The final paper assignment is to write an essay about the Enron company collapse, using as a starting point, the award-winning documentary, “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.” You are required to watch this video and use it a basis for your paper.
You may and should review other materials about the Enron case, but all papers must use as their core source the “Smartest Guys in the Room” documentary. The film is available from several sources, including Netflix instant. You may watch the movie with your classmates, but each paper must be the work of the individual student.
Each paper must cover two topics: (1) How do the principles of corporate governance we have studied apply to the Enron scandal? and (2) How do the principles of business ethics apply? Your mission is to identify and explain the application of as many principles of corporate governance and business ethics from the course as seem most important to answering the question: “What lessons may we learn from the Enron collapse?”
The idea is to apply the concepts we have studied in the course to understanding the Enron collapse as depicted in the documentary. The assignment is not to write a review of the documentary, but to use it in applying the concepts we have studied in this course. Nonetheless, you are free to criticize the documentary if you believe doing so will help answer the question, “What lessons may we learn from the Enron collapse?”
For this purpose, it may be useful to review the tables of contents of the Larcker text and Trevino text. You may wish to determine which topics we have studied or will study appear to be most relevant to the Enron situation. Then select the most important topics from each text and apply them to the Enron collapse.
In addition, extra credit will be given for a cogent explanation of how the principles of “systems thinking” may be used to answer the basic question.
The final paper must be approximately 7 – 10 pages, double-spaced, with 12pt Times New Roman font and 1” margins. It is due by email to me on or before midnight on May 1, 2022.
