Marc Le Menestrel

Corruption & Obedience (Case Study and Discussion) (Seminar 9, June 7, 2017)

Marc Le Menestrel — 2017-05-31T09:32:59Z

Summary

As a newly appointed manager of a pharmaceutical company in China faces the issue of kickbacks to Doctors in order to boost sales, he is not very sure about the practices and the consequences of carrying out what could be interpreted as a form of corruption. How should he behave in such a situation? Why? We follow this case study with a discussion on corruption, its perception, methods and consequences.

Required reading

Butler, Charlotte & de Bettignies, Henri-Claude. “Blue Monday (R)”, Insead and CEIBS Case Study, 2009.

Watch this 40 min video about the Milgram Experiment.

Reflect on it and look for additional information about the experiment and obedience in general.

Assignment: Answer the two questions at the end of the case.

Advice: Think a bit by yourself and then browse the Internet to learn about what happened in the recent years to pharmaceutical companies in China about corruption and use it to build a more refined assignment.

Optional Readings

De George, Richard. “ Ethics, Corruption, and Doing Business in Asia”, in Asia Pacific Journal of Economics & Business, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1997), pp. 39-52.

Anand, V., Ashforth, B.E., and Joshi, M. (2004) “Business as usual: the acceptance and perpetuation of corruption in organizations”, Academy of Management Executive, 18 (2): 39-53.

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Business and Global Environmental Issues: The Oil Industry and Climate Change (Seminar 7 with Discussion, May 24, 2017)

Marc Le Menestrel — 2017-05-15T14:37:14Z

What strategy can a major company design and implement in the face of global environmental issues? In this case-study about oil industry and climate change, we identify different types of strategies and implementation tactics, with a specific emphasis on communication strategies.

We then discuss in details the strategies of three multinational oil corporations in the face of climate change: ExxonMobil, TotalFinaElf and BP Amoco. We emphasize the similarities and the differences among strategies, in particular in the communicational and managerial dimensions.

Finally, we discuss how the Peak Oil theory can help us to understand the strategies of Oil companies.

Preparation (required)

Please fill in a survey about decisions that have implications for the natural environment. It is important that you do it well and it takes about 45 minutes.

Case-Study (Required

van den Hove, S., Le Menestrel, M. & de Bettignies, H.-C. (2002): “The oil industry and climate change: strategies and ethical dilemmas.” Climate Policy 2(1): 3-19.

Preparation 300-500 words

How do you think oil companies influence the policy of climate change today?

Optional readings

George Monbiot (2014). It's simple. If we can't change our economic system, our number's up. The Guardian, Tuesday 27 May 2014

James Murray & David King (2012). Oil's tipping point has passed. Nature 481, 433–435.

David J. Murphy (2012). Fossil fuels: Peak oil is affecting the economy already. Nature 483, 541-541

Pedro de Almeida & Pedro D. Silva (2011), Timing and future consequences of the peak of oil production. Futures 43.

Alexandra Witze (2007). Energy: That's oil, folks... Nature 445, 14-17

Michael Lardelli (2007). Scientists need to confront economists about peak oil. Nature 446, 257-257

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Essay methodology for critical thinking and writing

Estève Giraud — 2016-07-18T10:11:00Z

Writing the weekly essays for the course is a real challenge. It requires you to be on top of the assigned readings, and preferably of the suggested ones. External serious sources are also valued, and we ask you to write a clear, synthesized and well argumented opinion. Of course, all of this has to fit in a calendar already busy with other courses assignments, work or internship, and personal life.

For many students, this appears to be a tedious process through which it is hard to get the desired outcome: a good grade.

If you scrolled this page with the hope of finding a short and easy recipe to get a good grade in your IBP assignments, this might be a disappointment. However, if you are looking for a practical exercise which will help you to build intellectual muscles, which can help you to write your assignments more and more efficiently over time; this article is for you.

To practice properly, you need to start working at least two days before the day you write the essay you will submit.

On the first day, you should simply try to write your opinion as clearly as possible, and then read the assigned readings making an analysis of the opinion and arguments of the authors to enrich that opinion.

On the second day, imagine you are a completely different person, take the opposite opinion to yours, and argument for it.

On the third day, write now what will be your refined and expanded opinion, using your writing from the two previous days.

The attached pdf "IBP methodology of essays" gives you a detailed explanation.

Surely this will seem like a long process to many of you, and you might want to do it all in a row to save yourself time. According to my experience, this is not the most efficient way to do it because the brain needs time to think through complex political, economical and social issues, weight arguments and select the right words. You might want to think about this exercise like a workout routine: discipline and regularity foster your strength and flexibility.

Guest Lecture on the Environment (Monday 15th of May 2017)

Marc Le Menestrel — 2016-04-24T13:53:34Z

Mathieu spent his first 10 years working in multinational organizations from various sectors in France, USA and Spain. He has built a deep understanding of organizational development within the “business as usual” paradigm. He moved to Barcelona in 2004, and decided since then to learn and practice CSR within different department into his former company and developed a high level of enthusiasm for managing people. In 2010, he co-funded Ecodigma in order to facilitate strategic planning towards sustainability through system thinking and collective intelligence methodology. He's regularly facilitating workshop away from Spain most of them for a French company recognized as an R&D innovation center in Collective Intelligence. He's Vice president of the The Natural Step Association in Barcelona and an active member of TNS Network, co-organizing events in Spain and France. He has taught sustainable design in both UOC and UPF.
You can reached me at mathieu.durrande see more (spanish only)

Mathieu Durrande

Assignment

1. Look at the following 3 short videos:

Let the environment guide our development

What is sustainability (Part 1 & 2)

Part 1- Sustainability: scientific & simple definition

Part 2 - 4 root causes of unsustainability?

2. What principles strikes you the most? Why? (bring your prep in class)

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Expressing your opinion (Seminar 1, April 5, 2017)

Marc Le Menestrel — 2016-03-08T08:43:55Z

Preparatory exercise: (300 words to be handed in in class)

Choose one question raised during the introductory lecture and write down your opinion about it. Express also why you hold that opinion and be prepared to express it in public.

If you want to change your seminar's group, please use the forum below. You must find someone willing to switch from the one you want to the one you are in! Once you are a pair willing to switch, please come to me for the official registration change! Thank you.

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Thinking our Natural Environment (Experiential Seminar with Discussion, May 17, 2017)

Marc Le Menestrel — 2015-04-22T13:26:02Z

Summary

With a series of videos and plays, we learn to "think like the earth" and have a systemic thinking of our natural environment.

Required Videos

Watch a few of the following videos from Conservation International:

Nature Is Speaking – Julia Roberts

Nature Is Speaking – Penélope Cruz is Water

Nature Is Speaking – Harrison Ford is The Ocean

Nature Is Speaking – Lupita Nyong'o is Flower

Nature Is Speaking – Edward Norton is The Soil

Nature Is Speaking – Kevin Spacey is The Rainforest

Assignment to be submitted when arriving in class

Choose a part of nature that inspires you. Thinking as if you were this part of nature, write a powerful and beautiful text about what you want to say. The text shall last between 1 and 2 minutes. Learn your text by heart.

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Fairphone: much more than a fair phone

Marc Le Menestrel — 2014-12-19T11:11:50Z

Fairphone is much more than a fair phone.

Fairphone is a fairer phone but it is firstly a movement. Any movement is a transformation of the world, something that continuously changes and evolves. Fairphone is a movement transforming the world, continuously changing and evolving. This is the most important thing I understood from a discussion with Laura Gerritsen (Impact and Development).

Fairphone aims to do things differently. It is “creative, innovative, involving and incorporating many different ideas aiming at changing something not envisioned to be changed.” The primary importance is given to “the process”, “the difference is in how to do things”.

Of course Fairphone has an ambition in terms of “fair economy”, an objective to pay more attention to “human values”. But this is “without determining top down what is fair”, which is done through “debate” as “fairness is subjective”.

The dynamics is not merely motivated by a clear vision of what has to be changed: “this can be debated.” Indeed, the opening of a conversation by providing a “platform for discussion” may be the first transformation Fairphone has already accomplished.

I especially liked the expression that “…in a sense, values are created”. In line with the approach taught in my course, this is an existentialist approach to ethics. Fairphone is not bound by a dogmatic approach defining first what is ethical. They first try to build a very large perspective in order to understand what happens in the field and then act appropriately (see the blog of Laura for what she does around mining, a major issue for the supply-chain of phones).

Fairphone has understood that ethics remains a grey zone. By promoting “transparency” through a debate they want to be “inclusive”. But transparency also means being open about what you have not been able to achieve and what remains to be improved, such as working conditions at mine sites. Hence, Fairphone is not exempt of unfair issues. There is much more to do evidently and they have noted that “being open about the issues you have not been able solve and why does not necessarily lead to more (negative) criticism, but is key to develop a constructive debate”.

In fact, they have been criticized a lot and this has empowered them. “If you take critics seriously, it leads to a good discussion and a good learning. It does not need to be always easy but it can be very useful.” Sometimes, misinformed supporters can also raise issues, for instance by saying wrongly that the phone is biodegradable or fully recyclable. Things are both fair and unfair which, as we know, does not imply that they are equally fair (see ethics as a grey zone).

In class, we often discuss why Apple, Samsung or Sony have not yet launched such a product. For Laura, this is not just about the product. “You can have 1 product over 20000 that is more fair and ecological but what does it mean?” More important is whether there is a change in approach and social and environmental values are integrated in the everyday decision making and activities of companies.

“At Fairphone, the DNA is different. Still, we know we are a small company and believe we need to work together with all players to trigger a change that goes beyond Fairphone. By establishing the market for ethical products we hope to motivate the entire industry to act more responsibly”.

More than a fairer product, Fairphone creates a movement with transparent and inclusive discussions about how to move forward.

Questions for reflection:

• Under which conditions a clear vision of the future is not necessary to accomplish a great project?

• Why, when and for whom it can be difficult to accept that a fairer phone may not be entirely a fair phone?

• Why, when and for whom communicating about ethical vulnerabilities can be appropriate?

• If a company can be “a movement”, what would it mean for you as a person to be “a movement”?

Open Source Ecology

Marc Le Menestrel — 2014-12-10T11:19:48Z

Brief introduction of Open Source Ecology in its own words:

We're developing open source industrial machines that can be made for a fraction of commercial costs, and sharing our designs online for free. The goal of Open Source Ecology is to create an open source economy – an efficient economy which increases innovation by open collaboration.

To get there, OSE is currently developing a set of open source blueprints for the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) – a set of the 50 most important machines that it takes for modern life to exist – everything from a tractor, to an oven, to a circuit maker. In the process of creating the GVCS, OSE intends to develop a modular, scalable platform for documenting and developing open source, libre hardware – including blueprints for both physical artifacts and for related open enterprises.

The current practical implementation of the GVCS is a life size LEGO set of powerful, self-replicating production tools for distributed production. The Set includes fabrication and automated machines that make other machines. Through the GVCS, OSE intends to build not individual machines – but machine construction systems that can be used to build any machine whatsoever. Because new machines can be built from existing machines, the GVCS is intended to be a kernel for building infrastructures of modern civilization.

We – the countless collaborators upon whose shoulders this Vision stands – imagine a world of innovation accelerated by open, collaborative development – to solve wicked problems – before they are created. We see a world of prosperity that doesn't leave anyone behind. We see a world of interdisciplinary, synergistic systems thinking – not the isolated silos of today's world.

This work of distributing raw productive power to people is not only a means to solving wicked problems – but a means for humans themselves to evolve. The creation of a new world depends on expansion of human consciousness and personal evolution – as individuals tap their autonomy, mastery, and purpose – bo Build Themselves – and to become responsible for the world around them. One outcome is a world beyond artificial material scarcity – where no longer do material constraints and resource conflicts dictate most of human interactions – personal and political. We see a future world where we can say – “Resource conflicts? That was back in the stone age.”

Question for preparation:

What would you like to learn about Open Source Ecology?

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Business Europe

Marc Le Menestrel — 2014-12-02T12:22:04Z

Business Europe in its own words

BUSINESSEUROPE is the leading advocate for growth and competitiveness at European level, standing up for companies across the continent and campaigning on the issues that most influence their performance. A recognised social partner, we speak for all-sized enterprises in 33 European countries whose national business federations are our direct members.

The organisation is headquartered in Brussels at the heart of the EU institutions. We work on behalf of our member federations to ensure that the voice of business is heard in European policy-making. We interact regularly with the European Parliament, Commission and Council as well as other stakeholders in the policy community. We also represent European business in the international arena, ensuring that Europe remains globally competitive. [...]

We are convinced that by acting together in the European Union, our economies and societies are stronger. European companies want to invest in Europe and throughout the world. EU policy-makers must help business create the jobs, investment and opportunity that will secure our global future by urgently implementing competitiveness, growth and employment-enhancing policy changes throughout Europe.

Question for preparation:

What would you like to learn about Business Europe?

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The Debian Project and the Linux Foundation

Marc Le Menestrel — 2014-11-26T14:16:54Z

The Debian Project in its own words

The Debian Project is an association of individuals who have made common cause to create a free operating system. This operating system that we have created is called Debian.

An operating system is the set of basic programs and utilities that make your computer run. At the core of an operating system is the kernel. The kernel is the most fundamental program on the computer and does all the basic housekeeping and lets you start other programs.

Debian systems currently use the Linux kernel or the FreeBSD kernel. Linux is a piece of software started by Linus Torvalds and supported by thousands of programmers worldwide. FreeBSD is an operating system including a kernel and other software.

However, work is in progress to provide Debian for other kernels, primarily for the Hurd. The Hurd is a collection of servers that run on top of a microkernel (such as Mach) to implement different features. The Hurd is free software produced by the GNU project.

A large part of the basic tools that fill out the operating system come from the GNU project; hence the names: GNU/Linux, GNU/kFreeBSD, and GNU/Hurd. These tools are also free.

Of course, the thing that people want is application software: programs to help them get what they want to do done, from editing documents to running a business to playing games to writing more software. Debian comes with over 37500 packages (precompiled software that is bundled up in a nice format for easy installation on your machine), a package manager (APT), and other utilities that make it possible to manage thousands of packages on thousands of computers as easily as installing a single application. All of it free.

It's a bit like a tower. At the base is the kernel. On top of that are all the basic tools. Next is all the software that you run on the computer. At the top of the tower is Debian — carefully organizing and fitting everything so it all works together.

The Linux Foundation in its own words

More than 20 years ago, Linus Torvalds sparked an open source revolution with a short email declaring he was doing a new project “just for fun.” Today, Linux powers 98% of the world's super computers, most of the servers powering the Internet, the majority of financial trades worldwide and tens of millions of Android mobile phones and consumer devices. In short, Linux is everywhere.

The Linux Foundation is here to help. By supporting the kernel development community — including employing Linus Torvalds himself — and fostering collaboration on a truly massive scale, the Linux Foundation unites thousands of curious minds in the free and open exchange of ideas. With this collective wisdom, people everywhere are using Linux to solve harder problems, innovate faster than ever, and change the way the world works together. We are here to provide the crucial services and collaborative infrastructure to continue Linux' advancement and protection.

The Linux Foundation is also here to help companies and individuals navigate the ever-changing landscape of Linux. From new member mentoring programs to advanced consulting services, we're here to guide you through the labyrinth of open source opportunities—so you can make the most of your Linux investment. Join us.

We are also dedicated to expanding the collaborative DNA of Linux to other industries and markets. Companies, open source projects and individual developers can work with our Linux Foundation Collaborative Projects to make collaborative development the de facto way of solving the world's hardest problems. You can participate in large-scale, industry-wide innovation by joining a Linux Foundation Collaborative Project or starting one of your own.

Just like the Linux platform itself, our Linux Foundation community is intrinsically designed for flexibility. Whether you want to boost your open source compliance know-how, meet with developers from around the world, help staff build their Linux chops, or participate in massive collaborative efforts, your opportunities to get involved are literally wide open. Please explore our programs, events and training to see how you can get involved.

Question for preparation:

What would you like to learn about the Debian Project and the Linux Foundation?

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