Business Ethics
Defining Business Ethics
Case 2.3 Teaching or Selling
Group 2
Alveriansyah Haznam M.
Aditya Aldy N.
Evlyn Dwi Tambun
Rizky Indriyani S.
Vita Cahyaningtyas
Descriptive Normative

BUSINESS
ETHICS

Stakeholders
Stockholders/
Employees Customers Suppliers/
Shareholders
Vendor partners

Retailers/ Federal Creditors Community

Wholesalers Government
Corporate Governance
 History of Business Ethics

1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s

● Antiwar ● The economy ● Corporation ● Global ● Cyber crime

statement suffers trough downsize expansion ● Intellectual
● Civil right recession ● Transparency ● Unsafe work property theft
issue ● Forced labor, issues arise practices ● Anticorruption
● Corporation substandard ● ERC develop ● Shell effort grow
address wages, unsafe Code of Ethics International ● Formation of
ethics practice ● Companies issuing annual international ethics
trough legal ● Ethic Resource creates reports on its centers to serve
Center (ERC) Ombudsman ethical the needs of global
founded performance business
Defining Business Ethics - History Business Ethics
Case: Teaching or Selling?
Background & Issue

2008 2010

Continuing Medical Pfizer, along with This is a response Pfizer repositioned

Education (CME) Zimmer Holdings, to public criticism their stature by
course is a form of stops their CME over its sponsorship giving $3 million
continuing course funding. on their physician- CME grant to
education that helps They will restrict the education course. Stanford University.
a physician to way it funds Company claims it
maintain their courses in the comes with “no
competencies on future by identifying conditions, and the
their own field an independent 3rd company will not be
expertise. party. involved in the
developing the
curriculum”.
Answers (1)

Where’s the conflict of interest
in this CME Relationship ?
The conflict interest that might occurs in
CME course is that the medical company
which funded all the courses can promote
their own products or get involved directly to
develop the CME program.

Some doctors most likely would be

Do you think doctors are likely to be
influenced by the promotional tactic.
influenced by such promotional
Besides there are chances
tactics?
companies can influence the
curriculum, there’s also morale
burden, knowing that certain
companies paid for their education.
Answers (2)
Shouldn’t the company have the
right to promote their products?
It is actually better and more educational
than if they hired marketing communication
to arrange the course. However, we see
another unethical behaviour from the
companies where the program is mainly
focused on companies’ main products.
Of course the company have the right to
promote their products when they hold any
certain kind of events. However, the main
focus of CME is not supposed to promote
products but to support the physician to
maintain their competencies/licenses.
Pfizer stated in 2008 that it would only
support medical education put on by
hospitals and professional medical
associations. How can it then justify
the Stanford grant?
Answers (3)

● Pfizer shifted from funding CME

Has Pfizer simply replaced one conflict
arranged by marketing
of interest with another?
communication companies to the
Why or why not?
ones put on by hospitals/
professional medical associations
in order to make sure that the courses
remain free of commercial
influence.
● However, we can see from the critics
that have emerged over the new
curriculum in Stanford’s CME that
another conflict might have emerged
from this event.
Answers (4)
Propose an alternative Situation
approach to ensure that Pfizer, or other similar
CME is provided without a companies, might justify this
conflict of interest. ethical conflict as a belief
that the activity is within
reasonable ethical and
legal limits.
Also, funding CME bring lots
of help for doctors to
maintain their competencies.
Ethical Dilemma
However, this sponsorship
may influence prescriptions
and medical procedures,
which also may affecting the
treatment that patients get
from the doctors. So
according to end-based
principles, for greater
goods, such practice
shouldn’t be continued.

Alternative approaches to avoid ethical conflicts

1. Anonymous funding / multi companies funding

2. Companies may support programs that aren’t
related to their main products
3. Companies should separate CME funds as CSR,
not as promotional events/marketing tools
Thank You
Q&A
➔ Dudun
Adakah persaingan bisnis yang beretika, bagaimana persaingan bisnis yang etis?
Perusahaan di dunia ini yang paling etis?

➔ Eta
Apakah sebuah company harus menentukan posisi perusahaan terhadap isu-isu etis
social yang masih dilematis?