Business Ethics: Exploring Big Data and Tax Avoidance

Ethical behaviour brings significant benefits to businesses such as attracting employees, customers and investors. But failure to manage it properly can create huge challenges.

On this course, you’ll discover big data and tax avoidance.

You’ll examine the benefits and ethical challenges inherent to big data, including the issues of privacy and data security.

You’ll learn what tax avoidance is and discover how globalisation is increasing the likelihood of its occurrence.

You’ll also hear from experts on key ethical arguments for and against tax avoidance as you work through prominent case studies.

• Explain what ‘big data’ is and give examples of its use.
• Identify situations in which their own personal data is being collected by commercial organisations.
• Outline the potential benefits for consumers that arise from the collection, storage and use of personal data by commercial organisations.
• Outline the potential ethical issues that arise from the collection, storage and use of personal data by commercial organisations.
• Explain the difference between tax avoidance, tax evasion and tax planning.
• Give examples of tax avoidance practices.
• Recognise the limits of moral relativism in ethical discourse.
• Outline the key arguments in defence of tax avoidance practices by commercial organisations.
• Outline the key arguments against tax avoidance practices by commercial organisations.