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February, 2004

 

Eisner poured his heart out in termination letter to Ovitz USA TODAY, February 26, 2004 By Elliot Blair Smith
	Brimming with angst, frustration — and spelling errors — Eisner's ode to the failed partnership resonates like a divorcée's confessions to Dear Abby. Eisner accuses Ovitz of repeatedly demonstrating "bad instincts" and bad judgment. "My biggest problem," Eisner wrote, "was that you played the angles too much, exaggerated the truth too far, manipulated me and others too much. "Here's somebody dealing with a broken relationship," says Edward Freeman of the Business Roundtable's Institute for Corporate Ethics. "It's someone pouring his heart out."
OP-ED - PR counselors should be the company's conscience. PR Week, February 16, 2004 By Joe Slay
	In the life of corporate America, decisions are made daily that hurt employees, investors and customers. Enron is just one such recent metaphor for corporations that make those wrong choices. CEOs might not take kindly to the advice 'do the right thing.' And yet the signals from the top office are mixed. The head of the Dartmouth Center for Corporate Governance warned recently 'you cannot teach ethics to a 55 year old CEO with a big ego.' At the same time, the Business Roundtable is planning an ethics institute for CEOs at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business.
Collapse of corporate ethics is deep-rooted and enduring The new literature of executives' greed and crimes does not offer hope for a quick cure The Baltimore Sun, February 15, 2004 By Larry Williams
	The recent collapse of Arthur Andersen, one of the most respected public-accounting firms in the nation, is a classic story of corporate rot, as told by four former employees of the firm. If the market boom dislodged America's ethical compass, we're still paying the price. Not surprisingly, corporate leaders across America have been busy in recent months attempting to tidy up their images. Last month, the Business Roundtable, an organization of chief executives from 150 major corporations with a combined work force of more than 10 million employees in the United States and $3.7 trillion in annual revenues, announced that it will spend $3 million over the next three years working with business schools across the country to create a new institute that will conduct training programs and research in ethics. University of Virginia business professor R. Edward Freeman, who heads the Darden School's Olsson Center for Applied Ethics and who will help oversee the effort, noted at the time of the announcement that when he tells people he teaches ethics, the typical response is "Must be a short course."
Take Ethics Personally Investor's Business Daily, February 13, 2004 By Robin Grugal
	10 People are much more likely to act ethically if they perceive themselves as personally responsible for the outcomes of their decisions and actions. That can be a problem in organizations, where responsibility is often diffused. "In organizations, an individual often becomes disconnected from the consequences of his or her actions," said Linda Trevino, professor of organizational behavior at Pennsylvania State University's Smeal College of Business Administration. "If no individual feels the need to take responsibility, in the end no one does, and unethical behavior is more likely."
Business Ethics Examined Chicago Tribune, February 9, 2004
	The National Association of Corporate Directors presents "The Role of Ethics in Business Success and Failure" from 7:45 to 9 a.m. Thursday at The Chicago Club, 81 E. Van Buren St. The panel discussion will be moderated by David Messick, professor of ethics and decision in management at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.
A Closer Look: Broken Promises ABC News, February 5, 2004 By Peter Jennings
	We are going to take "A Closer Look" tonight at what is happening to some Americans who have retired in the belief that their retirement health benefits would carry them through their later years. These companies don't reduce the benefit because they want to, they reduce the benefit because they are in serious financial trouble. DEAN REYNOLDS (Voice Over) Critics, including Northwestern's David Messick, don't buy that. DAVID MESSICK, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY To say that the economic situation is a rough one is not an excuse for lying or breaking promises.
Reputation of General Mills, Executive Marred by SEC Investigation Saint Paul Pioneer Press, February 5, 2004 By Tim Huber
	So much for General Mills' wholesome Betty Crocker image and Steve Sanger's golden reputation as the guy who gobbled up Pillsbury. Both have been marred by an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Norman Bowie, who holds the Andersen chair in corporate responsibility at the Carlson School, said it's not difficult to see why the SEC became interested. General Mills needed to keep its share price at $49 as part of its acquisition of Pillsbury or pay an extra $390 million. "Certainly, your CEO and CFO are going to keep track of whether they are on target," Bowie said. "That's a big chunk of money."
Fusing Business and Ethics Cold Call Chronicle, February 1, 2004 By Clarke Bailey
	Darden made national news last week when the Business Roundtable announced the formation of the Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics and named Darden as the institute’s location. Darden Professor R. Edward Freeman was named as the co-chairman of the advisory council to the institute. I caught up with him in his office for a few minutes last week to get his take on the initiative and the ways Darden will benefit from housing it. Ed Freeman: The BR has had a task force on corporate governance for a long time, and this came out of that task force, but the recent scandals were the catalyst. The champions of this initiative were Franklin Raines of Fannie Mae, Hank McKinnel of Pfizer, and Steve Odland of AutoZone, who have all been a part of the BR’s corporate governance task force. CB: Besides you, who all from Darden will be involved from this? Ed Freeman: Lots of people. Andy Wicks, Pat Werhane, Alec Horniman, Jeanne Liedtka, Venkat, Greg Fairchild, Andrea Larson, Jim Clawson, Mark Haskins, and others. There’s a large group of people at Darden who are broadly interested in ethics. I’m lucky to have a group of colleagues like that. (Also appeared in the AACSB International eNewsline, Corporate Governance and Financial Reporting (CGFRC) e-newsletter, Business Integrity E-Newsletter, CGFRC e-newsletter (Source: Washington Post), SRiMedia, and Operational Risk Management.)
Ask the Experts GreenBiz, February 1, 2004 By Steve Rice
	An increasing number of publicly-owned U.S. companies [are] going private to escape increased requirements for financial transparency. In fact, the January 26, 2004, issue of Business Week reports on those who even doubt the effectiveness of the Business Roundtable’s upcoming CEO Ethics Institute. If there has been any progress, it has been that a) more people may now be willing to live ethically, reporting what they know to others, and b) more companies have people with the designated responsibility (or at least title) for leading their corporate social responsibility and citizenship efforts.
Ethics for Dummies Hart's Energy Markets, February 1, 2004 By Joe Fisher
	The Business Roundtable last month announced what it claims is a "first-of-its-kind initiative on ethics" with the establishment of the Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics. "The Institute will conduct research, create a cutting edge business ethics curriculum, lead executive seminars on business ethics and develop best practices in the area of corporate and business ethics," reads the press release. "All Institute programs and resources will be open to business leaders."

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