One of the most significant examples of business ethics and corporate crisis management involved the actions of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) during the Tylenol tampering crisis. In the fall of 1982, a subsidiary of United States–based J&J, McNeil Consumer Products, learned that seven people in Chicago had died from taking Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules that had been laced with cyanide. Management was convinced that the tampering did not occur at its plants, meaning that it must have taken place once the product had reached Illinois. J&J faced a dilemma: How best to handle the crisis without damaging the reputation of the company, when the company had quickly established that it could not be held liable for the tampering?

Reports on the firm’s decision-making process during the crisis ...