Resources

The Center for Christian Business Ethics Today provides several avenues of support and information. In addition to the informative tools below, the center provides answers to specific business questions, as well as consultation services. For information about this service, please contact us.

Drug Shortages Leave Healthcare Providers Foraging for Vital Medicines

Phil Clements - May 10th, 2012

Unprofitable Drugs…

The Star Ledger Sunday Business Section recently printed a front page article called, “Shortage puts lives in Jeopardy: Cancer drugs’ scarcity a persistent problem” by Susan Todd. Todd highlights that in New Jersey there is a notable shortage of some cancer treatment drugs. These shortages began to show up about four years ago. The cause seems to be manufacturing problem, supplies of ingredients, or ceasing to make unprofitable drugs. Profitability is argued as the key reason.

What is notable is that New Jersey is the drug company state. Most major drug companies are headquartered in New Jersey. So the shortage here is very notable.

What is the take away relative to ethics? Regulation and other factors that increase costs may limit supplies. Yes, this is basic economics, but it is also the law of business. Business has to make a profit to remain in business. Governments and NGOs do not. When the government intrudes it brings in the profit not essential orientation.

That the U.S. has drug shortages should be a wake-up call on the environment for business and the resulting quality of life. It must be pointed out that the wonderful progress in living standards over the past 200 years is mostly due to innovative businesses. We should understand that even as a community can go forward, it can also go backward. A great example is the City of Detroit and the decay of the past 50 years.

Please Share Your Thoughts!

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Culture or Compass, Which Comes First?

Phil Clements - May 1st, 2012

From Sunday’s Star Ledger April 29, 2012, on front page of “Perspective” section 2, there are two articles that show the lack of reasoning and understanding of the problem in developing an answer to the ethical issues in business. In the first article, the lead on the page is, “Big Business Behaving Badly: Have America’s Commercial Giants Lost their Ethical Compass?” by John Farmer, Jr. It articulates a series of settlements made by major corporations such as Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and Intel. Then it raises the question of the ethical lapses that lead corporations to do the things needing settlement.

The second article is just below it. “Welcome to the United States of Puritanism”, by Paul Mulshine, reviews the unreasonable standards being applied to the security details that had some recreation while preparing for the president’s visits. Mulshine argues that after hours recreation is none of our business, when it is legal in the host country.

It is fair to say that each article has more points than the brief summaries above. But they suffice for clarity of the analysis problem. The first talks about the moral compass and the second says it can only be judged based on office hours not personal time. But we know that the answer to both is the full person. A business is not an entity, rather it is a collection of individuals. The individuals create the culture of the company. The whole individual comes to work. Therefore, the behavior of the individual in his or her off hours is telling as to the values the individual is bringing to work. It is a warning of how that individual will do the job and how that individual will act when pressures on the job arise.

So the answers to both situations is indeed the Puritan approach to rules, values and life. Indeed it is the Mulshines of the world that encourage the loss of compass we are seeing. The business schools teach and the media reinforce the Mulshine way.

Your Thoughts?

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Leqal Requirements vs 9th Commandment Obedience

admin - April 25th, 2012

John Mesher discusses some 9th Commandment issues for the public company.

Feel free to leave your thoughts below!

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An excerpt from BET: Stealing

admin - April 13th, 2012

“Covenant and the 8th Commandment” a chapter from Business Ethics Today: Stealing, was authored by David Cowan, a keynote speaker at the 2012 Business Ethics Conference. In this chapter David addresses Capitalism, Money and Theft in four descending Levels:

I.Covenant and Theft

II. Global Level- The Theft of an Idea

III. National Level – Identity Theft

IV. Organizational Level -Theft of Relationships

V. Individual Level – Theft by Renegotiating the Deal

VI. For Love Nor Money

To read an excerpt from this Chapter Click Here. In this excerpt David will pose the question, “Can we seek to please God in our Business?” He will also address money -”What horrible stuff it is! Or, is it?”

To read the entire chapter, purchase a copy of BET:Stealing.

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How the Church Fails Businesspeople: And What Can Be Done About It

admin - April 2nd, 2012

John Knapp author of “How the Church Fails Businesspeople: And What Can be Done About it” explains his reason for writing this book, and what the reader can expect to find in its pages. Ultimately John hopes his work will foster conversation and provoke thoughtfulness.

The book, How the Church Fails Businesspeople, is our featured Book of the Month for April. Join the Center’s Book of the Month Forum HERE and join in on the discussion HERE!

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Fraud and Election Laws

Phil Clements - March 30th, 2012

This blog is based upon an editorial written in the March 20, edition of USA Today. The editorial is entitled “States Battle Voting Fraud with Epidemic of New Limits” and it’s opposing view: “In Texas, Evidence of Voter Fraud Abounds“

Two articles debate election laws and question whether we should allow a state to put ID requirements in place at the voting stations.

The USA Today editorial is in support of NOT requiring ID as a means to protect against voter fraud. Greg Abbott, Texas attorney General, opposes this and defends why Texas has put in a voter ID requirement to minimize voter fraud. It is interesting that both sides recognize the prevalence of fraud, and acknowledge fraud to be a problem in the voting system.

The question is: How do we balance the actions needed to prevent fraud?

The USA Today Editor says “individual rights transcend the protection of fraud”. In other words, if a person might be prevented from voting due to the inconvenience of getting an ID, then we should allow everybody to vote without ID’s.

Philosophically, this is the “one versus many.” So the many can vote but the one might suffer because they couldn’t get around to getting an ID. The Texas Attorney General feels if a person wants to vote, they can get an ID. This doesn’t cost them money, it’s not inconvenient, we make it possible. He believes this is a matter of individual responsibility embedded in the right to vote.

As a matter of business, fraud is real and must be prevented. Collective individual responsibility goes out the window because the full responsibility for protecting against fraud is put solely on the particular business in question. See the difference?

It is modern social thinking that has allowed us to come up with this notion that people are not necessarily responsible and therefore can’t burdened with individual responsibility. In business you don’t have that option. The reality of the marketplace is that if you don’t stay focused on the disciplines of the individual responsibility and doing everything that it takes to protect against fraud, the marketplace will crush you. It’s an important business ethics discussion because we have to recognize that the standards in community have more bandwidth than the market allows us to have in business.

What are your thoughts?

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The Continuing Real Estate Saga

Phil Clements - March 19th, 2012

Over the weekend the Star Ledger reported that the new Jersey legislature is looking to pass a law making it easier for banks to foreclose. It seems that while the $25 billion settlement suggests over reaching by banks, in NJ foreclosures are so slow that it will take 49 years to clear out the current backlog. Click Here to read the Star Ledger article.

The NJ problem seems to be that homes are being abandoned as well, creating urban blight.
Let us add to the questions from last week – Do we see the outcome of errors?

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Mortgage Deal is Built on Tradeoffs

Phil Clements - March 13th, 2012

Big news! Largest banks in the US have agreed to a $25billion settlement of mortgage related concerns.

The WSJ article, found HERE, raises some basic ethical questions, on which we would ask your comments.

1. Ethics is about what should be done, not what can be done. The article suggests that the U.S. government extracted the settlement because they could, not because there was any wrong. Do you agree?

2. The rule of law is a concept that allows people and businesses to engage in activity based upon predictable treatment as found in the law at the time. Does this settlement encourage you to see that the U.S. is about the rule of law?

3. Might makes right is another law, which is the opposite of the rule of law. Is this action more consistent with might makes right?

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Phil Clements – Why I Wrote “The Continuing Financial Crisis”

admin - March 9th, 2012

Feel free to leave Phil Clements your questions and comments regarding his latest book!

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The Business of Sports Teams: Part 3

Phil Clements - February 29th, 2012

“An update on the Sacramento Kings story…”

Part 3 of 3…

We are pleased to post this update on the Sacramento Kings story. WSJ reported yesterday that the Kings are staying in Sacramento! The mayor announce he had cut a deal with the owners for the Kings to stay, with Sacramento building a new $400 million facility. The owners will contribute $70 million to the costs of the facility.

The article highlights the issue for smaller communities of keeping sports teams. You can find the article HERE

We would reaffirm our questions of whether a community’s investment in sports teams is a wise use of funds?

We would love to hear your thoughts!

Read Part 1 of this blog HERE

Read Part 2 of this blog HERE

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The Business of Sports Teams: Part 2

Phil Clements - February 28th, 2012

“The Sacramentos feel attacked as the Kings consider relocating…”

Part 2 of 3…

The Sacramentos feel attacked as the Kings consider relocating. Last week, we gave a brief history of the team and its owners. This week we explore the issues surrounding the City of Sacramento as it faces this challenge. Relevant WSJ article can be found HERE.

We like the U.S. because of its freedom of movement. We can relocate from state to state, from city to city, even from church to church. The factors underlying a relocation decision are many, but economics and finances are one of them. Even in the Bible, such relocations occur. For example the Book of Ruth records both a movement out of Judah, during a famine, and a coming back to Judah after personal crisis. Of note is that if the relocation had not happened, Ruth would not have married Boaz and become a lineal parent of Jesus.

Sacramento has only one of the four top professional teams. Should it try to save the Kings? If so, what can be done? How much can it spend, given that finances are part of the equation? Are there contract considerations that are appropriate? Does the 8th Commandment or other Commandments give biblical insight?

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Articles by Date

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Articles by Contributor

The Continuing Financial Crisis: Worldviews Collide! by Philip J. Clements

Forward

This book endeavors to answer three recurring questions about the continuing financial crisis: "What is going on in the financial markets, now in the world not just the United States?" "How did we get here?" and "What does this mean?" Two parts are used to answer these questions. The first part is based on a paper developed and published September 30, 2008. The principles and events surrounding the financial crisis of 2007-2008 are addressed. The second part covers the three years, 2009-2011, since fall 2008.

Click HERE to Read the Forward to this book

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Business Ethics Today: Stealing -- Sample Excerpts

1. Covenant and the Eighth Commandment

This Chapter, written by David Cowan, poses the question, "Can we seek to please God in our Business?"

Click HERE to Read an Excerpt of This Chapter

2. An Optimistic Look at the Eighth Commandment

This Chapter, co-written by Robert Doll, Philip Ryken, and Ron Ferner, seeks to consider what our world and economy would like if NO ONE violated the Eighth Commandment.

Click HERE to Read and Excerpt of This Chapter

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Other White Papers

Credit Crisis of 2007 and 2008 - Phil Clements - What is going on in the financial markets? How did we get here? Where are we now? And where are we going from here? This paper address these questions, beginning with the understanding of the Bible’s truth and principles in the financial decision making process. The paper explains how the financial innovations developed over the last thirty years, including securitization, creative mortgages, derivatives, short-selling, and speculative investing. The paper shows how the markets failure to follow the Bible’s principles caused the current crisis. The paper concludes with some observations for the future.
Posted by permission from Cathedral Consulting Group, LLC.

REPORT: Undergraduate Employees' Work Ethic 2006 - Phil Clements - Business programs include business ethics training both as a separate course work and within individual topic courses. The purpose is to create more ethical individuals; individuals who can properly identify and address ethical issues. An area under covered in general business ethics courses is work ethic. This survey is undertaken to determine if further research is warranted and to identify potential specific directions for such research to aid refining business school curriculum. The focus of the survey was a sense of the work ethics of undergraduates, in their early years after graduating from college. A supplemental benefit to be derived from the survey is to give the business community a broader sense of the state of affairs regarding undergraduate work ethics.
Posted by permission by Cathedral Consulting Group, LLC.

Resource Links:

BreakPoint - From its beginning, Prison Fellowship has partnered with local churches to carry out this ministry of transformation. And in recent years God has brought together tens of thousands of men, women, and even youth to work with prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families. Across the country they are uniting in local Communities of Care, providing support and services both inside and outside the prisons.

These churches also collaborate with scores of other faith-based ministries, community organizations, and corrections officials to ensure that, together, we can reach prisoners and their families with the best possible teaching, resources, and support.

C12 Group - At C12, we're all about leading thriving profitable Christian companies. This unashamed practical focus is combined with our commitment to a Biblical perspective coupled with like-minded peer counsel and accountability. Given that our vocational calling utilizes most of our waking hours, how we conduct business defines much of who we are and our impact on others around us!

Cathedral Consulting - At Cathedral Consulting Group, LLC we help small and mid-sized private companies and non-profit organizations to grow their enterprises through the implementation of best practices. As growth requires a vision for tomorrow and an awareness of the needs of today, Cathedral works alongside clients to identify the needs in their company or organization and implement strategies to benefit them in the short and long-term.

Center for Ethics and Leadership - The Center for Ethics and Business aims to provide an environment for discussing issues related to the necessity, difficulty, costs and rewards of conducting business ethically. Recognizing the special challenges connected with discussing ethical issues in a diverse global economy, the Center encourages a secular and philosophical approach to these matters.

Compassion In Politics - "I’m a creative. I’m a visionary. I’m a Christian. I’m a lover. And I’m human. I have a deep passion to see Gods work and vision lived out in me and touching the lives of those around the world." - Nathan Ketsdever

The Gospel Coalition - We are a group of (mostly) pastors and churches in the Reformed heritage who delight in the truth and power of the gospel, and who want the gospel of Christ crucified and resurrected to lie at the center of all we cherish, preach, and teach. In a time of endless fragmentation, it is easy to sound prophetic from the margins, but one of the most urgent needs of any generation is to be prophetic from the center—from what the Bible makes the center. We want to be robustly biblical, richly theological, constantly elevating what God himself in his own Word makes central.

Tenth Presbyterian Church - Tenth lies in the very heart of Philadelphia. It has about 1,500 members and hosts about 1,400 people each week at its three Sunday services: 9:00 and 11:00 am. and 6:30 pm.

Tenth Presbyterian Church holds to the classic formulations of Presbyterian theology which came out of the reformation period: the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms. In addition we govern ourselves by the Book of Church Order prepared by our denomination, Presbyterian Church in America.

The Works of John Frame and Vern Poythress - Articles and other material posted by both John Frame and Vern Poythress on a variety of topics including: Theology, Reformed Faith, Religion, and many more!