International Business Ethics

Aims and purpose 
The main aim of this course is to convey the fundamental necessity of a normatively secured 
legitimation of global business. After the completion of this course, students are familiar with the 
central conceptual foundations and analytical structures of international business ethics. They 
understand that business decisions are embedded in a nexus of instrumental, legal and ethical 
reasoning. 
Students will be exposed to debates about a range of issues in international business ethics in 
order to (1) increase students’ familiarity with the methods of analysis of moral and political 
philosophy, and business ethics in particular. The course should (2) enhance students’ critical 
reasoning skills, particularly as applied to issues in international business ethics. It should (3) 
improve students’ ability to engage productively in discussions of difficult and controversial moral 
questions that appear during global business activity. 

Course requirements 
Robust class discussions are essential to the success of our course. You are expected to come to 
class prepared to discuss the assigned reading material. Especially the assigned case studies 
must be studied carefully prior to each session. In addition to the readings on this syllabus, 
sometimes I will add recent media articles that cover real world cases in which ethical issues in 
business are raised. These articles will be distributed prior to class. 

Please remember that 90 hours of this course are assigned to self-study. 
Please note that all assigned material is subject to the exam.