The TSC Streetside Chat: Ethics Expert Philip Cochran

The latest headlines serve as a daily reminder that chief executive officers can be more than just fallible. Just this week, Dennis Kozlowski resigned his post as CEO of Tyco International (TYC Quote) after the Manhattan District Attorney's office began investigating whether he avoided paying sales tax on art purchases.

So as the school year comes to an end and summer vacation approaches, we asked Philip Cochran, director of the G. Albert Shoemaker Program in Business Ethics at Penn State's Smeal College of Business, to grade Kozlowski's tenure as CEO along with four other embattled execs.

A professor of business at Smeal College, Cochran is used to giving out grades. In addition to his teaching duties, Cochran is an expert on business ethics, serving as the first president of the International Association for Business and Society. ...