BUSINESS & SOCIETY Ethics and Stakeholder Management

For decades now, news stories have brought to the attention of the publiccountless social and ethical issues that have framed the business and societyrelationship. Much of this has been reported as some form of businesscriticism.The recent period of criticism began with the rash of scandals first brought tolight in late 2001 and continues today. Initially, the Enron scandal was exposedwhen the firm filed for bankruptcy. Eventually, the degree of fraud impactinginvestors, employees, and others became known to the general public. The Enronscandal did not occur in isolation. Senior officers, banks, accountants, creditagencies, lawyers, stock analysts, and others were implicated. By 2007, thirtystates had sided with Enron shareholders in their quest for damages frominvestment banks implicated due to their role in the accounting fraud. Theargument has been that the investment banks should be held liable as participantsin the fraud