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May, 2009

Harvard MBAs Debut Oath for the Most Dishonest Profession Daily KOS, May 30, 2009 By "Avenging Angel"
	On Friday, the New York Times profiled a group of Harvard Business School students who have taken an "MBA oath" to act responsibly and "serve the greater good." The ethical pledge of "responsible value creation" can't come too soon for America's future business leaders. Diana C. Robertson, a professor of business ethics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, described the evolving landscape: "It's been a dramatic change.  This generation was raised learning about the environment and raised with the idea of a social conscience. That does not apply to every student. But this year's financial crisis and the downturn have brought about a greater emphasis on social ethics and responsibility."
A Promise to Be Ethical in an Era of Immorality The New York Times, May 29, 2009 By Leslie Wayne
	When a new crop of future business leaders graduates from the Harvard Business School next week, many of them will be taking a new oath that says, in effect, greed is not good. Those graduating today, they say, are far more concerned about how corporations affect the community, the lives of its workers and the environment. And business schools are responding with more courses, new centers specializing in business ethics and, in the case of Harvard, student-lead efforts to bring about a professional code of conduct for M.B.A.’s, not unlike oaths that are taken by lawyers and doctors. “I don’t see this as something that will fade away,” said Diana C. Robertson, a professor of business ethics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. “It’s coming from the students. I don’t know that we’ve seen such a surge in this activism since the 1960s. This activism is different, but, like that time, it is student-driven.”
The Forecast On Earnings Guidance; CORPORATE GOVERNANCE New York Law Journal, May 28, 2009 By David A. Katz And Laura A. McIntosh
	Over the past few years, an increasing number of U.S. public companies have discontinued or modified the practice of issuing quarterly earnings-per-share (EPS) guidance and, in the current financial crisis, this trend has accelerated. A recent survey of 1,300 chief financial officers concluded that "the struggle to produce accurate forecasts now tops the list of things that keep them awake at night." For public companies seeking ideas regarding earnings releases that are informative to investors and help to focus analyst and investor attention on fundamentals, there are at least two useful models available: the CFA Institute and Business Roundtable Institute's Model Earnings Release23 and NIRI's Earnings Release Content.
Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics Joins Hundreds of Corporate Leaders on Ethisphere Council CSRwire Press Release, May 27, 2009
	The Ethisphere Institute is proud to welcome Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics to the Ethisphere Council as an exclusive content partner. "We are excited to join the Ethisphere Council and look forward to building on this partnership," said Executive Director Dean Krehmeyer. "As the current economic downturn makes clear, ethics needs to be at the center of how we define good management. At great companies, values and ethics drive long-term business strategy." (Also appeared in Greenoplis and Compliance Week.)
Bentley University Presents: Conceptualizing Conscious Capitalism Targeted News Service, May 20, 2009
	In response to the current global economic crisis, there is a growing awareness that the current, profit-centric business model needs to change. Conscious Capitalism calls for business to reevaluate its role and purpose in the world by raising its consciousness. Thought leaders from around the world will gather at Bentley University on May 28-29 for Conceptualizing Conscious Capitalism. The two day conference features presentations by leading thinkers on the fundamentals of business purpose, leadership values and stakeholder orientation. The Conscious Capitalism Conference is co-chaired by Rajendra Sisodia, professor of marketing, Bentley University and R. Edward Freeman, Elis and Signe Olsson Professor of Business Administration, The Darden School. The conference is co-sponsored by FLOW, The Aspen Institute, and Society for Organizational Learning, Olsson Center for Applied Ethics and Bentley University's Center for Business Ethics and the Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics.
CIO PROFILES: AMIN KASSEM, EXECUTIVE VP AND CIO OF SHPS InformationWeek, May 9, 2009
	[Amin Kassem gave the follow response during a business profile interview:] Most important career influencer: David Messick, professor of leadership and ethics at Kellogg School of Management. He taught me two important things. First, leaders are produced by the circumstances of their lives and environment rather than taught. Second, leaders aren't perfect. They make mistakes, and good leaders learn from their mistakes. (Also appeared in techweb.)
Executive stock options, an incentive to cheat Business Standard, May 8, 2009 (Reprint from Press Trust Of India / Houston,  July 08, 2007)
	The employee stock options offered to executives as a part of their compensation package increase the risk of company officials misrepresenting financial outcomes to rig share prices, according to a new study. “This incentive motivates some executives to misrepresent financial outcomes to raise the stock price,” according to Jared Harris of Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia and Philip Bromiley of Merage School of Business, University of California, in their study titled “Incentives to Cheat: The Influence of Executive Compensation and Firm Performance on Financial Misrepresentation.”
GM execs host posh event The Arizona Republic |USA Today, May 8, 2009 By Max Jarman and Sharon Carty
	General Motors Corp. is wining and dining its biggest customers at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort this week as its executives in Detroit work to keep the company out of bankruptcy court. More than 500 of GM's largest fleet and commercial customers, from Shell Oil to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have been flown to Phoenix at the company's expense to preview the 2010 lineup of GM cars and trucks. Tom Donaldson, a professor at the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania, said companies accepting government aid should keep a low profile. "These automakers are so much in the limelight that even legitimate functions that help sales . . . are almost out of bounds from the public standpoint," he said. (Also appeared on KSDK-TV NBC 5 St. Louis, USAToday.com, and Tampbays10.com.)
Are B-Schools To Blame? Forbes.com, May 4, 2009 By David Serchuk
	..."Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won." ...Yet despite this debunking the former quote lives on in the public's imagination. And it's easy to see why, as education is such a formative experience in many of our lives. If that is the case, than what sort of leaders are the playing fields of Wharton, Harvard and Stanford business schools turning out? ... perhaps the most troubling studies reveal that M.B.A. students are more likely to cheat than other students. As found by Donald McCabe, a professor of finance at Rutgers University, and Linda Trevino, a Cook Fellow of business ethics at the Smeal College of Business at Penn State University, 56% of M.B.A. students admitted that they cheated in class, versus 47% of non-business students. (Also appeared in Accountability Central, MSN Malaysia News, MSN Philippines News, and Yahoo! India.)
Forging new path to profitability: Revamped MBA program at WSUV puts emphasis on corporate responsibility Columbian.com, May 2, 2009 By Michael Andersen
	Inspired by horror stories like AIG's and success stories like Burgerville's and Riverview's, the interdisciplinary WSUV team has retooled their entire curriculum — marketing, management, accounting — to include the idea of social responsibility.

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