Reforming Values- Ethical Values

In my marketing and business courses, I discuss ethical behavior with students and point out that a marketer can be ethical and can provide a valuable product and can make a reasonable profit. The key word is "reasonable." The capitalist model of maximizing shareholder profits is flawed fundamentally because it encourages marketers and others to go for unreasonable profits, often through unethical means.
Some more examples were in evidence in today's news reports...

• According to the NYT, "Medtronic said on Wednesday that it had paid nearly $800,000 over an eight-year period to a former military surgeon who has been accused by the Army of falsifying a medical journal study involving one of the company’s products. The surgeon, Dr. Timothy R. Kuklo, claimed in the study that the use of a Medtronic bone growth product called Infuse had proved highly beneficial in treating leg injuries suffered by American soldiers in Iraq. The British medical journal that published the article retracted it this year after an internal Army investigation found that Dr. Kuklo had forged the names of four other doctors on the study and had cited data that did not match military records. Other doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where Dr. Kuklo worked until August 2006, said that he had also overstated the benefits of the Medtronic product..."
• NYT also reports that "When President Obama arrives at the Mandarin Oriental hotel for a Democratic fund-raising reception on Thursday night, the new White House rules of political purity will be in order: No lobbyists allowed. But at the same downtown hotel on Friday morning, registered lobbyists have not only been invited to attend a Democratic issues conference, but they are asked to come with a $5,000 check in their pockets or purses if they want to stay in good favor with the party’s House and Senate re-election committees. The practicality of Mr. Obama’s pledge to change the ways of Washington is colliding once more with the reality of how money, influence and governance interact here. He declared again and again while campaigning last year that he would “not take a dime” from lobbyists or political action committees. To follow through with that promise, Mr. Obama is simply leaving the room. The intersection of money and politics is still bustling. Not only are representatives and senators already fully engaged in their next campaigns, the administration is vigorously pushing its priorities of health care, energy and financial regulation, creating a heady appetite for contributors and benefactors alike. In the first five months of his administration, the president has only occasionally injected himself into the business of fund-raising. But the Democratic fund-raisers on Thursday night and Friday morning show how the party is trying to allow Mr. Obama to keep his word in turning away money from special interests without leaving itself at a financial disadvantage to the Republicans. The White House said the president would only attend the Thursday night event at the Mandarin Oriental — expected to raise $3 million — if federal lobbyists were not on hand. That is already the rule at the Democratic National Committee, but not for the House and Senate re-election committees. So for one night only, Democratic leaders in Congress agreed to keep lobbyists away, but by Friday morning those rules go away. Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, dismissed a suggestion Thursday that the rules were a sleight of hand. He said no lobbyists would be on hand when Mr. Obama addressed the donors, which is what he promised during the presidential race..."
• WSJ reports that "Some executives at banks propped up by government aid have retained a coveted perk: personal use of the company jet. Flight records show numerous occasions when banks receiving federal money have flown their planes to destinations near resorts or executives' vacation homes, including spots in Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean, south Florida and Aspen, Colo. In some cases, it's clear that bank executives were traveling for personal reasons; for other flights, many of which were over weekends or holidays, the passengers and purpose couldn't be established..."