Blog – Page 4 – Robert Zafft

McKinsey’s $573 Million Absolution: Value For Money. But For Whom?

McKinsey & Company, the world’s premier consulting firm, will pay nearly $600 million to settle claims by U.S. states relating to McKinsey’s work for opioid manufacturers and distributors. This seems like a lot. It may represent value for money. But for whom? McKinsey’s Seizes First-Mover Advantage First Nationwide Settlement McKinsey’s settlement comprises 47 states, four …

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Riding The ESG Juggernaut: Whose Business Is It, Anyway?

The new Administration’s commitment to Environmental, Social, and Governance (”ESG”) issues begs the question of a business’s end goals. We deserve an open and honest debate. Will we get one? Contending Theories of Corporate Purpose What should be a business’s end goal? Over the last 50 years, two competing approaches have duked it out. Dualism: …

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Parler: The Business Ethics Of Framing And De-Platforming

De-platformed within a 24-hour span by Amazon, Apple, and Google, social-media service Parler tries to rise from the dead. What’s the direct and collateral damage of success or failure? Framing In setting norms, how an issue is framed goes a long way towards deciding it. Whoever wins the framing battle often wins the policy war. …

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Boeing’s $2.5 Billion Near Miss: A Faulty-To-The-Max Update

It’s been said that “you get justice in the next world, in this world you get law.” Does Boeing’s $2.5 billion settlement over 737 MAX crashes bear this maxim out? Boeing Cops A Plea — And Throws Two Ex-employees To The Wolves Last week’s column described the design and training decisions that caused two, Boeing …

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Faulty To The Max: Boeing And The FAA’s 737 Debacle

Upgraded Boeing 737 MAX commercial jets have returned to the skies. The blame game, however, goes on. Can we find a principle that cuts through the spin? Accidents Happen; Catastrophes Take Effort A total of 346 people died in two separate crashes of Boeing 737 MAX jets in October 2018 and March 2019. The crashes …

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What Are Apple And Facebook Fighting Over? — You

In a free market, when companies fight over customers, it’s the customers who should win. Will that happen here? The Apple-Facebook fight over user privacy heated up last week, with Facebook taking out full-page advertisements in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. The ads proclaimed that Facebook was “standing up to Apple for …

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The COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout: Who’s Getting Stuck?

By a 13-1 vote, an “independent expert” panel of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (”CDC”) just recommended who should enjoy priority for rollout of COVID vaccines. What would we do without experts? Two drug companies, Pfizer and Moderna, have requested and expect emergency approval of their COVID-19 vaccines. These companies estimate having …

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Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh (1973-2020): The Power Of “Why”

Former Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh recently died in a house fire. He was 46. Hsieh was a man of many talents, ideas, and successes. The theme of his life was happiness: his employees’, his customers’, and his own. Here’s what we can learn from his example. A Dreamer Who Delivered The child of immigrants, Hsieh’s …

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Everything Ethics Podcast: Ethical Cultures

Many thanks to J. Kevin Foster, host of Everything Ethics, for a great conversation about building ethical business cultures. Here is a link to the Part I of our discussion. After Kevin publishes the full video, I will post part II. #therightwaytowin

Katzenberg Cancels Quibi — Let The Spin Begin!

Media billionaire Jeffrey Katzenberg recently pulled the plug on Quibi, his own start-up. As with any other box-office bomb, the post-mortem blame game may prove more creative, entertaining — and instructive — than the feature itself. Katzenberg founded Quibi with former eBay CEO Meg Witman. They raised $1.75 billion in start-up capital. This C-suite power …

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