Legal Studies and Business Ethics Papers
Document Type
Book Chapter
Date of this Version
2017
Publication Source
The Moral Responsibility of Firms
Start Page
206
Last Page
221
Abstract
In 2009, my family bought a new Volkswagen Jetta diesel relying on high scores this model received for its environmental characteristics. I don't recall the rating service we used, but the top-rated passenger car along this dimension was the Toyota Prius, and the VW Jetta came in a close second. We preferred the performance and "pick up" in driving the Jetta. In 2015, however, we learned along with millions of other owners of VW automobiles one reason for the difference in performance: VW had lied. Our Jetta did not deserve the high ratings it received for its environmental characteristics because VW had intentionally installed software designed to fool routine government testing. A "defeat device" programmed the engine to run with lower emissions when tested, but then shifted during normal driving conditions to spew into the atmosphere twenty to forty times more harmful nitrogen oxide than permitted under the relevant environmental regulations in the United States and Europe (Davenport and Ewing 2015; Hakim 2016b).1 Another corporate fraud scandal was born: prosecutors unleashed, product recalls ordered, and class action lawsuits filed. As this book goes to press, the story of VW's large-scale environmental fraud has only begun, but it serves to illustrate the practical relevance of the central question addressed in this book of the moral responsibility of firms—or not.
Copyright/Permission Statement
p. 206-221, The Moral Responsibility of Firms, edited by Orts, E.W. & Smith, C.N., 2017, reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-moral-responsibility-of-firms-9780198738534?cc=us&lang=en&
Recommended Citation
Orts, E.W. (2017). Conclusion: The Moral Responsibility of Firms: Past, Present, and Future. In Orts, E.W. & Smith, C.N. (Eds.), The Moral Responsibility of Firms, 206-221. Oxford University Press.
Embargo Date
1-1-2019
Included in
Applied Ethics Commons, Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons, Business and Corporate Communications Commons, Business Intelligence Commons, Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons, International Business Commons, Law Commons, Organizational Behavior and Theory Commons, Strategic Management Policy Commons
Date Posted: 28 June 2018