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Syllabus for Steven Minns...

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COURSE INFORMATION Course title: Government and Business Course code: COMM 394 Session and term: 2019W2

Credits: Class location:

Section(s):

202, 203

Class times:

Course duration:

Jan 6 - Apr 8, 2020

Pre-requisites:

Division:

Strategy and Business Economics

Co-requisites:

3 HA350 (Wednesdays); HA234 (Fridays) Wednesdays and Fridays 13:3014:50 (202); 15:00-16:20 (203) One of COMM295, ECON201, ECON301 n/a

INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION Instructor: Steven Minns BEng CEng MICE DIC MBA PhD Phone: 604 822 3149 Office location: HA270 Email: [email protected] Office hours: Wednesdays 16:30-17:30 COURSE DESCRIPTION This course uses a framework based on economic analysis and ethical principles to address the role of government in a market economy and the relationship between government and business. The course addresses three basic questions: (1) What should the role of government be? (2) What is the social responsibility of business? (3) How successful are the actual policies of governments? An important part of the course involves consideration of current public policy issues as well as ethical dilemmas confronting managers. COURSE FORMAT This course is structured using a combination of lectures, case discussions, guest lectures, article discussions and group debates. Refer to schedule for more details. LEARNING OBJECTIVES Upon completion of Commerce 394, students should be able to:  Demonstrate critical analysis of issues facing society and business.  Comment intelligently on public policy and the role of government in relation to these issues.  Use a framework based on economic concepts and ethical principles to guide public policy, taking into account market failure, incentive effects, economic efficiency, and fairness.  Evaluate the appropriateness of particular business decisions based on important philosophical approaches to business ethics.

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Sections 202 & 203

January 2nd, 2020

Syllabus ASSESSMENTS Summary Component Midterm Exam Case memos Debate Class participation Final exam Total

Weight 20% 5% 20% 15% 40% 100%

Details of Assessments Exams Exams will contain a mix of true/false and short-answer essay questions and (for the final exam only) two longer questions. You will be tested on the material from lectures and the assigned readings. Participation Class participation is very important in this course and accounts for 15% of the grade. Class discussion is a way of learning from each other: you can learn a lot from listening to your fellow students and you can learn a lot from thinking about the comments you want to make in class yourself. Most importantly it encourages you to think critically. Participation marks depend on attendance, class conduct and the frequency and quality of classroom contributions. Whilst in class you are expected to be focused on class and be willing to question and contribute to discussions. The use of electronic devices (including laptops) is not recommended and the use of laptops and phones in class will result in significant deductions to your participation grade. Electronic devices are not permitted during the debates, unless you are on one of the debating teams. If you feel strongly that you would like to take notes on your computer during class, please discuss this with me. Finally, ensure that you have a name “tent” visible at all times to help me to get to know you. Case Analyses We will be discussing two case studies of recent corporate scandals: Volkswagen and Wells Fargo. Prior to the class discussions on each case you are required to do some reading and to submit answers to a set of questions. The submission should be no more than 1-2 pages. Debates Every student will participate as a team-member in a one-hour debate. Student teams of four members each will be formed. Then, a lottery will be held to allocate the topics (listed below). When a team is picked in the lottery, its members can choose the topic and position they want to take (“For” or “Against”) from the topics and positions that remain. Debate Rules: The “For” and “Against” sides each have 10 minutes to make their opening case. You should use PowerPoint for the opening presentation. Next, each side gives a five-minute rebuttal of the points raised by their opponents. Then we have 10 minutes of questions from the teams and audience, addressed in alternating order, to the “For” and “Against” sides. The debate ends with one-minute “closing arguments” of the case by each side. Since the debates foster oral communication skills, all four team members should speak. Please bring your slide to class on a USB stick on the day. Debate marks

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Syllabus reflect the quality of research, the organization and delivery of the arguments, and the quality of the rebuttals. A grading rubric is provided on Canvas. All team members receive the same mark. Debate topics: 1. University and all post-secondary education should be provided free to all citizens. 2. To make housing more affordable, Vancouver should eliminate supply restrictions, not tax foreign buyers. 3. Due to increased unemployment from automation, all Canadians should receive a Universal Basic Income. 4. Everyone should decide to become vegetarian and this should be supported by Government through a Pigovian tax on meat. 5. Government should ban most single use plastics and tax all other plastic, using the revenue to incentivise sustainable material use. 6. Digital media and social network firms such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube have a social responsibility to ensure that information on their sites is factually correct and to remove violent or hateful content.

LEARNING MATERIALS Required: The required text book for the course is James A. Brander, ‘Government Policy toward Business’ , 5th edition, John Wiley and Sons (available at UBC Bookstore). Links to other required readings are given below (or in some cases the articles will be posted on Canvas). Estimated cost of required materials: $48 (ebook) or $98 (paperback) Technology Requirements: iClickers to be brought to every lecture. Additional materials recommended but not required: See optional reading list overleaf (#15-30). Reading package Note 1: (#1-5, 9-11, 15 will be handed out in class; #6-8, 12-14 to be read before class) Note 2: Readings can be found by following the links below. If no link is provided, they can be found on Canvas 1. Krugman, Paul, “Disaster Relief Economics” New York Times, August 30, 2011. http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/30/disaster-relief-economics/ 2. Mickelburgh, Bob, “Patient-based funding breathes new life into hospitals” Globe and Mail, December 10, 2011. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/patient-based-funding-breathes-new-life-intohospitals/article2266746/ 3. Davidson, Adam, “Should We Tax People for Being Annoying?” New York Times, January 8, 2013 4. McArdle, Megan, “The Moral Hazard of Naloxone in the Opioid Crisis”, Washington Post, March 8, 2018 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-moral-hazard-of-naloxone-in-the-opioidcrisis/2018/03/08/c3584f16-2259-11e8-86f6-54bfff693d2b_story.html?utm_term=.49bab32f807f

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Syllabus 5. Shaw, W. H. and V. Barry, "Ford's Pinto," Moral Issues in Business, 1991, Wadsworth Publishing Company; pp 8688. 6. Case analysis: “Volkswagen AG: The emissions scandal”, by Dr Steven Minns, UBC. (2016) 7. Open letter from Emanuela Montefrancesco, a VW Engineer, that was published in Italian newspaper ‘Corriere Della Serra’, October 15th 2015, Translated by Simon Tanner. http://www.corriere.it/english/15_ottobre_14/emanuela-vw-engineer-if-you-want-the-perfect-car-cheata40d0018-7287-11e5-b015-f1d3b8f071aa.shtml 8. Tamburri, Rosanna, “We like to think we’d never commit fraud”, Globe and Mail, May 19, 2011. 9. Not used. 10. Summers, Lawrence, "Let them Eat Pollution", The Economist, Feb 8, 1992, p 82, Issue 7745. 11. Steven Greenhouse, “Some Retailers Rethink Role in Bangladesh” New York Times, May 1, 2013 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/business/some-retailers-rethink-their-role-in-bangladesh.html 12. Friedman, Milton, "The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits", New York Times Magazine, Sept 13, 1970. 13. Arrow, Kenneth , "Social Responsibility and Economic Efficiency", Public Policy, Vol 21, 1973, Harvard University Press, 21, 303-318. 14. Case analysis: “The Wells Fargo sales scandal”, by Steven Minns and Kevin Dhami, UBC. (2017)

Additional readings (optional) – Available digitally either through the online link below or through Canvas 15. Foer, Franklin, “The Case for Regulating the Internet”, The Atlantic, Mar 21, 2018 https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/03/its-time-to-regulate-the-internet/556097/ 16. Mullainathan, Sendhil and Thaler , Richard H., “Waiting in Line for the Illusion of Security”, NY Times, May 27, 2016 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/29/upshot/waiting-in-line-for-the-illusion-of-security.html 17. Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Bilmes, “The true cost of the Iraq war: $3 trillion and beyond”, Washington Post, September 5, 2010 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/03/AR2010090302200.html 18. “How to spot an ethical dilemma” by Professor Keith Head, UBC 19. Waddell, Kaveh, “The Internet of Things Needs a Code of Ethics”, The Atlantic, May 1, 2017 https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/05/internet-of-things-ethics/524802/ 20. Saunders, Doug, “What is your life worth? Let’s get out a calculator,” Globe and Mail, Feb. 7, 2004, F3. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/incoming/whats-your-life-worth-lets-get-out-a-calculator/article741642/ 21. Mann, Charles, “Can planet Earth Feed 10 Billion People?”, The Atlantic, March 2018

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Syllabus https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/03/charles-mann-can-planet-earth-feed-10-billionpeople/550928/ 22. Andrew Coyne, “Why Ontario’s business support program is a harmful, distortionary waste of money”, National Post, April 13 2016 http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/andrew-coyne-why-ontarios-business-support-program-is-a-harmfuldistortionary-waste-of-money 23. “Corporate Social Responsibility Notes on Friedman versus Arrow” by Professor Keith Head, UBC 24. “Where Friedman was wrong”, Promarket blog of The Chicago Booth School of Business, July 27, 2017 by Asher Schechter https://promarket.org/where-friedman-was-wrong/ 25. Bloch, Michael, “Triple Bottom Line”, January 19, 2010 http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/264/1/Triple-bottom-line.html 26. V.Rangan, L.Chase and S.Karim, "The Truth about CSR", Harvard Business Review, February 2015 https://hbr.org/2015/01/the-truth-about-csr 27. M.Porter and M.Kramer, "Strategy and Society", Harvard Business Review, December 2006 https://hbr.org/2006/12/strategy-and-society-the-link-between-competitive-advantage-and-corporate-socialresponsibility 28. “Time to fix patents”, The Economist, August 8, 2015 http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21660522-ideas-fuel-economy-todays-patent-systems-are-rotten-wayrewarding-them-time-fix 29. “No Truck with Cartels”, The Economist, June 4, 2016 http://www.economist.com/news/business/21699957-expensive-times-companies-accused-collusion-no-truckcartels 30. O'Meara, Dina, "Pipeline Economics: The dollars & cents of the energy export debate" National Post, April 2, 2013. http://business.financialpost.com/productive-conversations/pipeline-economics-the-dollars-cents-of-the-energyexport-debate

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Syllabus

COURSE-SPECIFIC POLICIES AND RESOURCES Missed or late assignments, and regrading of assessments Missed or late case memos will score zero unless otherwise agreed. Note that the deadlines for case memos are the start of the class in which we will be doing the case discussion (see schedule for further information). Academic Concessions Valid, formal, academic concessions that are made through the UGO will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Generally, accommodation(s) available for cases of valid academic concessions will involve reweighting to other course components. Other Course Policies and Resources For further information on the use of electronic devices in class and the use of iClickers, see earlier under the section “Participation”. UNIVERSITY POLICIES AND RESOURCES UBC provides resources to support student learning and to maintain healthy lifestyles but recognizes that sometimes crises arise and so there are additional resources to access including those for survivors of sexual violence. UBC values respect for the person and ideas of all members of the academic community. Harassment and discrimination are not tolerated nor is suppression of academic freedom. UBC provides appropriate accommodation for students with disabilities and for religious observances. UBC values academic honesty and students are expected to acknowledge the ideas generated by others and to uphold the highest academic standards in all of their actions. Details of the policies and how to access support are available on the UBC Senate website at https://senate.ubc.ca/policies-resourcessupport-student-success. Academic Integrity The academic enterprise is founded on honesty, civility, and integrity. As members of this enterprise, all students are expected to know, understand, and follow the codes of conduct regarding academic integrity. At the most basic level, this means submitting only original work done by you and acknowledging all sources of information or ideas and attributing them to others as required. This also means you should not cheat, copy, or mislead others about what is your work. Violations of academic integrity (i.e., misconduct) lead to the breakdown of the academic enterprise, and therefore serious consequences arise and harsh sanctions are imposed. For example, incidences of plagiarism or cheating may result in a mark of zero on the assignment or exam and more serious consequences may apply if the matter is referred to the President’s Advisory Committee on Student Discipline. Careful records are kept in order to monitor and prevent recurrences.

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Syllabus

COURSE SCHEDULE (Subject to change with class consultation) Week of

January 8

January 15

January 22

Wednesday

Friday

Introduction, Canadian business environment (1.1-1.4, 7)

Key economic concepts (2)

Key economic concepts (2)

Market efficiency and market failures 1 (3)

Market efficiency and market failures 2 (3) Moral philosophy (4.24.4)

Moral philosophy (4.2-4.4)

February 5

Cost benefit Analysis (3.11, 9.7)

Environment Policy 1 (9.1-9.6)

Environment Policy 2 (10)

Readings 1-4

Fairness and inequality (4.1, 4.5-4.9)

January 29

February 12

Articles and cases

No class (Midterm during previous evening) Midterm exam: THURSDAY 6.30pm February 13, 2020 (HA241/243)

February 19

Mid term break

Mid term break

February 26

Readings 5-8 Reading 10

March 4

March 11

Environment Policy 2 (10)

Volkswagen case discussion

Politics and government failure (5)

Trade policy (8)

Deadline: Case memo before class on Feb 28

Readings 11-14

Corporate Social Responsibility (15) Debate 1

Deadline: Case memo before class on Mar 11

Guest Lecture: First Nations peoples and business*

No class

Listen to videos on Canvas before guest lecture

March 25

Debate 2

Debate 3

April 1

Debate 4

Debate 5

April 8

Debate 6

Wells Fargo case discussion

March 18

Final Review

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January 2nd, 2020

Syllabus *I am pleased to acknowledge that the material created for this session was developed by Michael McDonald of Clark Wilson LLP and a member of the Peguis First Nation specifically for use in COMM 394. Mr. McDonald or one of his colleagues will also guide this session. The School is grateful to Mr. McDonald and colleagues for their assistance in developing and delivering this important content. Financial support for this and other Indigenous business-related initiatives at the Sauder School has come from a generous gift to the School by the Bank of Montreal. The School also thanks BMO for its support.

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January 2nd, 2020...