SBC Author Profile: Christoph Lütge

Prof. Christoph Lütge studied business informatics and philosophy. He obtained his doctorate in philosophy in 1999 at the Technical University of Braunschweig and his habilitation at the University of Munich in 2005. Since 2010, he holds the Peter Löscher Endowed Chair of Business Ethics at Technical University of Munich. He has also held visiting professorships in Taipei, Kyoto, and Venice.  Lütge is director of the Experimental Ethics Lab (EEL) and one of the first ethicists to apply the method of laboratory experiments to ethics. His conception of “order ethics” emphasizes the role of the order  framework for ethical behavior. Among his major publications are: Order Ethics or Moral Surplus: What Holds a Society Together? (Lexington, 2015), Experimental Ethics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), the Handbook of the Philosophical Foundations of Business Ethics (Springer, 2013) as well as 20 other books and more than 120 articles. Lütge has commented on political and economic affairs on Bloomberg, Financial Times, and numerous other media. Moreover, he has done ethics consulting for Facebook, Volkswagen, the European Commission, and the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure.

• Cases from Christoph on SAGE Business Cases

  Genetically Modified Foods and Crops: How to Deal With Culturally Different Perceptions of Goods Krombacher Beer, The World Wildlife Fund, and Cause-Related Marketing: A Case of Greenwashing? The Eschede Train Disaster: Ethics of Risk Management in Companies IHC Caland in Myanmar: Is It Ethically Acceptable to Do Business in a Dictatorship? Ford Pinto: Is Cost-Benefit Analysis Allowed in Ethical Decision Making?

• Q&A with Christoph

  Q: How do you integrate cases into your classes? A: I integrate cases into broader theoretical perspectives, such as different ethical approaches or philosophical concepts. I do not rely on cases exclusively in teaching.  Q: How do students respond to the cases? A: Students often react in highly engaged and emotional ways to the cases. They usually do not see them as something far distant or remote.  Q: Do you have any tips for those who are new to cases and want to use them in courses? A: I would start with a case in teaching, then talk about theoretical concepts and perspectives, and eventually come back to more casework. Q: Do you have any case writing advice for those who’d like to get started? A: Focus on what makes this case stand out, and, if possible, in what way it offers counter-intuitive insights to students.