Sustainable Business Ethics LIBS 7023

There is a widespread consensus that corporations have social responsibilities that extend beyond mere conformity to the law. Yet how are we to conceive these responsibilities? In an interconnected global business environment, the impacts of business activities are coming under increased social and environmental scrutiny. Business managers now face increasing pressure to balance ethical and environmental responsibilities with their obligations to shareholders. In this course, we will address questions about standards that guide business activities. In particular, we will address the task of reconciling environmental responsibilities with the obligations of business managers to maximize shareholder value. We will ask how the obligations of a corporation to maximize the profits of its shareholders may be reconciled with its environmental responsibilities. We will attempt to answer this question via examination of economic, social, and ethical relations through the perspective of collective action problems.