課程大綱(Course Outline)
英授(Taught in English)

National Cheng Kung University

College Of Management

Institute of International Management and Business Administration

 

Syllabus

 

Course Title:         Business Ethics and Law (3 Credit Hours)

 

Instructor:             Professor Chun-Jen Chen

 

Contact Info.:         Telephone:06-275-7575 ext. 56132

                                E-mail: chenc4@mail.ncku.edu.tw

 

Language of Instruction: English

 

Course Description: This course is designed mainly for graduate students in business school who are major in business administration. This course serves as advanced inquiries to the general framework as well as contemporary issues and dilemmas of business ethics and the law of corporations. It also provides a good review of various areas of business practices. It further furnishes advanced discussions of the interactions of business ethics, law and current practices in various areas of management of corporations. After the course of study, students will be expected to gain broader and deeper understandings of contemporaneous issues of business ethics, to develop their abilities to apply ethical rules and law against any given factual circumstance, and to utilize their knowledge and understandings in their future disciplines.

 

Class Meetings and Attendance: This is a semester-long course. Class meetings are scheduled as the semester progresses. Class attendance is expected and required.  Points will be deducted from your final grade for absences that are not excused in advance of classes.

 

Writing Requirements: Each student is required to complete and present one essay with the length no less than 15 pages during the course of study.  The essay will be due in the ninth week.

 

Grading: Grades will be based on the following factors:

                        Essay and Presentation (40%)

                        Attendance (30%)

                        Participation (30%)

 

Course Materials: Reading materials will be handed out a week before each scheduled class meetings.

 

References:

 

1. THOMAS I. WHITE, BUSINESS ETHICS, A PHILOSOPHICAL READER (MACMILLAN PUBLISHING, 1993).

 

2. MILTON SNOEYENBOS, ET AL., BUSINESS ETHICS (PROMETHEUS BOOKS, 3rd ed. 2001).

 

3. MICHAEL POLLITT & IAN JONES, UNDERSTANDING HOW ISSUES IN BUSINESS ETHICS DEVELOP (PALGRAVE-MACMILLAN, 2002).

 

4. GEORGES ENDERLE, INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ETHICS: CHALLENGES AND APPROACHES (UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME PRESS, 1999).

 

5. ROBERT W. HAMILTON & RICHARD A. BOOTH, BUSINESS BASICS FOR LAW STUDENTS: ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS AND APPLICATIONS (ASPEN PUBLISHERS, 2006).

 

6. LAWRENCE E. MITCHELL, ET AL., CORPORATE FINANCE AND GOVERNANCE: CASES, MATERIALS, AND PROBLEMS FOR AN ADVANCED COURSE IN CORPORATIONS (CAROLINA ACADEMIC PRESS, 3rd ed. 2006).

 

GOALS

 

1.     Students would be able to describe the characteristics of modern business ethicss and relevant legal issues.

2.     Students would be able to express clearly and to illustrate the correlations of modern business ethics and laws.

3.     Students would be able to evaluate the feasibilities of corporate management and measures taken under existing law and regulation when facing ethical dilemma.

4.     Students would be able to express clearly and to identify possible ethical and/or legal issues may incurred owing to corporate management and corporate measures taken.

5.     Students would be able to apply corporate ethical principles and laws against corporate reality and to obtain pertinent result.

6.     Students would be able to communicate results in written or oral form to classmates, teaching assistants, and the instructor.

7.     Students would be able to demonstrate esprit de corps (team spirit) through teamwork.

 

Schedule of Classes:

 

Week 1 (9/13)         Introduction to Business Ethics and Law

                                Managerial Duties and Obligations

Week 2 (9/27)         Corporate Control, Care and Supervision

                            Duty to Monitor and Its Limitation

Week 3 (10/11)       Conflicts of Interests

                            Misappropriation of Corporate Opportunity

Week 4 (10/25)       Puffing and Honesty: False Advertisement

Press Releases and Forward Looking Statements

Week 5 (11/8)     Unfair Method of Competition

                            False Advertisement, Free Riding & Tarnishing

Week 6 (11/22)       CSR Revisited: Animal Testing, Child Labor, Environments

                                Ethical Issues of Multinational Enterprises

Week 7 (12/6)         Mergers and Acquisitions

[Tainan]                  Enhanced Managerial Duties & Inherent Conflicts

Week 8 (12/20)       Short-swing Profits & Disgorgement

[Tainan]                  Insider Trading

Week 9 (1/3)           Student Presentation

[Tainan]                  Q&A / Group Discussion