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This study of reports in the business news between January 1, 2000 and June 30, 2005 found that as of 1999, 40 corporations in the Fortune 100 had behaved in ways that can be considered unethical. The behavior included three types of fraud (accounting, securities, and consumer), discriminatory practices, undisclosed executive pay, antitrust activities, patent infringement, and other violations of the law. Based on the unacceptability of the misdeeds committed, this article ranks the 40 firms into three categories. Also uses research on business ethics and the behavior of executives, boards of directors, and even government officials to suggest why such unethical behavior was allowed to occur. Concludes with recommendations for improving business behavior and suggests important roles for future business leaders and the broader American public.

It has been 20 years since R. Edward Freeman (1984) first proposed his stakeholder approach to strategic management, which stated that corporations must consider the needs and demands not only of their shareholders but also those of a wide range of other external constituencies, or "stakeholders." Examples of stakeholders include customers, employees, suppliers, and communities. Freeman's theory has generated an extensive body of research, including not only the efforts of the management researchers who have tested, revised, and refined the theory, but also the views of corporate executives who have used the stakeholder approach in their strategic planning. This article, based on a review of that literature, identifies five important lessons from the stakeholder model for today's business leaders. These lessons are particularly timely, given the inappropriate behavior that has occurred in the business world during recent years.