Why Corporate Scandals Continue Despite 50 Years of Business Ethics Initiatives: New Book From Lanark Press
An “insiders’ account” by two professors who have taught at America’s leading business schools and have advised more than 100 companies on ethics, corporate responsibility, and accountability.
LOS ALTOS, Calif.: Lanark Press is pleased to announce the release of ROTTEN: WHY CORPORATE MISCONDUCT CONTINUES AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT, by Marc J. Epstein and Kirk O. Hanson, leading professors of business ethics and accountability at Stanford, Harvard, INSEAD, Rice and Santa Clara universities.
“We felt obligated to share our conclusion --after decades trying to promote ethics in business –that our own efforts, and those of so many well-intentioned executives in business, have failed to stop unethical conduct. Most companies think they have done a good job managing ethics. They haven’t,” says co-author Hanson. “Repeated misconduct, damaging customers, employees, business partners, communities and the environment, has continued. Companies have failed to control bad apples (unethical individuals), bad barrels (toxic corporate cultures), and bad orchards (corrupt environments).”
“We point a way forward,” adds co-author Epstein. “We believe there are concrete steps businesses and other institutions can take to reverse this sorry record. We argue for a radical reexamination of how companies manage ethics and provide tools for companies that want to move beyond the token ethics efforts of the past.”
Epstein was until recently distinguished research professor of management at Rice University and formerly taught at the Stanford, Harvard, and INSEAD business schools. Hanson recently stepped down as a university professor and executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. He earlier taught at the Stanford Business School for 23 years. Both co-authors have maintained active consulting careers advising companies on ethics, corporate responsibility, and accountability programs.
