The financial press often reports business practices that raise ethical issues. For example, consider a single topical question confronting all major oil and gas exploration companies:

although double hull oil tankers are less likely to spill crude oil in transit, single hull tankers are far less costly. Interestingly, this single issue affects several interested stakeholders (e.g., wildlife, shareholders), raises questions of alternative courses of action (e.g., accruals for environmental liabilities), and poses considerable practical constraints to the stakeholders (e.g., cost of double hulls v. benefits of preserving environment).

Required: Select an article or series of articles from the recent press (e.g.. Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, The Neu' York Times) about a business problem you think raises ethical issues and draft a report that addresses each of the seven questions developed in:

M. Velasquez. Business Ethics, 2nd. ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1988.

1. What are the relevant facts?

2. What are the ethical issues?

3. Who are the primary stakeholders?

4. What are the possible alternatives?

5. What are the ethics of the alternatives?

6. What are the practical constraints?

7. What actions should be taken?