El Diablo: The Corner Cleaner Affair

Abstract

This case involves the decision of a publishing company, El Diablo, to target a traditionally underserved market with a series of books about gang life and street vigilantism. The decision has repercussions both within the firm, as collegial relationships are tested by office politics, and outside the firm, where community response to the project is less than positive. Civil-rights groups challenge the company's development of pulp fiction targeted at black youths as unethical and likely to foment violence. The case raises several questions: Does a corporation owe a civic duty to its target constituents? How might that manifest itself? At the intersection of profit and responsibility, who has the right-of-way? Also, the hiring of a minority candidate by the minority director of the new-products division is questioned by top management. The use of role-playing is explained in the teaching note.