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Archive for February, 2012
Yes, public apologies still work … and they’re still important!
Tuesday, February 28th, 2012It’s been a couple of weeks since I last wrote about apologies on this blog. It’s not that people have suddenly stopped apologizing - quite the contrary, the news has been full of apologies of late. It just seemed time to take a little break and write about other aspects of business and [...]
What’s wrong with compromise?
Friday, February 17th, 2012Last week, I promised to start dedicating my Friday posts to issues involving social ethics. For my first post in this series, I want to challenge the popular notion that the best way to address a problem is by “fighting” for a solution. This isn’t just an abstract point. If you listen [...]
Happy Valentine’s Day, McDonald’s!
Tuesday, February 14th, 2012Writing about business ethics can get pretty depressing sometimes. There are so many situations where corporations make the news by behaving badly in one way or another that it sometimes seems it isn’t even possible to catalogue them all. Consequently, I’m excited to have the opportunity to praise McDonald’s for teaming up with [...]
Happy Birthday, Boz!
Friday, February 10th, 2012This week marked the two hundredth birthday of a literary legend. The great Charles Dickens, author of more than a dozen novels and numerous short stories and articles, playwright, lecturer, actor, and darling of Victorian society on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, was born in Portsea, England, on January 7, 1812. There [...]
Is it ethical to buy from China?
Thursday, February 9th, 2012This week, my friends at TheStreet.com invited me to write an article on where the four Republican Presidential candidates stand on China. It was interesting to research, and something of an eye-opener for me. Somehow, I would have thought that China is important enough as an economic and military power that the candidates [...]
Don’t promise what you can’t deliver
Friday, February 3rd, 2012Continuing my Friday series on keeping your business out of court, let’s take another story directly from the headlines. Heather Peters drew national attention when she successfully sued Honda in a California small claims court. The car manufacturer had reportedly advertised its Civic Hybrid as delivering 50 mpg. Ms. Peters alleged that, [...]