A Fist Full Of Ethics


Here is a quick sampler of good, bad and ugly business 
decisions, provided by Brad Shrader, Bacon Center for Ethics 
in Business co-director.


THE GOOD

--Harley Davidson Inc., Milwaukee, sponsors an annual 
pilgrimage to its corporate headquarters. Leading the pack 
from points as far away as San Antonio, San Francisco and 
Washington, D.C., are the executives of Harley Davidson. The 
pilgrimage culminates in a tour and a party at the Harley 
Davidson plant. There is a cost to ride your hog across 
country with the company bigwigs Ñ a donation to the multiple 
sclerosis foundation.

--Merck & Company Inc., Rahway, N.J., several years ago 
developed a drug to treat river blindness, a Third World 
scourge. (William P. Switzer, distinguished professor 
emeritus in ISU's College of Veterinary Medicine, served as a 
consultant to the company in development of the drug.) Merck 
decided to give the drug away to those who were infected, but 
couldn't afford paying for the drug or the costs of the 
distribution. Merck has been giving away the drug since 1987.


THE BAD

--Stew Leonard, founder and proprietor of the Stew Leonard 
Dairy, Norwalk, Conn., was considered "Mr. Customer Service" 
from 1984 to 1994. Singled out by In Search of Excellence, he 
touted the message that you had to respond to the customer, 
Shrader said. It turns out that during that 10-year period, 
Leonard was skimming the profits of his company. Last fall he 
was charged with skimming $17 million in profits and with $7 
million in tax fraud.


THE UGLY

--Ross Johnson, the original Barbarian at the Gate and former 
chairman of RJR Nabisco Inc., Atlanta, was not actually the 
lovable lug played by James Garner in the HBO movie. How 
could he be if he sat on the board of directors that decided 
what his pay and benefits would be? "It's unfortunate that 
they chose Garner for the part," Shrader said, "because it 
blurred how unscrupulous Ross Johnson really was."

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contact:  News Service, (515) 294-3129
updated:  03-24-95