Each student is required to write a 10-12 page comparative essay, examining a current business
ethics or sustainability issue. After analyzing and discussing the issue, you will then select two
companies that have been or are currently impacted by that issue, compare, and contrast the
companies’ responses to their stakeholders, and make appropriate recommendations for one or
both companies based on your research, comparison, and review. Additional instructions will be
available in Brightspace.
Examples include but are not limited to:
o Climate Change
o Carbon Emissions
o Single Use Plastics
o Transparency in the workplace
o Harassment on the Job
o Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
o Discrimination in Hiring
o Wage Discrimination
o Fraud
o Whistle Blowing
o Workplace Health and Safety
o Environmental Sustainability
o Technology and Privacy
o Toxic Work Culture
o Use of AI
o Ethics in Accounting and/or Finance Practices
o Ethics in Marketing or Sales
o Workplace Health and Safety
o Accessibility of Critical Medications
o Union Busting
o Child Labor
8 – Updated January 10, 2024
Loyola Marymount University – SPRING 2024, Section 06
o Supply Chain Transparency
Your paper must include extensive research and include reference to the six ethical lenses
discussed in class and referenced in the Markkula Center readings (Utilitarianism,
Justice/Fairness, Rights/Duties, Common Good and Virtue Ethics in your comparison of the
two companies’ responses.
I will provide an outline for your paper in Brightspace. You are to use either MLA, APA or
Chicago style format, although with these requirements: Your paper should be double spaced
throughout. Citations should be in text with a bibliography at the end of the paper. Please
use a title page regardless of your format selection. A sample title page will be provided
for you. The title page does not count towards your page count, nor does your bibliography.
A minimum of 10 separately cited academic or respected industry references are required.
With this research, you are to create an essay examining a particular workplace practice or
issue, the possible ethical dilemmas around this issue, and examples of two different
companies and their response to the issue. The two companies should illustrate the same
issue, but different responses to it. You will then compare the two company responses and
make concluding recommendations as to what YOU THINK an appropriate response was or
should have been, using your research findings to help draw your conclusion.
Please use headings and subheadings to organize your paper in the rough draft and final copy.
Headings and subheadings can come directly from the main points and subpoints in the
outline
