Business Case Studies & Business Publications

Jess Smith and the Design Firm

Wicks, Andrew C., ...

Case

Jess Smith and the Design Firm

Wicks, Andrew C.; Neeley, Jonathan; Mead, Jenny

E-0354 | Published June 15, 2010 | 2 pages Case

Collection: Darden School of Business

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Jess Smith, the recently hired director for the magazine division of a small contract publishing company in Manhattan, faces a dilemma when a client wants her company to produce images that go against Smith's personal beliefs. A project she inherited features pictures of a heavy metal band posing with anti-Christian and Satanic/devil worship images. A Christian, Smith finds these images blasphemous and also believes they promote behavior that is both pernicious to society and incongruent with her firm's mission. As the deadline for publishing the project fast approaches, Smith has to decide what to do.

1. Analyze how values factor in managerial decision making. 2. Provide students with an opportunity to clarify and test out their own moral frameworks and reasoning skills. 3. Provide students with a theoretical situation that requires them to identify and analyze the ethical/moral dimensions of a business decision. 4. Learn to identify stakeholders. 5. Build a moral framework for the situation to help analyze the choices and the decision making.