attitudes was appointment level. The IS major at the graduate level explained more differences in attitude and more critical attitudes than any other factor.Patsy Lewellyn holds the John M. Olin Chair of Enterprise at the University of South Carolina — Aiken. She is an Associate Professor of accounting and information systems. Her research interests include behavioral and ethical aspects of business practice, and innovative business education.