Bringing the Dark Side of International Business into the Classroom

Abstract

We contend that positioning dark side activities (DSA) as a more central component of IB coursework is important for students to understand the legitimacy and performance consequences of such phenomena. We draw on six types of DSA: environmental degradation; questionable marketing practices; accounting or financial fraud; corruption; labor abuses; and cultural imperialism. We suggest that IB educators expose students to concrete examples illustrating when MNEs may drift to the dark side and provide three short case studies. We provide informational resources and discussion prompts for human trafficking and outline a United Nations framework to structure in-class discussion of DSA.