The Hon. Justice Potter Stewart defined ethics as “knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.” Blue Star Steamship Lines (BSSL) has recently found itself involved in several situations where their legal rights were overshadowed by the need to do what was ethically right. In making these decisions, BSSL has learned that the ethically right choice is often more difficult than simply doing what the company has the right to do.

Over the course of the previous 10 years, BSSL has worked hard to acquire the rights to develop oil contracts in South America. After sanctions preventing BSSL’s entrance into the South American market were finally lifted, BSSL had to decide if developing in this area was the right thing to do. BSSL’s focused research on Venezuela exposed several ethical problems with the country. It is widely believed that Venezuela’s democratic elections are rigged. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that President Hugo Chavez’s regime will end without a military coup (Tippee, 2008). Additionally, Venezuela requires all foreign oil operators to form partnerships with the state owned oil company, PdVSA. These partnerships are often one-sided and PdVSA is does not have a positive labor or environmental record (Briscoe, 2006). Despite the allure of inexpensive drilling in oil rich Venezuela, BSSL has no choice but to avoid involvement in the region on ethical grounds.

BSSL found its cruise lines in an ethically challenging position when a member of the crew robbed a traveling couple resulting in the husband’s death. Since the cruise ship Minnow sails under the Liberian flag, BSSL is bound by Liberian law when acts such as these occur at sea (Legal Database, n.d.). Unfortunately for the passenger in question, Liberian law offers very little protection for women. In this case, the passenger was not entitled to any compensation from BSSL since the property lost is not considered to be hers. Fortunately, the Cruise Lines International Association (2008) has specified guidelines to help cruise lines make the ethically right decision. The CLIA has a zero tolerance policy for crimes committed at sea (CLIA, 2008). In order to stay in compliance with the CLIA’s guidelines, BSSL had no choice but to work with the victim to ensure justice was served.

BSSL also ran into ethical complications with its acquisition of Appalachian Bell. This small phone company had been running a service whereby it provided anonymous billing for 900 number services. An elderly couple had managed to run up a $500 phone bill when their grandson made numerous calls to one of these services. Although the couple refused to pay their bill, Appalachian Bell was well within their rights to collect. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has very strict rules regarding the operation of 900 number services including how they can be advertised and how the can be billed (FTC, 1996). Although Appalachian Bell can discontinue the couple’s phone service if they fail to pay, this doesn’t mean they should. 900 number services are often confusing and one mistake can quickly become expensive. The right thing to do in this case was to offer the couple a charge forgiveness. The understanding in this case is that future charges will be collected or the couple’s phone service will be terminated.

Finally, BSSL has recently been involved in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) decisions regarding the cross-ownership of local newspapers and television stations. The FCC decided in 1975 that cross-ownership presented a significant risk to customer’s ability to get news from an outside source. At the time, the Justice Department considered cross-ownership to be a monopoly issue (Wilke, 2000). Recently, the FCC amended this decision to allow cross-ownership in the top 20 U.S. markets. The U.S. Senate, led by Senators Dorgan, Clinton, and Obama, immediately moved to overturn the rule change. On this issue, the FCC seems to be making the change to protect the newspaper industry. Sen. Dorgan adamantly denies the FCC’s responsibility to protect the interests of newspapers (Skiba, 2008). Although the rule change seems logical, BSSL must keep the best interest of consumers in mind. Although there is an excellent profit opportunity in the acquisition of same market newspaper and television stations, Ferrell, Fraedrich, and Ferrell (2008) point out that customer service is entwined with customer’s perception of a company’s ethical behavior. Statistics show that 60 percent of consumers are more concerned with a company’s social record than brand recognition (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2008). Therefore, BSSL must oppose the FCC rule change in order to ensure consumers receive fair treatment of the news.

For the most part, these ethical decisions are fairly easy to make. When presented with a complicated situation, it is often the case that deciding what a company has a right to do is the more difficult question. The ethical decision is usually obvious when a moral compass is applied. James Burke, CEO of Johnson & Johnson, was faced with just such a decision when bottles of Tylenol were tampered with in 1982. He could have chosen to cover up the incident, but instead decided that the morally right thing to do was come forward and tell the public what was going on. Although the incident cost Johnson & Johnson a great deal of money in the short term, the long-term effect was to strengthen the trust between them and their consumers (Boatright, 2008).

Briscoe, I. (2006). The spoils of oil. (Cover story). New Internationalist, pp. 8,9. Retrieved October 10, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database.

Boatright, J. (2007). Ethics and the conduct of business, 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Cruise Lines International Association. (2008). Personal safety and security. Retrieved October 14, 2008.

Federal Trade Commission. (1996). 900 numbers: FTC rule helps consumers. Retrieved October 17. 2008.

Ferrell, O. C., Freadrich, J., & Ferrell, L.. (2008). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases (7th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Legal Database. (n.d.). Admiralty law overview. Retrieved October 14, 2008.

Skiba, K. (2008). Senate Committee Votes to Overturn FCC Cross-Media Ownership Rules; Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are among the cosponsors of the measure that now heads to the full Senate. U.S. News & World Report (April 24, 2008).

Tippee, B. (2008, August). High oil prices form weak base for state power. Oil & Gas Journal, 106(29), 76. Retrieved October 10, 2008, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1529788771).

Wilke, J. R. (2000). Multi Media: Tribune Co. Deal Puts Cross-Ownership Rule In the Cross Hairs — Foes of Ban on Holding Print, TV Outlets in Same City Say It Is Outdated Now — Legacy of Bluefield, W.Va. Wall Street Journal, p. A1. Retrieved November 4, 2008, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 50995892).

When it comes to designing websites for e-commerce clients, the client’s products and potential audience must direct the design. These aspects of the business will help the designer decide which elements to emphasize and which to avoid. Additionally, each site should have at least one feature that really adds value for the intended audience. All of these aspects come together to create a unique design tailored to the individual e-business.

Howard’s Chess Sets sells custom-design, hand-carved chess sets. This website is focused on selling chess sets to customers. The website needs to sell the sets while emphasizing their uniqueness. Obviously, a site of this kind will include a shopping cart so that users can purchase pre-made chess sets. Additionally, customers may want the ability to special order a custom set. For example Howard’s Chess Sets may offer different kinds of wood, different models for the pieces, or even themed sets. To enable these special orders, the website should include a special order form that allows the user to describe what they want. Additionally, the form should collect the customer’s contact information since further discussions will certainly be necessary. Regardless, the main focus of the site must remain on selling chess sets.

Sell a product online is not the intention of Whalen Clean and Tidy. This company provides cleaning services to local office buildings. Whalen’s potential customers do not expect to purchase services online. Instead, they expect to find contact information and some way to estimate the cost of the service. Therefore, Whalen should focus on selling the quality and affordability of their service via the website. The main attraction for potential customers should be a cost estimator that lets them determine an estimated price based on various factors including office size, numbers, etc. The estimator will make it clear that this is only an estimate, and the true cost of the service can not be determined without an in-office consultation.

Finally, Dea’s Downline is a cosmetics business that employs 30 salespeople. All of the salespeople work from their home, and Dea receives a percentage of their sales. Dea website needs can best be described as an employee portal. To the unauthorized visitor, the site merely talks about the cosmetics available and may provide contact information. The true power of the site is only realized by salespeople when the log in. They are presented with a personalized site that gives them necessary sales information, as well as statistics regarding their own sales. Finally, the portal gives Dea the ability to communicate with her salespeople securely. This sort of employee portal is not uncommon. In 2007, the non-profit organization One Economy used a collaboration software called Clearspace to improve the interaction of its worldwide employee base (Kho, 2007).

Kho, N. (2007, October). A Case of Connecting Busy Bees. EContent, 30(8), 52-54. Retrieved November 10, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database.

Rayport, J. F., & Jaworski, B. J. (2004). Introduction to e-commerce (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Below you’ll find the interesting tidbits for 2008-10-25 through 2008-11-07:

• EVE Online Exploration Guide
  This is one of two exploration guides I've bookmarked. The idea of sneaking around in a cloaked covert ops ship sounds pretty fun.
• Exploration Guide v2.0
• Guide to solo level 4 missions in a Dominix
• DOTLAN :: EveMaps
  This is a great collection of maps for EVE online. Additionally, the site contains interesting travel related statistics such as system violence and sovereignty changes. Pretty neat.
• BrewWiki
  Looking for beer facts? Check here.

I finally found the source of my frustration and I’m back to enjoying long battery life. The Katalyst has the ability to make VoIP-based calls using a Wi-Fi network. Although this is a really cool feature, with no usable network the Wi-Fi feature drains the battery life at an alarming rate. So I disabled Wi-Fi: Menu ⇒ Settings ⇒ Wi-Fi ⇒ Turn Wi-Fi Off. Voilà!

As Company X moves into e-commerce, decisions must be made regarding what products and services to offer, as well as how to best market the new online presence. Although it seems obvious to offer all existing products via the online storefront, it’s possible that some products may require more customization than a simple point and click interface can provide. For example, standardized gift baskets can be easily offered with an included message. When customers want a customized gift basket including specific items, the online strategy breaks down. Therefore, Company X should offer their standard products online, and direct customers seeking more customization to a nearby brick and mortar establishment.

Although some services such as gift basket customization lend themselves to offline fulfillment, many business-to-business practices can be streamlined by moving them online. For example, an interface to allow retailers the ability to resupply their inventory would simplify their order process. By working together with popular Point of Sale (POS) vendors, it might be possible to integrate retailer POS systems into a Company X Web Service that automates this fulfillment process completely. Wholesalers and other large distributors will have other methods of fulfilling orders. Thanks to standards like Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and it’s predecessor Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), interfacing with these various systems should not be problematic (Nicolaisen, 2008).

The marketing approach for Company X e-commerce venture should focus on building the brand without being intrusive. There are four categories of marketing communications: general online communications, personalized online communications, traditional mass marketing, and direct communications. Each of these methods has a benefit and reaches a specific audience. Company X must leverage all of these methods. Unfortunately, some methods, especially online, are often perceived as intrusive by users. Therefore, care must be taken to ensure that recipients of Company X direct and personalized communications are interested and willing to received these contacts. An example of this is an opt-in newsletter that gives recipients the chance to stop receiving the communication if they wish (Rayport & Jaworski, 2004).

Nicolaisen, N. (2008). Simple Object Access Protocol for Web Applications. Faulkner Information Services. Retrieved October 31, 2008, docid: 00017821.

Rayport, J. F., & Jaworski, B. J. (2004). Introduction to e-commerce (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

In 1975, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a rule prohibiting companies from owning both newspapers and broadcast television stations in the same market. The rule first received consideration in the early 1970s when the U.S. Justice Department was investigating newspaper consolidation. The Justice Department learned that with limited television options, media monopolies were appearing in many rural markets. In an attempt to limit these monopolies, the FCC passed the ruling barring cross-ownership (Wilke, 2000).

Although it has been challenged many times over the intervening years, the FCC has recently moved to throw out the rule in the top 20 U.S. media markets. Legislation has been introduced by Sen. Byron Dorgan and backed by Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama in an attempt to overturn this rule. The FCC has claimed the rule change is necessary to protect struggling newspapers who are having trouble competing in today’s market. Dorgan’s response to this comment is that there is nothing in the FCC’s mandate that requires it to protect the interests of newspapers rather than the American people (Skiba, 2008).

The FCC rule has strong ethical roots. The cross-ownership ban is designed to protect the American public from monopoly-controlled media. When the rule was passed in 1975, most cities only had three broadcast stations and newspapers were still the primary source of news. At the time there were no cable news networks, satellite television, or Internet-based reporting (Wilke, 2000). The situation in rural America has not changed much in the last 30 years, and the ruling has historically been protected by legislators from rural states. For these rural areas, the potential to have all news filtered through one monopoly is a very real possibility.

Ethics aside, there is a legal matter to be considered. In the 1970s, the limited availability of news medium meant that a single company could easily gain control of all news outlets in a single city. The proliferation of satellite and cable television, as well as the Internet, has changed the landscape. Increasingly, Americans in rural markets have access to media outside their local broadcast and newspaper area. Therefore, it can be argued that no single company can possible control a majority of the media in a single location thanks to these other media sources. Sen. Dorgan claims that many of these alternative news sources are merely another mouthpiece for the monolithic media organizations (Skiba, 2008).

Unfortunately, BSSL must take a stance on this matter since it directly impacts business. The recent FCC rule change allows companies to own both newspapers and television stations in the top 20 markets in the U.S. Although the Senate is opposed to this change, there seems to be some merit to it. If there is any evidence of a single company holding all media in an area, the U.S. Justice Department has the ability to act. That being said, BSSL has a responsibility to be forthright with its customers. Although owning multiple media sources in a market allows for better coverage opportunities, BSSL must ensure that customers are aware of BSSL’s involvement. Therefore, BSSL should make every effort to inform customers that the media in question is a subsidiary of BSSL.

Wilke, J. R. (2000). Multi Media: Tribune Co. Deal Puts Cross-Ownership Rule In the Cross Hairs — Foes of Ban on Holding Print, TV Outlets in Same City Say It Is Outdated Now — Legacy of Bluefield, W.Va. Wall Street Journal, p. A1. Retrieved November 4, 2008, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 50995892).

Skiba, K. (2008). Senate Committee Votes to Overturn FCC Cross-Media Ownership Rules; Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are among the cosponsors of the measure that now heads to the full Senate. U.S. News & World Report (April 24, 2008).

Ferrell, O. C., Freadrich, J., & Ferrell, L.. (2008). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases (7th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

When discussing software architecture, software engineers often use a pattern called Model-View-Controller, or MVC. The MVC concept was originally developed by Trygve Reenskaug in an attempt to bridge the gap between the user’s mental conception of the process and the computer’s digital rendering. Reenskaug (n.d) claims that “the ideal MVC solution supports the user illusion of seeing and manipulating the domain information directly” (para. 4). Rayport and Jaworski (2004) reiterate this concept as a three tier architecture comprised of three layers: Data, Presentation, and Business Logic. These three layers correlate directly to the MVC architecture proposed by Reenskaug.

The data layer is responsible for storing the information necessary to run the application. In the case of Company X, this is the web site. The data layer, or model, is not merely responsible for the storage of information, but also helps define it and give it structure. In fact, some web frameworks, such as Ruby on Rails, expect the data layer to be directly responsible for the data definition. Other frameworks, such as Django or ASP.NET expect the software engineer to model the data structure first, and then implement the data layer to the specifications of the model.

The most import aspect of the data layer is the method in which the data is stored. The database of information can take many forms, but the standard software for today’s web sites is the relational database. Company X can choose from a plethora of available relational database servers, but two popular software packages are Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL. Microsoft SQL Server requires Microsoft Windows to be the operating system on the server. Additionally, Microsoft SQL Server has several licensing options and pricing plans. The standard edition of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 is $5,999 per processor (Microsoft, 2008).

MySQL is an alternative relational database server. Although it was originally designed to run in the UNIX operating environment (including Linux), MySQL has been ported to many other platforms. The MySQL Community Server is freely available to anyone who wishes to use it. This availability has led to its wide adoption in many of the largest websites. In a recent panel, Facebook.com admitted to utilizing 1800 MySQL servers to power their social network (MySQL, 2008).

The presentation layer, or view, describes how the data is rendered to the user. Two major display mediums for an online presence are HTML and Flash. Flash has the advantage of being more cinematic and can also render video. Since it requires a plugin to operate, it is certain to appear the same in every users’ web browser. HTML, on the other hand, is much faster than Flash, but lacks much of the visual element. Although it depends on the web browser for proper rendering, its freedom from a required plugin means it will always be available to any user. Fortunately, neither of these presentation layers is dependent on any particular operating system. As long as server has a web server that can deliver content to the end-user, both will work just fine.

The final piece of the MVC model is the controller, or business logic layer. The layer acts as a middle ground between the data and the end-user. The business log layer ensures that the user is presented with the right information, and that any user interaction with the data is full validated (Rayport & Jaworski, 2004). Two popular presentation layers are ASP.NET for Microsoft Windows and Django. Both pieces of software can really be thought of as web frameworks designed to help developers quickly implement the business logic necessary to run a web site. ASP.NET is freely available but tied to the Microsoft Windows operating system. Django is also free, but has the advantage of being available on many platforms including Microsoft Windows and Linux.

Security discussions with Company X has shown them to be very sensitive to cost. Any solution dependent on Microsoft Windows is going to come with a relatively high price tag. As a reminder, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 is almost $6,000 per processor. Therefore, the obvious solution for Company X is to develop a solution that utilizes free software. In this case, the best solution is a Linux-based server using MySQL for the database and Django, or other free framework, for the business logic layer. Since compatibility and performance are important to end users, Flash should be avoided in favor of HTML.

Microsoft Corporation. (2008). Microsoft SQL Server 2005: Pricing. Retreived November 3, 2008.

MySQL - Up or Out? (2008). Video posted to http://www.pythian.com/blogs/947/panel-video-scaling-mysql-up-or-out

Rayport, J. F., & Jaworski, B. J. (2004). Introduction to e-commerce (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Reenskaug, T. (n.d.) MVC. Retrieved November 3, 2008.

The advent of wireless networks and web browsers on mobile devices has made the possibility of third party eavesdropping an ever increasing risk. When operating an online storefront, the vendor must provide protection against eavesdropping to ensure that private customer information such as credit card or social security numbers is transmitted without risk of compromise. The primary method for securing web communications is to encrypt the traffic via Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). SSL uses private key encryption to ensure that all traffic between user and server is unreadable in the event that it is intercepted (Garfinkel, 2001). SSL certificates are inexpensive and available from a known group of trusted vendors. As of October 28, 2008, SSL certificates for one year are available for as low as $249 (Thawte , 2008). This cost is a drop in the bucket compared to the potential lost revenue for any one trying to operate an online storefront without using SSL encryption.

When comes to server security, there are two paths to follow. The first path is to handle the entire Web operation internally. That means purchasing servers and hiring individuals to manage them. Depending on the complexity of the web site, this scenario may be the only feasible solution. Another option is fully hand over the operation of the web site to a company that specializes in hosting online storefronts. As an example, HostICan provides web hosting starting at $6.95 per month (HostICan, 2008). They manage the security of the servers while their customers focus on the content. This solution may not be appropriate in all situations depending on the security of the data involved. For a new online storefront, this is an easy way to break into the market without breaking the bank.

Acohido, B., & Swartz, J. (n.d.). Unprotected PCs can be hijacked in minutes. USA Today. Retrieved October 31, 2008, from MasterFILE Premier database.

Garfinkel, S. (2001). Web security, privacy & commerce (2nd. ed.). Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly.

HostICan. (2008). HostICan - Web Hosting. Retrieved October 28, 2008.

Thawte, Inc. (2008). Buy thawte SSL certificates. Retrieved October 28, 2008.

Rayport, J. F., & Jaworski, B. J. (2004). Introduction to e-commerce (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

The ethical dilemma in this case is less about its outcome, and more about the presentation of a supervisor’s decision or recommendation. This case might have never gone to trial if Ms. Crone had been presented with her supervisor’s recommendation in a courteous and professional manner. Instead, the supervisor’s demeaning response reminds the reader of negative stereotypes associated with women. John Boatright (2007) points out that individuals are discriminated against when they are “treated on the basis of group characteristics” rather than their own merit (p. 184). Boatright (2007) goes on to point out that stereotyping is morally objectionable because it results in individuals being judged by their membership in groups rather than their own strengths (Boatright, 2007). Therefore, this case doesn’t open any avenues for discrimination among other employers. Instead, it shows that discrimination is a matter taken very seriously by the courts, and any decision that may be construed as discrimination will be given serious review.

This case is about judging an employee’s performance based on their individual merits, and upholds the employer’s right to make such a judgment. In effect, it confirms that an employer has the right to make a decision as long as it can be proven that the decision was not a result of discrimination. Any employer, BSS included, should take these results and incorporate them into their policies and procedures relating to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO). It is in the employers best interest to make judgment’s based on individual merit, and management should be encouraged to do so. That being said, it is also in the employer’s best interest to establish an oversight committee to ensure that these decisions truly are made in an appropriate fashion.

Boatright, J. (2007). Ethics and the conduct of business, 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Crone v. United Parcel Service, Inc., 301 F.3d 942 (8th Cir. 2002).

Ferrell, O. C., Freadrich, J., & Ferrell, L.. (2008). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases (7th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.