The Board of Directors of Vermilion Iron Mining Company was faced with a difficult decision. Since the early 1900s Vermilion operated in the tiny town of Ely, Minnesota. In 1967 Vermilion abandoned its operations in Ely due to the increased cost to mine hematite (high grade iron ore) deep within the ore fields. Vermilion’s departure from Ely was economically devastating to the town. Recent research (2008) found that it was now possible to extract the remaining hematite in Ely’s ore fields and the option to return to the mines of Ely was on the table with the Board of Directors of Vermilion. However, the hematite supply would only last for three to four years. Should Vermilion return to Ely to mine the remaining hematite for the sake of the shareholders or should they consider the potential impacts on the town and other stakeholders?

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework of ethics education that promotes the structured learning of ethics in the accounting discipline. The Ethics Education Framework (EEF) is based on three key inter-related components that includes: Rest’s (1986) Four-Component Model of ethical decision-making and behaviour; the key cognitive and behavioural objectives of ethics education; and the discrete and pervasive approaches to delivering content. The EEF providesuniversity students and professional accountants a structure to learn to identify, analyse, and resolve ethical issues to the point of action. The EEF is a four-stage learning continuum represented as a set of building blocks which introduces ethical concepts and then reinforces and develops new levels of understanding with progressive stages. This paper describes the EEF, and includes a discussion of how it compares with other ethics education models, and an analysis of the support through responses by professional organisations (based on an Exposure Draft issued by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), as the initial International Education Practice Statement). The IFAC has now revised its International Education Standard (IES 4) in relation to ethics, with a commentary period till July 2011.

This article presents a new classroom experiment in order to illustrate and initiate discussion on the public good provision of prevention of dangerous anthropogenic climate change. The classroom game aids students’ understanding of the difficulty associated with funding public goods; the role of fairness in climate change negotiations; the risks associated with catastrophic climate change impact; and the free riding concept. The classroom game has been played in various business, economics and political science courses. Feedback received from students indicates a rewarding learning experience.

This article suggests that one of the key developments in Indian business following liberalization has been the increase in the number, diversity and activism of its stakeholders. This has presented managers with several ambiguous problems and tricky ethical dilemmas. Managers need to develop new competencies to cope, especially enhanced self-awareness, an ethical orientation, and the ability to think through, make judgments on and implement action after consideration of multiple (stakeholder) perspectives. Management education in India is yet to respond effectively to the new competency requirements. There is need to introduce changes in the curriculum to inculcate these competencies. In this context, the suitability of the GVV approach to teaching ethics is reviewed. The evidence from the initial experiences of using the GVV approach in India, while anecdotal, has been positive.

Giving Voice To Values (GVV) serves as a framework to teach individuals methods to speak up when they witness actions that are contrary to their professional and personal values. This essay illustrates how GVV serves as a catalyst to advance both research and teaching activities.

“Balancing Ethics and Shareholder Returns: The Case of Google in China” provides a timely example of a well-known firm who, in their attempt to act in an ethical manner, generated tremendous financial harm to their shareholders. It provides an interesting counterpoint to the assertion in the literature that shareholder wealth maximization provides an ethical basis for all business decisions. Google is a firm that many students know and admire, and this should spark interest in the case. It can be assigned in the early stages of a corporate finance class, where the topic of discussion is the goal of the firm, or in a business ethics class, where the goal of the firm is evaluated. The case provides an opportunity to evaluate the ethical basis for Google’s actions, as well as the resulting impact on shareholder returns. The case may also represent a real-life counterpoint to the oft-repeated maxim that “Good ethics is good business”. Information in the case was compiled from secondary sources.

A key goal for a professional ethics teacher is to help students improve their moral reasoning within the context of their profession, with the ultimate aim of developing a commitment to the values of their future profession. Using Rest’s Four Component Model as a framework, this study examines the relationship between the first two components of moral sensitivity and moral judgment. The study utilises two scores from the same cohort of computing undergraduates: a score for ethical sensitivity using a devised dilemma analysis; and a score for change in moral judgment resulting from an educational intervention, using the Defining Issues Test (DIT). Although average DIT scores showed no significant improvement in moral judgment, this study found that levels of ethical sensitivity had a significant impact on the development of moral judgment. The paper provides evidence that ethical sensitivity appears to play a key role in the development of moral judgment. Therefore an initial key objective critical to any ethics course should be to raise student levels of ethical sensitivity as a necessary foundation for development of moral judgment. The paper also highlights the wide range of levels of ethical sensitivity measured within one cohort and suggests targeted learning support should be provided to students who score in the lower part of the scale to raise their levels of moral sensitivity early in the course.

This case details the new product development and approval of Posilac®, an animal drug product pioneered by the Monsanto Company. The product is a genetically engineered hormone known as bovine somatotropin (BST) and was targeted for sale to dairy farmers to enhance the milk production of their herds. At the time of its development and subsequent introduction to the market, Posilac® represented one the first applications of genetic engineering in food production and as such, it became a lightning rod for controversy. As Monsanto sought approval for this product from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it encountered vigorous opposition from a variety of consumer and trade interests. The (A) case recounts the arduous approval process and explains how industry and public policy debates largely focused on issues of product labeling.