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Ulrich Homburg must have had an unpleasant déjà-vu experience on January 28, 2010 when hearing of headlines in Germany's leading tabloid Bild about "Schaffnerin Herzlos", the "heartless train conductor". The board member of Germany's national railway company, Deutsche Bahn AG (DB), and head of its passenger transportation division was confronted with media reports about a minor girl who had been thrown off the train just the night before by a DB train conductor. The incident happened on what turned out to be the coldest night of the winter, in one of the most deserted provincial train stations in the German state of Brandenburg. The girl was traveling without a valid train ticket. This incident was not the first of its kind. In the fall of 2008, Bahn employees had also forced several children and youths off of trains. The train company had subsequently given service personnel very clear instructions: Under no circumstances shall minors be asked to leave the train. Now, Homburg had to ask himself if further action was necessary.

When we think of human behavior, especially from a moral perspective, we often rely on explanations based on character. We think that good decisions and responsible behavior require people with integrity and strong character, and immoral behavior originates with people with little integrity and weak character. However, important research in recent decades strongly suggests that situational factors often dominate character in ethical decision-making - for leaders and for members of their organizations. This note summarizes the recent research, shows its implications for the basic steps in ethical decision-making, and provides a basis for in-depth discussion of the character-versus-situation question.

The 14 short vignettes presented in this exercise cover both religion and spirituality issues and are designed to facilitate a discussion on the place of religion in the workplace. They include a variety of religious beliefs, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism. The instructor can use all 14 vignettes during one class session or choose to devote a separate class to each.

A young engineer at a major Quebec construction company realizes that, over time, he has placed himself in a tricky legal and ethical position: at the request of his immediate superior, a man he respects and to whom he feels indebted, he has repeatedly falsified cost estimates for the public works projects his company is bidding on. The young man thinks about what he should do and the potential impact of his decision on his career and loved ones.

Vita is a Norwegian cosmetics retailer owned by FSN Capital, a Scandinavian private equity company. The company has a strong market position in Norway. The case focuses on two strategic issues: how to develop an e-commerce strategy to supplement the company's traditional retail strategy, and how best to grow the company in Sweden. While both of these are potentially important future growth drivers, they also entail large investments in new capabilities, adversely affecting current performance. Given FSN's investment horizon, what is the best way to balance the short and long-term?

This exciting case is about a whistle-blower who exposes bribery and corruption in defence contracting in the Middle East. Sebastian is hired to manage a $3.25 billion military contract, but must figure out what to do when he realises his company is paying bribes to local officials.

This exciting case is about a whistle-blower who exposes bribery and corruption in defence contracting in the Middle East. Sebastian is hired to manage a $3.25 billion military contract, but must figure out what to do when he realises his company is paying bribes to local officials.

To achieve its goal of redefining success in business, B Lab recognizes it needs to scale. Its strategy to do so requires B Lab to depend heavily on new partners, venture into new markets, influence new audiences, and to strike a balance between standards and flexibility. Is this the right strategy to achieve B Lab's ambitious goals? Is the business world ready to commit, with real accountability, to purposes beyond shareholder value?

Business models are a current hot topic, and their design has become a key to performance. In fact, business model design is often associated with innovation. Many firms, though, fail to realize the full potential of their current business model simply because they are not aware of it. Nevertheless, Google succeeded in realizing its business model's full potential by offering its main service, Internet search, completely for free while capturing value from secondary opportunities such as Google AdWords. Especially for new ventures and SMEs, capturing value from secondary opportunities or business model sophistication is of critical importance toward increasing the pool of resources at hand and giving momentum to the firm's development. But what are these opportunities, and where can they be found? Based on various examples including Google, Ryanair, the Super Girl Contest on Hunan TV, and Spreadshirt, this article develops a framework that introduces five business model sophistication strategies: (1) uncover additional functions of your product, (2) identify strategic benefits for third parties, (3) take advantage of economies of scope, (4) utilize cross-selling opportunities, and (5) involve users and the crowd. All five strategies place a strong emphasis on stakeholder commitment.

Under the leadership of CEO and President Shen Guojun, China Yintai was increasingly committed to philanthropic initiatives. Drawing upon his experience as an entrepreneur and a philanthropist, Mr. Shen saw the urgent need to build bridges between business practices and philanthropy and cultivate a new business culture that incorporated "shared value." The case study documents Yintai's recent collaboration with Peking University on founding China's first masters program of social enterprise management. By training management professionals for China's philanthropy sector, Yintai and Mr. Shen expected to bring about revolutionary impact in the long run and change the face of China's philanthropy.

As chair of the accounting department at Southern Regional University (SRU), Professor David Evans recently hired a seemingly promising young assistant professor of accounting. Evans has now received some very disturbing information regarding this faculty member. The information was that this new hire does not possess the academic nor professional credentials he claimed. As a result, Evans was in a near panic as to what action he should recommend. He contemplated his options, which were: denounce this fraud and fire him immediately; quietly terminate him and make a vague announcement about his unexpected departure; or allow this individual to finish the term and not renew his contract. Evans weighed the reaction of the university community, the public, and the results for himself. In case B in the Instructor's Manual the recommendation Evans made to the academic vice president was accepted and acted upon. This decision in turn had second order consequences for organizations outside of SRU. In case C there were third order consequences of a serious and personal nature for another member of the accounting department.

This abridged case deals with the quest for boundaries of corporates' social and environmental responsibility. It poses the question where the responsibility of a company might start or end in a given context and once the company has been able to assess the extent to which it holds itself responsible, what action it ought to take in this regard. In the case of Axel Springer the question is focused on the aspect how much responsibility the company might have for its supply chain: how far and how deep down the supply chain does or should responsibility of a corporation reach? On what facts does this responsibility depend? The publishing house Axel Springer AG serves as good example as it wonders about the scope of their responsibility: After making the strategic decision to move aggressively into the field of digital news and media, the company wonders about their responsibility for digital devices, in particular with respect to conflict minerals that are extracted for the production and use of such electronic devices under highly problematic conditions.

BASIX, headquartered in Hyderabad, was the brand name of a group of entities with 6,000 outlets offering financial and livelihood promotion services throughout rural India. Despite its impressive progress in poverty alleviation, raising funds to continue such work was increasingly challenging, as BASIX found when it sought to raise Rs 2.5 billion in capital from private equity investors in late 2010. Not only did the diffuse nature of its work make valuation complex (the standard method would have been to take the sum of its parts and add a premium for the synergies between the entities using the discounted cash flow method ), but investors preferred simpler business models where the service/goods sold broadly met the same set of needs. One that met such diverse needs and spread across so many sectors was harder to figure out, as well as harder to scale up, making investment less attractive. Without scale it was hard to get capital; without capital it was hard to scale up. The question that BASIX is grappling with is how best to position itself going forward.

Costly Train Journey (A) tells the story of an MBA student who on graduation started an investment banking job in the City. He was successful in his first few years but commuting into London he continued to dodge the train fare until he was caught by ticket inspectors. He was asked to pay £43,000 in avoided fares or face prosecution. Costly Train Journey (B) reveals that the (A) case is based loosely on the experience of Jonathan Burrows a Managing Director at Blackrock Asset Management. Investigated by the Financial Conduct Authority, Burrows was judged to have failed its "fit and proper" test and banned from working in financial services.

Costly Train Journey (A) tells the story of an MBA student who on graduation started an investment banking job in the City. He was successful in his first few years but commuting into London he continued to dodge the train fare until he was caught by ticket inspectors. He was asked to pay £43,000 in avoided fares or face prosecution. Costly Train Journey (B) reveals that the (A) case is based loosely on the experience of Jonathan Burrows a Managing Director at Blackrock Asset Management. Investigated by the Financial Conduct Authority, Burrows was judged to have failed its "fit and proper" test and banned from working in financial services.

Until recently, most manufacturing processes have been 'subtractive' in that matter is removed (e.g., scraped, dissolved, turned, machined) from a substance in order to produce the desired product. 3-D printing turns traditional manufacturing on its head in that it uses an 'additive' process. Similar to laser and inkjet printers, 3-D (three-dimensional) printers produce pieces by depositing, or adding, layers of material--plastic, polymer filaments, metals, and even foodstuffs--until the desired product is realized. This means that the creation and production of 'one-offs' is not only easy, it is also economically viable. 3-D printers are becoming ever more affordable, and it is not hard to envision them being as common in most homes in the near future as their two-dimensional counterparts are today. This article presents a 3-D printing primer for non-technical managers. It then considers the profound impact that 3-D printing will have on firms of all kinds as well as on individual consumers. In addition, it raises the substantial questions that 3-D printing will pose to policy makers from both intellectual property and ethical standpoints.

A new concern is beginning to gain notoriety in society: human trafficking. This issue, which can result in slavery, should concern businesses. Almost 30 million slaves exist globally today. The fact that human trafficking is a $32 billion business indicates either indifference for human rights or an ignorance of the injustice occurring. Even though companies may be against the idea of human trafficking, they may not recognize that they could be contributing to this problem through their business operations and relationships. However, companies can exercise social responsibility by using their influence over suppliers and business partners to prohibit human trafficking. This article examines the extent to which companies are involved in combating human trafficking, and helps companies identify where they are at risk for involvement with human trafficking. Moreover, steps are suggested to prevent human trafficking from occurring within company operations and supply chains.

Intel Corporation is a leading manufacturer of components found in nearly all electronics.Intel became aware that its supply chain for tantalum, tin, tungsten, and gold was fueling one of the deadliest conflicts since World War II. To remedy this, the company broke ground to develop a transparent and conflict-free mineral supply chain, but questioned if its efforts would be followed industry-wide. This case offers students the opportunity to evaluate the impact of a business's involvement in societal affairs to develop strategies for multiple-stakeholder engagements and in-depth analysis into supply chain management.

A PBS documentary has uncovered a trove of recently discovered documents revealing a 1991 deal in which Firestone agreed to pay Liberian warlord Charles Taylor $2.3 million in exchange for keeping its profitable rubber farm in operation during a bloody civil war. This case explores the social and economic implications of a foreign company operating in a politically unstable and economically undeveloped country. Students are asked to address the public relations crisis and explore Firestone's responsibility for confronting past wrongs, striking a balance between social equity and economic prosperity.

Paul Bulcke, CEO of Nestlé S.A., is confronted with an Internet firestorm after a comment made by his predecessor, Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, in a 2005 interview resurfaces. In the interview Brabeck-Letmathe calls the human right to water an "extreme solution." Bulcke must make recommendations to lay the foundation for the company's future direction relevant to water use at its shareholder meeting the next day. The main questions facing him are: How should Nestlé frame its approach to water resource management? And, what type of public relations campaign should Nestlé engage in to counter the negative perception of its water rights policy? In their reading and discussion of the case, students are asked to outline the implications of water being deemed a human right as well as develop and defend a corporate water strategy.