business ethics

Appropriation of artisans’ intellectual property: Piracy disguised as giving back?

Creative Industries

Creative industries are industries focused on the creation, exploitation and appropriation of artisans’ intellectual property, including art, fashion design, and related creative services, such as advertisement and sales.  During a trip to Burkina Faso in West Africa, Keri Fosse was taught by an African woman how to wrap African artisan fashion accessory craftsnewborns with fabric in a manner that creates a strong bond and frees the mother’s hands for other tasks.

Craft culture

Burkina Faso has a craft culture and is known for its woven cotton and the textile art of Bogolan.  Bogolan is a technique original to and involves the tradition of dyeing threads with bright colors, washing it skillfully, using coated and shiny Bazin, and using indigo from Benin. After this trip, Fosse and her husband developed a shirt which copies the African lady’s, Lalabu’s, technique.

They developed a product called Soothe Shirt; and created a business called Lalabu. Lalabu is also the name of the African woman that the Fosses met. They have been successful. The Fosses have stated that they got the idea from Lalabu, but redesigned it for production. The couple advertises that they “giving back” by giving 2% percent of each purchase to help female African entrepreneurs through microfinancing.

Intellectual property piracy

The Fosses claim that when African women repay their micro-loans, the women reinvest the money into the loan fund. This study argues that such practices do not reflect socially responsible entrepreneurship. Instead, they represent intellectual property piracy. The following sections discuss the relevant legal and theoretical foundations, along with current best practices. However, these practices often lack shared ownership. While Americans may commonly appropriate artisans’ intellectual property within the U.S., their appropriation of cultural crafts from other countries demands closer scrutiny and accountability.

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GDPR comparative analysis to US data breaches

Introduction

gdpr

The newly implemented European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires mandatory breach notifications. The GDPR is a revision of a 1995 directive. To our disappointment, the US has no such federal law. Thus, this means companies must satisfy multiple US laws and that makes it more challenging to comply. This is a GDPR comparative analysis to the US data breach notifications. This study is a comparison of the GDPR with the statutes of the 50 US states. It highlights the challenges companies face. It reveals the types of decisions companies must make to be in compliance with these statutes.

Findings

Notably, this GDPR comparative analysis reveals that the requirements of various laws, statutes, or regulations vary by state, country, and audience. Companies must decide if they will base compliance on the most stringent requirements which can be financially prohibitive. Alternatively, they could meet the minimum requirements which could be managerially prohibitive. A comparison of the GDPR and the statutes related to data breach notifications reveals the types of decisions companies must make. Because the definitions of personal information and data breach vary, a company in one case would be considered to have had a breach. However, in another jurisdiction the company would not. Companies might decide on the behalf of the consumer to notify all their customers.

Further, the time required to notify the consumer or some authority agency varies. A company would likely notify the entities requiring the earliest notification and continue notifications as time permits. Since penalties vary, companies might notify according to those with the costliest penalties first. The contents of data breach notifications are not always specified or consistent. Thus, companies should develop a standard notification provisions for all required entities if the information is available.

Challenges

Briefly, comparative analysis highlights the challenges companies face in trying to comply with multiple regulations. The greatest challenge exists for small businesses. Just knowing the regulations is likely a challenge for an average small business. The GDPR may remain consistent, but the statutes of the 50 US states continue to be amended. In addition, there are the statutes of other countries. More than 100 countries have enacted data protection legislation. Several other countries are in the process of passing such laws with data protection laws (Banisar, 2011).

Further, Banisar notes that data protection laws have been enacted in countries such as Thailand, Mexico, Georgia and Malaysia. The most recent US personal information security breach statutes include new laws in Arizona, South Dakota, and Alabama (Bellamy, 2018). Thus, companies should put into place protections. They need personnel that would help prevent a data breach as per any of these governments’ definitions. Further, this needs to be in addition to a plan to comply with the existing laws. The countries that companies do business in require legal compliance.

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Machiavelli business ethics is relevant in high tech

Introduction
Machiavelli The Prince book cover

Machiavelli The Prince is still relevant in high tech management and leadership and business ethics

Can a 16th-century political treatise provide any guidance on today’s competitive environment? Machiavelli business ethics lessons in The Prince are still relevant because it emphasizes the acquisition and sustenance of influence. Acquired and sustained influence by leaders and managers is important. Yet, there are two camps among scholars regarding the relevancy of Niccolò Machiavelli’s book The Prince (Machiavelli, 1992) to modern day management and leadership. Some scholars argue that the book has never been or is no longer relevant to business management and leadership (Agbude, 2014; Fournel, 2014; Jackson, 2013; Tillyris, 2015). Some contend that it is indeed relevant (Konno, 2014; O’Sullivan, 2014; Rojek, 2014; Ruggiero, 2015; Soll, 2014; Thomas, 2014).

The Prince is still relevant

Herein, it is argued that this work by Machiavelli is indeed relevant. In particular, it is widely accepted that leaders and managers are more effective if they have influence. However, some wrongly associate Machiavelli primarily with the advocacy of vile tactics of manipulation. It is argued herein that The Prince has an over-arching emphasis on the importance of a leader’s or manager’s acquisition and sustenance of influence.

This article provides a number of modern-day examples of how Machiavellian lessons are and can be applied today in the high-tech arena. Certainly, we need to learn from flawed leaders because many corporate leaders have malicious or corrupt tendencies. Also, when leaders are coercive to maintain power and order, it is viewed as bad leadership. This is because there is a yearning for feel-good stories (Kellerman, 2004). We can examine the high-technology business leader examples put forth in this response. It is important to note that these leaders’ characters shape their workplace behavior. They also shape business decisions.

Summary

The examples provided herein are not sufficient. They are not sufficient to inform whether these leaders have the elements of the ‘Return on Character’ (ROC). The ROC is the magic formula for creating value. Some leaders want to create value plain and simple. They may honestly believe that their decisions are the right choices. Certain leaders in the examples may be bad actors that are overly ambitious and greedy. They seek to gain at others’ detriment. Many do both by seeking to do right and create value, and act badly in the process. All people display both vile and kind motives and choices (Kiel, 2015; Wilson, 1998). Thus, the nature of character is as complex and varied as the real world.  Again, given the importance of acquired and sustained influence by leaders and managers, Machiavelli business ethics lessons in The Prince are still relevant.

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University Technology Transfer conflicts Love and Hate

Introduction
love and hate as options in a checklist with love chosen by a gentleman

University technology transfer conflicts stem from job insecurity

This research examines university technology transfer conflicts related to the love and hate between research faculty and technology transfer staff. We attempt to provide greater understanding of how research faculty’s personal values and research universities’ organization values may differ and why. Faculty researchers and tech transfer office (TTO) staff are perceived to be virtuous agents. When both are meeting each other’s needs, a “love” relationship exists. However, when these needs are not met, a “hate” relationship exists that is replete with doubt and uncertainty. Thus, this doubt and uncertainty create tension and subsequent conflicts.

Ethical concerns

There are many accounts where faculty researchers have not followed university policies and expectations. They often violate policy and ethical standards. Likewise, faculty report numerous examples of how TTO staff members’ negligence in servicing their attempts to be good institutional citizens have failed them. Thus, this paper explores this love/hate relationship and reveals numerous conflicts that call into question ethical concerns.

Conflict Management

This article provides a set of recommendations for reducing and potentially alleviating university technology transfer conflicts. Results from a thorough review of the literature on the relationship between faculty and university TTOs reveals that perceived job insecurity is underway. Some research faculty members as well as some TTO staff, unethically violate their university policies. Violations include faculty not disclosing inventions disclosures and the staff selection to not provide full services. There are ways to alleviate the conflict between faculty’s personal values regarding their inventions and university’s organizational values. There is a need to enact measures that build trust and reduce insecurity.  We not only examine this faculty/TTO staff ethical conflicts, but we offer a set of recommendations. In summary, we believe these recommendations will reduce the likelihood of unethical behavior. They encourage greater institutional commitment and trust.

Read the paper here…

Machiavelli ethics lessons are relevant in high tech

 

Introduction
Machiavelli The Prince book cover

Machiavelli The Prince is still relevant in high tech management and leadership and business ethics

Can a 16th-century political treatise provide any guidance on today’s competitive environment? Machiavelli ethics lessons in The Prince are still relevant because it emphasizes the acquisition and sustenance of influence. Acquired and sustained influence by leaders and managers is important. Yet, there are two camps among scholars regarding the relevancy of Niccolò Machiavelli’s book The Prince (Machiavelli, 1992) to modern day management and leadership. Some scholars argue that the book has never been or is no longer relevant to business management and leadership (Agbude, 2014; Fournel, 2014; Jackson, 2013; Tillyris, 2015). Some contend that it is indeed relevant (Konno, 2014; O’Sullivan, 2014; Rojek, 2014; Ruggiero, 2015; Soll, 2014; Thomas, 2014).

The Prince is still relevant

Herein, it is argued that this work by Machiavelli is indeed relevant. In particular, it is widely accepted that leaders and managers are more effective if they have influence. However, some wrongly associate Machiavelli primarily with the advocacy of vile tactics of manipulation. It is argued herein that The Prince has an over-arching emphasis on the importance of a leader’s or manager’s acquisition and sustenance of influence.

This article provides a number of modern-day examples of how Machiavellian lessons are and can be applied today in the high-tech arena. Certainly, we need to learn from flawed leaders because many corporate leaders have malicious or corrupt tendencies. It is viewed as bad leadership when leaders coerce to maintain power and order, . This is because there is a yearning for feel-good stories (Kellerman, 2004). We can examine the high-technology business leader examples put forth in this response. It is important to note that these leaders’ characters shape their workplace behavior. They also shape business decisions.

Summary

The examples provided herein are not sufficient. They are not sufficient to inform whether these leaders have the elements of the ‘Return on Character’ (ROC). The ROC is the magic formula for creating value. Some leaders want to create value plain and simple. They may honestly believe that their decisions are the right choices. Certain leaders in the examples may be bad actors that are overly ambitious and greedy. They seek to gain at others’ detriment. Many do both by seeking to do right and create value, and act badly in the process. All people display both vile and kind motives and choices (Kiel, 2015; Wilson, 1998). Thus, the nature of character is as complex and varied as the real world.  Again, given the importance of acquired and sustained influence by leaders and managers, Machiavelli business ethics lessons in The Prince are still relevant.

Read more…